Activities and leisure - Local Offer

Short Breaks Contract (Daytime Activities, Overnight Breaks and Respite)

Monthly update 

October 2024

Action for Children will contact every parent and carer in the coming weeks to introduce themselves before the new contract starts on 01 November 2024.

Who are Action for Children?

We are pleased to introduce Sue Connor, the new Children’s Services Manager. 

Sue is currently a Children’s Services Manager in Action for Children and responsible for the Northamptonshire countywide delivery of the Community Short Breaks and the Targeted Safeguarding Support Service.

The community short breaks service supports both children and young people with a disability and those with complex needs who attend daytime activities.

Sue will lead a trained and experienced team of staff and volunteers over the lifetime of the new Daytime Activities, Overnight Breaks and Respite Service to achieve its vision.

The integrated model includes:

• providing flexible services tailored to the needs of parents, carers, and children
• ensuring daytime and overnight breaks work seamlessly together
• improving communication so everyone knows how to access services and stays informed
• increasing the number of volunteers and fundraising to enhance support and activities

What has happened so far?

In the last month, we have:

• continued recruiting for vacant positions
• finalised property leases
• planned training and induction for new and transferring staff
• finalised the contract
• planned data transfer
• progressed with Ofsted and CQC registration

The next month 

In the next month, we will be looking at:

• leases to be signed
• ofsted visit to take place
• steering Group remit to be finalised
• data transfer process to be agreed

Challenges

Families accessing the services should now have received a notification regarding the transition from NHFT to Action for Children and the issues around staffing and capacity. We are working hard to minimise the reduction and impact on your family.  We have new staff progressing through the onboarding process and will continue to work hard to return the service to capacity as soon as possible.

We understand that this is a worrying time, and we are sorry for any impact it has had on your family. This is a constantly changing picture so we will keep you updated regularly on the current situation.  

Contact details

Action for Children greatly value your views and feedback, so please keep sharing your thoughts and future requirements for your family via the Parent Forums [email protected] for West Northants and [email protected] for North Northants.

Please reach out to Northamptonshire Children's Trust (the interim contact until the new services are set up on 01 November 2024) at [email protected].

Last updated 25 October 2024