Personalisation & Employment

IPPR Seminar on Personalising Welfare

Dr Simon DuffyCentre for Welfare Reform

21st October 2009www.centreforwelfarereform.org

• Context

• Direct Payments

• Personal Budgets

• Resource Allocation Systems

• Conditionality

• Self-Directed Support

• Community-based Support

• Efficiency

• Rationale

• Welfare Reform

Key Issues

Context in Social Care

•A history of institutional care and powerlessness

•Growth of Independent Living movement (1960s)

•Slow policy shifts

•1996 Direct Payments Act

Direct Payments

• Offers input efficiencies - not process/outcome efficiencies

• DPs and IPs - chosen by c. 50%

• Does not explain greater efficiencies of Personal Budgets

Personal Budgets

Resource Allocation Systems

•Resource Allocation Systems are rules-based systems for allocating funds

•Radically simplify criteria and enable funding integration

•Indicative quality of budget allows for fine-tuning

Conditionality

•Conditionality offers a way of increasing engagement of citizens

•Outcome vs Process conditionality

•Change of management vs penalty

Self-Directed Support

Community-based support

• Independent brokerage is the least effective and efficient form of support.

• Other forms of support have differential impact on different groups - but support from family & friends always correlates with greater improvements in outcomes

• Sophistication of this message is not getting through - risk of explosion in wasteful support

Efficiency in Pull Economics

• Focusing paid support where it’s really valued

• Purchasing non-standard services

• Integrating paid and unpaid support - tackling disincentives

• Increased community activity

• More careful spending

Underpinning rationale

Welfare Reform