Better Lives in our Communities: Have your say on proposed changes to Adult Social Care day and overnight respite services

Closes 31 Jan 2025

Opened 15 Oct 2024

Overview

Buckinghamshire Council logo

We want to hear your views on proposed changes to our Adult Social Care day opportunities and overnight respite service, often referred to as ‘Short Breaks’.

We want adults with care and support needs to access high quality day opportunities and overnight respite services so that they can live well and independently as part of their communities. Our Better Lives Strategy sets out our overall vision and approach to supporting adults to live well and live better lives.

We currently have seven council-run and owned Adult Social Care day centres. One of the centres (Seeleys House) also has an overnight respite unit. The council-run centres currently support 128 adults and the budget for the centres is £3.4 million.

Our current service model is not sustainable. Our council-run day centre buildings are underused, some are in poor condition, and the service is not providing value for money.

We know that there is a demand for more community support from younger adults with care and support needs and, whilst needed for adults with the most complex needs, an overall reduced demand for traditional building-based services.

Buckinghamshire Council must save a total of £95.3 million over the next three years, with £41.3 million to be saved in the current financial year (2024/25). At the same time, Adult Social Care costs are rising with increased demand. Adult Social Care must make savings of £14.4 million by April 2026. The Short Beaks service must save £700,000. Without changing how services are delivered this will not be possible.

Cabinet agreed on 8 October 2024 to consult on proposed changes to our Adult Social Care day opportunities and overnight respite service.

How demand for the council-run service has changed

Our council-run day centres are highly valued and provide a social environment, increase independence and provide respite to carers.

However, our council-run day opportunities and overnight respite services have changed over recent years.

In 2020 there were 330 people accessing the short breaks service and now there are 128. This is a 61% decline in attendance.

The reduction in people using the service is because of several reasons:

  • Adult Social Care increasing community-based external services
  • providers of residential and supported living improving their day activities so that people don’t need to travel to a separate day centre to access support
  • a trend in people wanting more personal choice and community-focused services

As a result, our council-run day centre buildings are underused making the current way of delivering the service unsustainable.

Options for change

We have considered three main options for change:

  1. Option 1: Do nothing and keep all seven council owned day centres
  2. Option 2: Combine council day centres with more external services (preferred option)
  3. Option 3: Close all council day centres and provide external services only

We have considered each option against the following key factors:

  • quality – to provide high quality services and facilities
  • sustainability – to deliver our long-term vision for the service, as well as meet future needs
  • value for money – the cost-effectiveness of the service delivery options

Our preferred option (option 2)

We want to improve our council-run service so that we can provide the best specialist support for adults with complex needs, and increase external services.

To achieve this, we are proposing our council day opportunities service is run from three specialist day centres instead of seven. The three specialist council-run day centres we are proposing to run the service from are:

  • Aylesbury Opportunity Centre
  • Chesham Short Breaks Centre
  • Spring Valley Day Centre in High Wycombe

We would invest in the three specialist centres to improve the buildings and provide high quality environments and facilities. The investment would help us create a sustainable service going forward, by providing the services young people with care and support needs require.

We would also look to strengthen community outreach, including supported employment for adults with learning disabilities, with increased externally-run services.

This would mean no longer delivering adult social care services, including overnight respite care, from the following sites:

  • Buckingham Day Centre
  • Burnham Day Centre
  • Hillcrest Day Centre in High Wycombe
  • Seeleys House Short Breaks Centre in Beaconsfield

The type of services currently provided at the above four sites would continue to be delivered from different locations. This might be at council-run or provider-run day centre, shared lives or through a direct payment offer.

Adults currently accessing overnight respite at Seeleys House would be offered suitable alternative placements with local providers.

We know each person's needs are different. Whilst the way in which services are delivered would change, we would continue to meet each person’s needs. Social workers would work with individuals and families to discuss how best to meet care and support needs and minimise the impact of any change.

We want to hear from people who use the service, their families and carers, staff, community groups, and our partners and providers.

Frequently asked questions

Since the launch of the consultation on 15 October 2024 we have received some questions and requests for further information. This document makes available responses to common questions asked. We will continue to update this document as needed if new common questions emerge.

Frequently asked questions (PDF 0.15MB)

Related documents and links

Before you respond to this activity, please have a look at the following documents and links:

Events

We are holding a number of events during the consultation period.

People who use the council-run service and their families and carers, as well as staff, have been contacted directly with details of events.

Providers of day opportunities and overnight respite services will be contacted directly with details for an online event.

We are also holding an online public meeting on Tuesday 19 November at 6pm. Please book using Eventbrite and send any questions ahead of the event to betterlivesinourcommunities@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

If you have any questions about this activity, or require this information in another format or language, please email us at betterlivesinourcommunities@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or phone us on 01296 387904 to request a call-back.

The consultation period has been extended from 7 January to 31 January 2025.

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Friday 31 January 2025.

What happens next

We will consider all of the responses we receive.

We anticipate that Cabinet will make a decision on the proposed changes outlined in this consultation in June 2025. Any changes to how we deliver day opportunities and overnight respite services, if agreed, will be implemented after this decision and phased to ensure that every adult supported has the right suitable care in place to meet their needs.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.

Give us your views

Areas

  • All Areas

Interests

  • Social care
  • Health
  • Children & young people
  • Mental health and wellbeing
  • Communities
  • Finances