Journal of Integrated Care, 17(4), August 2009, pp.22-30.
Publisher:
Emerald
A key element in the personalisation of health and social care is the upfront allocation of a budget to disabled and older people which they can use to obtain the supports they require. The benefit of this arrangement in increasing user choice and control will not materialise unless recipients can either acquire or access the skills of brokerage needed to plan and arrange their supports. The independent support broker is one important response to this need. However, the role needs to match the intentions of personalisation and avoid the undesirable characteristics that many social care users associate with the term ‘professional’. This raises specific questions about the definition of the role and training requirements of brokers, and broader themes which are explored with reference
A key element in the personalisation of health and social care is the upfront allocation of a budget to disabled and older people which they can use to obtain the supports they require. The benefit of this arrangement in increasing user choice and control will not materialise unless recipients can either acquire or access the skills of brokerage needed to plan and arrange their supports. The independent support broker is one important response to this need. However, the role needs to match the intentions of personalisation and avoid the undesirable characteristics that many social care users associate with the term ‘professional’. This raises specific questions about the definition of the role and training requirements of brokers, and broader themes which are explored with reference to the findings from two recent projects undertaken by the National Development Team for Inclusion. The second of these projects was commissioned by Skills for Care London, and led to a set of proposals for the training and accreditation of support brokers.
Subject terms:
personal budgets, personalisation, service brokerage, social care staff, training;
Steve Dowson, associate consultant with the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), makes the case for a network of independent brokers to help service users make the most of the their personal budgets. Simon Duffy, director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, argues against favouring a system of community brokerage.
Steve Dowson, associate consultant with the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi), makes the case for a network of independent brokers to help service users make the most of the their personal budgets. Simon Duffy, director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, argues against favouring a system of community brokerage.
Subject terms:
information services, personal budgets, personalisation, service brokerage, service users, advice services, advocacy, care planning;
Policy and Politics, 37(4), October 2009, pp.499-515.
Publisher:
Policy Press
The authors of this article examine the influence of a range of national and international actors and networks on UK learning disability policy over the last 30 years, with particular focus on the policy shift towards individualised support and personalisation. Policy changes and developments within the UK are considered in the context of similar developments internationally and the extent to which personalisation can be sustained in the face of the scale and economic rationality of global markets is questioned. The article covers moves from institution to community, the Valuing People white paper and Valuing People Now consultation document and person-centred planning, direct payments and individual budgets, the personalisation of social care, people with learning difficulties
The authors of this article examine the influence of a range of national and international actors and networks on UK learning disability policy over the last 30 years, with particular focus on the policy shift towards individualised support and personalisation. Policy changes and developments within the UK are considered in the context of similar developments internationally and the extent to which personalisation can be sustained in the face of the scale and economic rationality of global markets is questioned. The article covers moves from institution to community, the Valuing People white paper and Valuing People Now consultation document and person-centred planning, direct payments and individual budgets, the personalisation of social care, people with learning difficulties and the disabled people's movement, the origins of direct payments policy in North America, marketing individual budgets, and key actors and agendas in the UK. The authors conclude that robust systems of accountability need to be developed that offer protection for users of individual budgets, including moving funding and service brokerage elements from local councils to local organisations, funding service user organisations to offer support and advocacy to users, and allocating funding to organisations of service users to enable them to develop links with service user groups beyond the UK.
Subject terms:
learning disabilities, personal budgets, personalisation, person-centred care, service brokerage, service users, social policy, social care, social care provision, direct payments, disabilities, government policy;