The Short Breaks Fund was set up to test ways to remove barriers to Short Breaks activities. A new report shows how far we have come and the impact on families of disabled children and young people in Gloucestershire.

In this blog, we share some of the key learning and impacts of the Short Breaks Fund so far.

The Impact

In 2023, Barnwood Trust gave over £400,000 to 6 organisations to try out new ways to remove barriers and make Short Breaks easier to access. In the year that followed:  

• 613 disabled young people attended at least one activity. Nearly three-quarters of them had never attended a Short Break before.  

• Disabled children and young people made new friendships, created support networks and showed improved confidence, physical health, and mental health.  

• Parent-carers were less isolated, made new memories with their children and also saw improvements to their mental health and wellbeing.   

This learning has led to the new Gloucestershire Short Breaks Partnership between Barnwood Trust, Gloucestershire Children’s Services, and Gloucestershire VCSE Alliance. 

What we have learned  

We have learned a lot in the first year:  

• Usually, Short Breaks are activities where parents drop their children off.  But we have found it really helps to create spaces where parents can stay too, as this helps children feel safe to join in and gives parents a chance to connect with others.  

• The importance of providing flexibility to the groups offering Short Breaks. We found that if the rules were too strict, it made it harder for organisations to be creative – this limited the activities they could offer and the people they could reach. 

• Although many of the providers found creative ways to overcome transport barriers, transport remains a significant challenge for accessing Short Breaks and needs more support.

Read the Short Breaks Fund Impact and Learning Report here 

Read more about Barnwood’s influencing around Short Breaks here

Get in touch

If you would like to discuss Barnwood’s work around Short Breaks, please get in touch with Dan Jacques, Social Change Manager at dan.jacques@barnwoodtrust.org  

To find out more about Barnwood Trust’s work on Short Breaks visit our Short Breaks page on our website.