Frequently Asked Questions. Please select a service below.

  • Clubs FAQs
    Clubs FAQs

    Children and Young People Clubs FAQs

    What clubs do you offer to children and young people (CYP)?

    We currently offer after school clubs for children and young people (CYP) each day of the week during term time. All of our other clubs are for CYP who have a diagnosis of a learning disability and /or autism apart from our Siblings Club which is for children who are a sibling of an individual who has learning disabilities.

    On Mondays we have our Siblings Club for children aged 8-12 who are a sibling of an individual with learning disabilities. Tuesday is our Juniors Club for children age 8-12. On Wednesdays we have our Aiming High Wednesdays Club for young people aged 16-25. Thursday is the Youth Group which is for young people age 13-17. On Fridays we have our Fun Fridays Club for our youngest members age 5-10.

    All of our clubs have termly programmes which the Senior Support Worker creates. Activities include arts and crafts, music, sports and fitness, life skill workshops, and trips out in the community, such as to the park, museums, and bowling. All of our clubs are either held at the Centre 404 building on Camden Road or are out and about in the community of Islington.

     

    What time are the clubs?

    All of our clubs are after school. They start between 4.00pm-4.30pm and finish between 6.00pm-6.30pm. Pick up and drop off times are scheduled for the 60-90 minutes before and after the active club time. For example, our Siblings Club starts at 4.30pm and finishes at 6.30pm. Pick up begins at 3.00pm and drop off ends no later than 8.00pm. All CYP who live in the Borough of Islington are eligible to receive escorted transport for our clubs.

     

    Who can attend the CYP clubs?

    Our clubs are for CYP with learning disabilities and autism who live in the Borough of Islington. Children who live outside of the Islington may still attend our clubs but are not eligible to receive included transport. Children who live outside of Islington may also be required to pay for the clubs through their Personal Budgets.

     

    What is the cost of your CYP clubs?

    The cost of our CYP clubs varies. Some are funded through Short Breaks Personal Budgets. The cost can vary depending on the ratio of support (1:1 or 1:3) the individual CYP requires and if transport is included or not. Some of our clubs are funded by national fundraisers and are free of charge for CYP. Please get in contact with the Children and Young People’s Activities Coordinator to see what club your child may be suitable to attend and how this would be funded.

     

    How do I refer my child to Centre 404?

    Please get in contact with the Children and Young People’s Activities Coordinator who will send you a Centre 404 Referral Form, Needs Assessment and Staff Matching document. These forms allow us to understand your child’s needs, find them a club which is suitable for their age and development and match them to a member of staff who can support them well. This process is in place at Centre 404 as we aim to always provide person centred support.

     

    Do you offer school holiday provision?

    Centre 404 currently runs Holiday Playschemes in Islington and Enfield for CYP aged 8-18 years.

    Our Islington Playscheme currently runs throughout the Summer holiday only for residents of Islington. This usually takes place in August, on Tuesday-Friday for 2 weeks. The Islington Playscheme is a full days trip out into the community, visiting places local to Islington such as the Islington Boat Club, Clissold Park and trampolining, and also travelling further afield to attractions such as LEGOLAND, GO APE and Paradise Wildlife Park. Children are picked up from their homes between 8.30am-10.00am and dropped back off after the day’s trip between 3.00pm-4.30pm. For more information on how our Islington Playscheme is funded, please get in contact with the Children and Young People’s Activities Coordinator.

    Our Enfield Playscheme is for CYP who live in Enfield. The Playscheme is held at a school in Enfield for the full day. Centre 404 does not provide transport for the Enfield Playscheme. Children are dropped off by families or arranged transport at 10.00am and picked back up at 3.00pm. Activities are delivered throughout the day such as arts and crafts, sports, cooking and music.

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  • Support for Families FAQs
    Support for Families FAQs

    Support for Families FAQs

    Who do  you support?

    The Supporting Families Service support parents or family carers of children and adults with a learning disability or autism living in North London.

    Among other groups, we facilitate the Islington Parents Forum which is a group for Islington parents and family carers of children and young persons with any special need or disability. Members of the Parents Forum can also access whole family events and activities at Centre 404. Unfortunately, we can only provide 1:1 support or casework to parents or family carers of children and adults with learning disability or autism.

     

    What is the difference between learning disabilities, learning difficulties and autism?

    Learning Disability : A significant lifelong condition characterised by lower intellectual ability (IQ below 70) and impairment in social or adaptive functioning that is onset in early childhood. As learning disabilities affect multiple functions, people who have a learning disability may need help understanding information, learning new skills and coping with day to day tasks .Some examples include profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) and down syndrome and others.

