Scaling up Local Authority Personal Budgets – The Role of Financial Management Platforms
Personal budgets have become a cornerstone of efforts to deliver more personalised care and support, empowering individuals to take greater control over their care arrangements. For Local Authorities (LAs), they present an opportunity to foster independence and flexibility, ensuring care aligns with the needs and preferences of those they serve. However, scaling personal budgets comes […]
Why Commissioners Need to Develop a Self-Directed Support Strategy
Councils are grappling with an ever-widening gap between rising social care demands and diminishing budgets. Faced with workforce shortages, escalating care costs, and increasing Citizen’s dissatisfaction, local authorities must rethink how they deliver adult social care. A robust Self-Directed Support (SDS) strategy, grounded in mechanisms like Direct Payments (DPs) and Individual Service Funds (ISFs), offers councils a transformative opportunity to save money, improve efficiencies, […]
Outsourcing Direct Payment Support Services: Weighing the Benefits and Drawbacks
The growing complexity of administering Direct Payments (DPs) has led many local authorities to explore outsourcing DP support services to independent organisations. These specialist providers offer expertise, independence, and user-focused solutions that can enhance the effectiveness of self-directed support systems. However, outsourcing also carries risks, including potential loss of local accountability and challenges in market […]
Talking Terminology: What Do ‘Neighbourhood Care’ and ‘Asset-Based Approaches’ Mean?
Understanding the terminology of neighbourhood care approaches can help to empower commissioners, social care professionals, policymakers, and the general public to engage more effectively with the systems that are designed to support citizens across communities. Understanding the terminology Asset Based Community Development (ABCD/Nurture Development) Developed by John McKnight and Jody Kretzmann, ABCD is a community-centric […]
Self-Directed Futures: Key Lessons Around Individual Service Funds For Commissioners
There has been a wealth of learning around Individual Service Funds over the past twenty five years, building upon the early pioneering work of Dr Simon Duffy and Helen Sanderson. This summary outlines some of the key learning areas from Self Directed Futures work with local authorities and care and support providers over time, highlighting […]
Rewards For Providing Individual Service Funds: A Poll Of Service Providers
The subject of incentivisation often arises in relation to Individual Service Funds, with the perceived wisdom often being that ISF provider organisations need financial incentives to deliver this model of personalised support. With this in mind, I recently took a poll of Individual Service Fund providers in England to ask them what they wanted in […]
Navigating the Care Act 2014 in Alignment with the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Care Act 2014 represents a transformative approach to health and social care in the UK, setting a precedent for diversity, quality, and personalised care. Its statutory guidance offers a robust framework for Local Authorities, empowering them to exceed the basic standards of care and support. This commitment is further enriched by aligning the Act’s […]
Market Shaping For Individual Service Funds
Developing a local marketplace that encompasses providers and independent brokers who are offering Individual Service Funds (ISFs) to citizens involves deliberate and strategic market-shaping efforts by commissioners. This may also involve helping support provider organisations to re-envisioning their role as holders of a citizen’s budget, moving closer towards a broker model that uses person-centred planning […]
Market Shaping For Citizens And Communities
Local authorities are integral in commissioning services that address the needs of their communities and actively engaging with the wider market and different types of provision to maximise the availability of high quality support options for all local residents. Under the Care Act 2014, local authorities have a legal obligation to facilitate an efficient market […]
Keeping it Local: Building Neighbourhood Care Capacity
In recent years, community-based care support services, alongside the broader spectrum of public services, have witnessed significant levels of demand-related stress. Amidst rising demand, higher costs and the increasingly complex nature of needs placing services under strain, a shift is occurring in some areas. This shift is about moving the commissioning of home care away […]
