Today

• Talk about Personalisation

• Focus on Personal Budgets

• Talk through the process…

• ….So we can look at obstacles and

opportunities for social enterprises

In 30 seconds

• Person-centred services must be the future

• Real opportunity for social enterprises

• But some big issues with system

• We need to understand the system – to then

work out where opportunities are

Rob Greenland

Gill Coupland

Introductions to eachother

Personalisation is….

• About more than Personal Budgets

• But they’re a big part of it…..

• …And a lot of emphasis is put on them

• …And there are opportunities there for social enterprises

• So that’s what we’ll look at today

• Putting People First (2007)

“The time has now come to build on best practice and replace paternalistic, reactive care of variable quality with a mainstream system focussed on prevention, early intervention, enablement, and high quality personally tailored services.”

Gill Coupland Social Business Brokers CIC

What does it all mean in practice?

• The whole point is that people have more choice and controlYOU’RE the best person to decide what’s right for you. A personal budget gives you more choice and control over the kind of social care support you use – and how it isdelivered.

Talk through the process

• Self-Assessment process

• Resource Allocation System (RAS)

• Indicative Budget

• Support Planning

• Brokerage

• Approval

• Delivery and Review

OK, so how does a person get a personal budget?

• Referral to adult social care for an assessment

• FACS eligibility

• Self directed assessment

The RAS

• Care Outcomes identified

• Resource Allocation System

• Person notified of their indicative budget

What next?

• Support planning What do you want to change or achieve in your life,

and

how will you do this? How will you arrange and manage your social care

support? How do you want to manage your budget? Contingency planning – what if something goes

wrong? How will you manage any risks?

How is this different?

• Creative planning

• Brokerage support

• Managing the money

• Enabling a person to take risks

What if there’s not enough money?

•Indicative budget

•Revisited when support plan complete

Options for managing the money

• “Personal budgets are designed to be flexible and fit people’s individual circumstances”

• Direct payment to an individual• Direct payment to a suitable person• Direct payment to a trust• ISF – Individual Service Fund• Local authority• Mix ‘n’ Match

Could you blow it all on a world cruise?!

•Review process

•Meet agreed outcomes

•Unforeseen costs

Questions and comments

Some issues with Personalisation

Assessment process

Anecdotal evidence• It can take time to get an assessment

• No mention - or active discouragement - of

Personal Budgets

• Complicated process - we’ve heard of 60

page questionnaires

• FACS criteria, financial criteria

RAS and Indicative Budgets

Anecdotal evidence• Who knows how the Resource Allocation

System works?• Concern that not all needs are taken into

consideration• Some lack of faith in the financial figure that

comes out of the RAS

Support planning and brokerage

• Creative thinking could make a big difference

• Evidence of social workers holding onto this role

• Some Councils have put resources into this (so others can get involved) - some haven’t.

Approval of Personal Budget

Anecdotal evidence

• The amount approved can be lower than the

Indicative Budget

• It can be hard to get more creative ideas

through the approval process

• Budget cuts? Risk aversion? People not liking

change?

The Virtual/Managed Budget

• Councils had targets to meet - and financial

incentives - until April this year

• It seems lots of people with Personal Budgets

actually have “Virtual Budgets”

• In how many cases are people getting

something materially different?

To summarise

• It’s only natural that something like this will

take time

• But we’re not sure it’s just a matter of time

• JRF research points to inadequate funding -

and negative aspects of social care culture -

as barriers to developing person-centred

support.

How could you get involved?

Opportunities - customers

1. Tell people about Personal Budgets

2. Support people through the assessment

process

3. Get involved in support planning &

brokerage

4. Help people to pool budgets

Opportunities: services

5. Develop person-centred services

6. Collaborate to develop service packages

7. Explore whether some people (eg PA’s, ex

Council staff) want to set up social

enterprises

8. Think beyond Personal Budgets - to self-

funders

Final thoughts

• It’s not all doom and gloom

• But there are real, practical issues

stopping things working like we’d like

them to

• Isn’t that where we’re supposed to

make a difference?

www.ideasthatchangelives.org.uk

www.scoop.it/personalisation

www.thesocialbusiness.co.uk

www.ideasthatchangelives.org.uk