     

    Learning Difficulties : A learning or emotional problem in processing certain forms of information. Unlike learning disabilities, a learning difficulty is focused on a specific area of processing and there is no affect in intellectual abilities. Having a learning difficulty is unlikely to have a significant effect on daily living. Some examples includes dyslexia (reading, writing and spelling), ADHD (inattentiveness, hyperactivity and impulsiveness) and dyspraxia (physical co-ordination) among others.

     

    Autism Spectrum Disorder : A complex, lifelong developmental disorder that typically appears during early childhood and can impact a person’s social skills, communication, relationships, and self-regulation. Autism is defined by a certain set of behaviours and is a ‘spectrum condition’ that affects people differently and to varying degrees. Although autism doesn’t necessarily have an effect on intelligence (IQ), many people with autism also have learning disabilities and will need support throughout their lives.

     

    Can you help me with my child’s education or my child’s Education Health and Care Plans?

    We can offer general information and advice on education. However, we cannot support you with your child’s EHCP and cannot attend meetings or reviews. There is a statutory service in every borough that supports families of children with Special Needs around education. Its name is SEND IASS or similar. We can give you details of this service in your borough.

     

    Do you support families of children with Special Needs?

    Our main service supports parents and family carers of children and adults with Learning Disability or Autism. However, we facilitate a group for Islington parents whose children have any special need or disability. This is called the Parents Forum. You can attend our regular meetings and also access our workshops and activities for parents and carers. Please find attached a poster with future meeting dates here.

     

    Can you help with disability benefit applications such as: Disability Living Allowance (DLA), Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and Employment Support Allowance (ESA)?

    If you are a parent or family carer of a person with a Learning Disability or an Autism Spectrum Condition we can support you with your application. A caseworker will be allocated to your case and will give you information and advice and also meet with you to fill out the application if necessary.

     

    Can you help with any other welfare benefit application including Universal Credit?

    Yes, our trained team of caseworkers can give you information and advice and also help you fill out the form if necessary.

     

    Can you help a parent carer with their own benefit application?

    We aim to provide a whole family approach and will sometimes help you complete your own application or an application for another sibling. We use our discretion to provide this support based on individual circumstances and dependant on our availability.

     

    Can you help with a grant?

    If you are a parent or family carer of a person with a Learning Disability or an Autism Spectrum Condition we can support you with applications for a grant. Each grant holder has different requirements you will need to meet to qualify. This is normally dependant on your income and social circumstances. We will check this with you before making an application.

     

    Do you provide support with Direct Payments / Personal Budgets?

    We will support you with information and advice on how to apply. All applications need to be made to the Social Care Team in your Local Authority.

     

    My child’s Disability Card has expired, can I renew it with you?

    All Disability Cards are now nationals. Centre 404 no longer provides a local disability card. You can apply for your national card online by following this link https://www.did-card.co.uk/

     

    Can you help me apply for a Blue Badge?

    Yes, we will give you information and advice and will support you with your application.

     

    Can you accompany me to a meeting with my Social Worker?

    We can sometimes attend Social Care meetings with your depending on the circumstances of your case and our availability.

     

    Can you help me fill out a Financial Assessment Form for Social Care support?

    Yes, we can give you information and advice and can support you with your application.

     

    Can you help with housing?

    We provide general information and advice about social housing. We can also help you fill out a medical form that will support your claim. Unfortunately, we cannot help you bid for a house or get involved in housing transfers.

    If you are looking for supported living accommodation for your adult son/daughter, you will need to contact the Adult Social Care Team in your Local Authority.  We can provide you with advice and also tell you who is best to contact.

     

    Can you help me find activities for my child / young person or adult?

    We can support you to request Short Breaks from the Council and can also give you information about what is available in the borough and how you can access it.

     

    Do you offer training to parent carers?

    Yes, we deliver a number of workshops and activities for parents and family carers across the year. Some of these workshops are part of our Train the Trainer programme. You can find details here.

     

    Can I access any support groups and coffee mornings?

    Yes, you can find a list of all our groups here https://centre404.org.uk/engagement-have-your-voice-heard/.

     

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  • Personal Support FAQs
    Personal Support FAQs

    Personal Support Worker FAQs

    What can the Personal Support Worker Finding & Matching Service offer?

    The service provides support workers who work with people on a 1:1 or 2:1 basis out in the community, in their own homes, or wherever support is needed.  Support can be around a wide variety of activities, including searching for jobs, accessing education, budgeting, maintaining a healthy lifestyle, managing your home and socialising.  The service aims to match support workers to people based on support needs, interests and personality.  We can also support you to manage your Personal Budget as an Individual Service Fund.  If you would like support to manage a Personal Assistant who you have employed yourself, we can assist with this – please contact us to discuss your needs.

