Newcastle Short Breaks Statement – September 2025

At Newcastle, we want all our children and young people to have opportunities to learn, develop skills for life and to be part of their community.

Short breaks provide children and young people with complex needs time away from their parents and carers to:

try out new things
have lots of fun
spend more time in the community
make new friends
have opportunities to learn new skills and increase their independence.

The short breaks offer aims to support children and young people by meeting a wide range of needs and does this by having a specialised and targeted offer.

This document aims to set out our most current information about our short breaks offer in Newcastle and describe the range of available short break services available to families of children and young people aged 0-25 with special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Information can be found on the Local Offer.

Local Authorities have a statutory responsibility to ensure adequate provision of short breaks. Within the legislation statutory duties fall into three broad categories:

Short breaks for parents and carers of children with disabilities
Information, advice and support for children and their families
Improved access to community activities comparable to that of non-disabled peers.