Breaks from caring

Learn about breaks from caring for adults with disabilities who live at home with their families, including short breaks and the Shared Lives scheme.

What a short break is

A planned short break is a break from the routine of caring. It is planned in advance and is not the result of an emergency or crisis.

Some examples of services that provide a short break are:

More creative arrangements are possible as well, for example:

  • a carer might take the person they care for away on holiday, and use county council funding to pay towards support costs of the service user in the holiday location (excluding accommodation and food costs which remain the responsibility of the service user)
  • the service user’s usual personal assistant (PA) might be paid to look after the person at home.

To access short breaks, the person who is:

  • being cared for needs to have a care and support assessment from the county council 
  • their unpaid carer needs to have a carer’s assessment 

These assessments are used to decide if you are eligible for short breaks and what support will be provided.

You may also be eligible for a NHS Personal Health Budget to pay for a short break from caring.

To find out more, download our factsheet about short breaks.

You can also contact us by:

Email: enquiries@nottscc.gov.uk
Telephone:: 0300 500 80 80 

We offer residential short breaks for adults aged 18 to 65 years who are living with parents or carers and have a moderate to severe learning disability.

Our professional team of staff are skilled at working with people with additional complex behavioural issues or health needs.

We can provide one to one support with all areas of care including personal care, social activities, eating and drinking, moving and handling and mobility. 

We also offer additional health services including peg feeding, blood monitoring and administration of oxygen and rescue medication for epilepsy.

Shared Lives scheme

Our Shared Lives scheme can also help and provide a carer with breaks.

The person you care for can be supported by someone else and their family; this would provide you with breaks and some time for yourself.

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