     

    Who can get support from the Personal Support Worker Finding & Matching Service?

    The service offers support to people with a learning disability who live in North London.  People who access this service usually have a Personal Budget or are paying for their own support privately.  If you are not sure whether you have a Personal Budget or another kind of funding for support, please discuss this with your social worker, as you may be eligible for support through a different service within Centre 404.

     

    How can I get a 1:1 support worker for myself or somebody else with Centre 404?

    You can refer yourself (or a family member) for a 1:1 support worker with Centre 404, or you can ask your social worker to make a referral on your behalf.  Please call 020 7607 8762 and ask to speak to a member of the Personal Support Worker Finding & Matching Service, or email PersonalBudgets@Centre404.org.uk.

     

    What will happen once a referral has been made?

    A member of the team will contact you to arrange an initial assessment at your convenience to discuss what you are looking for from your support and support worker, as well as to get an overview of your support needs.  Once this is completed we will review our team of workers and advise whether there are staff members who would be a good match and who are able to work with you.  If we do not have anybody immediately available, we will aim to recruit suitable workers who can support you.  When a support worker is in place, we will work with you on how best to start support – if they need to do a shadow session, if they need an introductory meeting, whether you want to start with fewer hours and build up.  We will put in place a Support Agreement to make it clear what is being offered and how things will be managed.  Please note, the initial assessment is free, and any further meetings will be charged at an agreed rate.

     

    How soon will a support worker be able to start working with me or my family member?

    This will depend on the staff team at the time of the referral and on what support you are looking for.  We aim to be very honest with people around how quickly support might be able to start, and if we need to recruit new staff to meet your needs, it can be very difficult to give a timeline.  We will discuss this with you at the time of referral and keep you updated with progress.

     

    How is my support paid for?

    The Personal Support Worker Finding & Matching Service can work with anybody who has a Personal Budget (which is usually arranged with social services).  People can also purchase support using their own money.  Each month, we will send an invoice to whoever is managing your Personal Budget or in control of your finances.

     

    Is there a minimum number of hours for a support session?

    Yes.  The shortest support session we offer is 2 hours.  If you would like a support session which is shorter than 2 hours, you can still request this but will be charged for 2 hours.

     

    How much does support and other services cost?

    Our rates for support start at £17.50 per hour (correct September 2019), however the actual cost will depend on the support needs, training requirements, the level of work involved in managing the support package and the times and days support is needed.  This will be discussed with you following the initial assessment.  The cost for managing your Personal Budget is £31.60 per month, and meetings where a manager is required to attend, or a specific piece of work needs to be completed by management is charged at £30 per hour (eg reporting incidents, creating reports for professionals).

     

    What training do your support workers receive?

    All of our support workers receive standard training through their first six months working with us.  This includes mandatory trainings such as Food Hygiene, Safeguarding Adults and Moving and Handling of People, as well as bespoke training such as working with family carers and our own Centre 404 induction including working with people with learning disabilities, the role of a support worker and person-centred planning.  Additional training for specific skills is undertaken when required.  If you would like to discuss further what training is delivered, please get in touch.

     

    If I want to change or cancel my support, how much notice do I need to give?

    If you want to change the time or day of a support session, or cancel a session on a one-off basis, you will need to give 7 days’ notice.  This is to ensure we are able to cover the costs of running the service.  If you would like to end your support completely with Centre 404, we require 4 weeks’ notice.

    Find out more

  • Day Service FAQs
    Day Service FAQs

    Day Service FAQs

     

    Timings

     

    Centre 404 Day Opportunities runs all year round, on Monday – Friday. The active time that the Day Opportunities service runs from is between 10.00am-3.00pm. Service users may be picked up from their homes prior to this, from 9.00am in the morning and also dropped off back home between 3.00pm-4.00pm each day that they attend

     

    Do you provide lunch? Or can I bring in a packed lunch?

     

    Yes you may bring in a packed lunch but we do provide lunch specific to the individual’s choice, dietary needs and SALT guidelines

     

    Which activities do you provide or can we do?

     

    We access Zumba,  Swimming ,Ice skating (we would use a wheelchair to access the ice rink) we have in house activities of Art and craft Cookery ,Jabadeo, Football, Tennis, Sensory Story/Sensory interactions, Bowling. Pedal Power, Numeracy and Literacy

     

     

    How many people attend?

     

    At the moment we have 11 people that attend the different venues

     

    What is the staffing ratio?

