New system will avoid young disabled people and families waiting for services they "desperately need" in Luton

A new staffing system will avoid young disabled people and their families in Luton “having to wait for the services they desperately need”, a meeting heard.

New posts will be created and some will be deleted within the borough council’s shared care and London Road resource centre teams to establish a short breaks service.

An increase in requests for short break care has arisen during the last three years, according to a report to the local authority’s administration and regulation committee.

“Creating a new short breaks service is based on the principle of reprioritising services to support the most vulnerable children, young people and families in Luton,” said the report.

“The need to not only grow the service, but tailor our response to demand is now paramount, and the new service will use the current resources and workforce.

“The vision is that the work of both teams will overlap to support children and families using London Road, while further developing earlier intervention for those having a child with a disability and who meet the threshold for support.”

Staff are due to begin in their new posts in November and December, “taking into account formal notice periods”.

Service manager for LBC’s disability service Kate Burchell explained: “The current structure isn’t meeting or reaching as many disabled families as we would like or using the skill base of the staff.”

Labour Saints councillor Ghulam Abbas said: “This looks like it’s getting rid of a management layer. There’s not much saving in full-time employment. Are there any financial savings?”

Ms Burchell replied: “We’re not getting rid of any layers of management. We’re realigning. It’s not about saving money, rather it’s about meeting need.

“We want young people to stay in Luton and receive their short breaks in their home town, which is incredibly important for us. We need to more fully use the space which exists.

“London Road is a five-bed unit. Using it just for overnight stays isn’t getting the benefit from that. The parents benefit more from a break during the day.

“We’ve tried to listen to what our parents are telling us and to be more creative with our use of the staff. We respond to the need as and where that is.

“The early help offer I don’t think is robust enough at present, so we want to do something about this. That’s how we support those families when they’re newly diagnosed.

“I can’t guarantee you we’ll double the amount of young people we can reach, but we’re absolutely going to tackle the waiting list because that’s the reason we want to do this.

“I don’t want young people having to wait for a service they and their families desperately need.”

Councillor Abbas added: “We want to see the waiting list knocked down and have zero, so if this has a dent on that it would be welcome.”

The committee approved a recommendation to implement staffing arrangements to create a new short breaks service.