Written question WQ85000

The Welsh Government’s £9m short breaks scheme aims to increase the availability and diversity of short breaks for unpaid carers.

Over a three-year period, the scheme will build on existing good practice and encourage local authorities, health boards and the third sector to develop innovative and person-centred short breaks for unpaid carers of all ages.

We will be inviting third sector organisations with expertise in working with unpaid carers to submit an expression of interest for the role of a national coordinating body. The coordinating body will ensure that unpaid carers from all parts of Wales have equal access to a range of short breaks that meet their individual needs.

The funding will also establish a small grant scheme for third sector organisations to develop and deliver short breaks for adult and young carers and disabled children and their families. This will be managed by the national coordinating body and will help to increase the availability of short breaks for carers of children with complex, life-limiting conditions who require specialist services.

The Welsh Government recognises the enormous contribution that hospices make to children with life limiting conditions and the support that they offer to families and carers, including the provision of much needed respite care.

We have delivered our Programme for Government commitment to review voluntary hospice funding and are making an additional £2.2m a year available to Welsh hospices from 2022-23. £900k of this is allocated to children’s hospices and provides 21% of their core service costs. This additional funding will help strengthen the support available to children with life-limiting illnesses and their families, including the provision of respite care.

We have published revised guidance about children’s continuing care in March 2020. This states that local authorities have a statutory duty to provide breaks from caring – known as short breaks – to the carers of disabled children to allow them to undertake education, training or any regular leisure activity; meet the needs of other children in the family more effectively, or carry out day-to-day tasks which they must perform in order to run their household.

It also emphasises that the child’s needs should be paramount and that any discussions around the financial aspects of providing care should not delay the provision of that care.

The Deputy Chief Medical Officer and the Chief Social Care Officer will be writing to local authorities and health boards to remind them of their statutory obligations and to ensure they work collaboratively to support children in need of continuing care packages.

Although there has been no direct discussion with Regional Partnership Boards (RPBs) on this subject, officials will be relaunching the 2020 guidance and will ensure all RPBs are fully engaged with this process.

Guidance in relation to pooled budget arrangements for health and social care will be reviewed and expectations further clarified under the rebalancing care and support programme.

Currently pooled budgets have largely focused on the commissioning of older people’s care homes but consideration will be given to other key service areas where pooled budgets can add value and streamline decision making.