     

    Staffing depends on the specific needs of the individuals we are supporting

     

    Where are all the different day services based? Are they near where I live?

     

    Camden-Charlie Ratchford Centre

    Belmont Street

    NW1 8HF

     

    Brickworks Community Centre

    42 Crouch Hill

    Finsbury Park

    N4 4BY

     

    Centre 404  (OPENING MARCH 2020)

    404 Camden Road

    N7 OSJ

     

    How will I get there?

     

    Our staff will pick you up from where you live and drop you home

     

    Is it equal opportunity?

     

    Yes everybody is treated the same and nobody is left out of anything

     

    How do I pay for attending the day service?

     

    You can pay using your personnel budget or you can make a referral via Social Services

     

    Can I access the service through a personal budget or does it need to be via a social worker with funding agreed?

     

    If you are able to cover the cost of the service provision and we assess the needs of the individual to be suitable for our service, you can access it via a self-referral. Although we would always look to have Social Worker input into our services and placements in order to be able to best support the individual.

     

    Can my family member attend with their own worker?

     

    We would always accommodate workers from other organisations during an individual’s transition period into our provision but after this time we are unable to accommodate workers from other organisations as it can be difficult for us to manage the quality and performance of them.

    Find out more

  • Housing FAQs
    Housing FAQs

    Housing FAQs

    Is there any difference between learning disability and learning difficulties? Are they the same?

     

    Learning Disability and Learning Difficulties are two separate things and there is a big difference between them.

     

    Learning Disability refers to a significant, lifelong condition that starts before adulthood, affects development and leads to help being required to:

     

    • Understand information
    • Learn skills
    • Cope independently

     

     

    Whereas learning difficulty can refer to literacy difficulties that exists if a child has significantly greater difficulty in learning than children of his/her age. With some focused support, people usually overcome their literacy difficulties.

     

    Centre 404 only works with people who have a formal diagnosis of learning disability.

     

    Do you provide housing/accommodation?

    No. we do-not provide any housing/accommodation of our own but usually provide support in accommodations provided by local authority, housing associations or by client themselves.

     

    What support do you provide?

    We provide range of support options. From providing round the clock support in supported living services, to Outreach service in your own homes where a trained support worker can visit a client to provide support around correspondence, budgeting, shopping, activities of daily living, attending appointments and going out and about and making new friends.

     

    What is your referral process? Can my son/daughter get support from you?​

    It depends. We are a Learning Disability Specialist Charity, and as such, a person needs to have a formal diagnosis of Learning Disability and or Autism. So if you or family member has a formal diagnosis of learning disability, then please speak with your local authority’ s learning disability team or social worker to see if they can send a referral to us as most of our referrals come via local authorities.

     

    We can however accept a direct referral if you have a Direct Payment from your local authority.

     

    I live outside London. Do you provide support out of London?

    We are a North London based charity, with no offices out of London. Currently we only provide support in London.

     

    How can we get our son/daughter on the waiting list for any of the supported living services that you manage

    You need to contact Islington Learning Disability Partnership if based in Islington or your local learning disability team in the borough that you live in to discuss this. Centre 404 does not have a waiting list for any of the projects we manage.

     

    What activities/support do you provide that can be attended by people with learning disabilities or their families that do-not receive support from Centre 404?

    We offer range of services to people who are not part of centre 404. For example, if you have a learning disability, then you can attend our famous Friday Night Disco, and any trips that we arrange on a regular basis.

     

    We provide support and advocacy to family carers. Our specialist Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) Team can offer range of trainings and advice sessions for staff.

     

    What local and national services are available for a relative with autism

    National Autistic Society (https://www.autism.org.uk/) is a good organisation to contact to find out about support available for people with Autism.

     

    MIND (https://www.mind.org.uk/) is a specialist mental health charity and has some good resources on its website for people with Autism.

     

    British institute of Learning Disabilities (http://www.bild.org.uk/) offer guidance and advocacy support.

     

    What services are available for a child or teenager with autism and behaviours that challenge

    Our specialist Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) team can offer functional assessment support to analyse any behaviours that are of concern and try to identify any strategies to respond positively to those behaviours. Our PBS team can offer advice and guidance sessions for staff and families as well as specialist PBS training.

     

    What services are available for a relative with mental health conditions

    Currently we can only provide any service if you have a diagnosis of learning disability and/or Autism in addition to any mental health.

     

    Our specialist Positive Behaviour Support (PBS) team can offer functional assessment support to analyse any behaviours that are of concern and try to identify any strategies to respond positively to those behaviours. Our PBS team can offer advice and guidance sessions for staff and families as well as specialist PBS training.

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  • Volunteers FAQs