We are a specialist service that offers support to children with disabilities aged 0-18 and their families.

The service comprises of a small specialist team of social workers and assistants who have relevant knowledge, experience and skills. They work closely with other services such as health, education and community organisations.

We offer a range of services such as:

Children and young people supported by the service will have a permanent and substantial physical and/or learning disability, this includes

• profound multiple disabilities

• disability associated with complex health problems

• severe sensory disabilities

It excludes unrelated emotional, behavioural and mental health difficulties.

The Bedfordshire and Luton Children's Hearing Services working group is made up of a variety of professionals from Health, Education, Social Care, National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and most importantly, parents who use the services. The purpose of the group is to make sure that the services we deliver to hearing impaired children, young people and their families are the best they can be and really help them to meet their full potential in life.

Please download Issue 2 of their newsletter (PDF 898KB)

Paragraph 6(1)(c) of Schedule 2 of the Children Act 1989 requires Local Authorities to provide services to assist carers of disabled children that will give them breaks from caring for a disabled child.

To meet the requirements of the Regulations Local Authorities must have regard to the needs of Carers in respect of their capacity to care for, or continue to care for their disabled child, and must provide a range of services designed to meet this need. [‘Carer’ means a person who provides care for a disabled child and who is either the child’s parent or a person who has parental responsibility for that child. ‘Disabled’ has the meaning given in section 17(11) of the 1989 Children Act (2)]

• day care in the child’s own home or elsewhere;
• overnight care in the child’s own home or elsewhere;
• educational or leisure activities for disabled children outside their own homes;
• services in the evenings, at weekends and during the school holidays.

This Duty and the Breaks for Carers of Disabled children Regulations 2011 came into force on 1st April 2011.

It requires each Local Authority to produce a Short Breaks Services Statement (PDF 105KB),  Eligibility Criteria (PDF 31KB)  and an Equality Impact Assessment (PDF 268KB).

The Statement underpins how these services will be commissioned and delivered by the Local Authority from October 2011.