Individual Service Funds and the Care Act, TLAP resources, learning sets and what's on offer Dr Tim Gollins TLAP SDS and PB policy lead 1

The Care Act legislative hierarchy Primary legislation – the Care Act The legal duties and powers Secondary legislation – the regulations More detail on critical requirements, often related to processes. Statutory guidance Guidance on how to meet legal obligations in the Bill. These are not mandated requirements, but the LA must have “cogent” reasons that it can legally justify if it wants to take another course. Practice guidance Best practice guidance, toolkits and other products which help support implementation. These do not have any legal status, so may be used by LAs, or not. They will vary from one area to another, and should be agreed/co-produced with stakeholders to ensure buy-in. 2

The Care Act Guidance on ISFs Clause There are three main ways in which a personal budget can be deployed: As a managed account held by the local authority with support provided in line with the persons wishes As a direct payment As a managed account held by a third party (often called an individual service fund or ISF) with support provided in line with the persons wishes; 3

Clause of the Guidance. Where ISF approaches to personal budget management are available locally, the local authority should: Provide people with information and advice on how the ISF arrangement works and any contractual requirements Explain how the provider(s) will manage the budget on behalf of the person Provide advice on what to do if a dispute arises Consideration should be given to using real local examples that illustrate how other people have benefitted from ISF arrangements 4

Clause Where there are no ISF arrangements available locally, the local authority should: Consider establishing this as an offer for people Reasonably consider any request from a person for an ISF arrangement with a specified provider 5

Three issues 1.Uptake 2.The legal issue 3.The practice 6

The uptake issue ADASS Personalisation survey % of PBs delivered via an ISF 1% of adult social care spend 7

The legal issue There are just two legal options: Meet needs directly - any money received belongs to the responsible organisation (not to the individual) Making direct payments - In this case the responsibility to meet need, and the money to meet need, does belong to the person An ISF is a way in which the council can meet needs directly (cf. slide 3) So why should councils adopt an ISF approach? 8

The practice issues ISFs not a contract Councils can’t contract for a contract How do councils contract flexibly, e.g. to enable innovation and sub-contracting? Negative trust circles to positive trusting relationships: Councils – providers(Maximizing profit) Providers – people(Asking for too much) People – commissioners(Not listening) How do commissioners identify providers they can trust? How do providers support people innovatively in ways that support independence and don’t inadvertently create dependencies? Asset-based approaches How do commissioners work with people to understand what success is? Outcome monitoring How do ISFs save money and who owns the efficiency? People – its their PB Providers – its their payment Councils – if its not meeting needs, it not payable from the public purse 9

Why use ISFs? Responsibility - decision-making is located with someone who has the right information, motivation and expertise to make the decisions - Providers. Responsiveness – decisions can be made quickly and easily, as problems and opportunities occur. There is no undue delay or contractual restriction. Resources - can be used more flexibly and creatively to build on the person’s assets and community. Resources are not tied into particular kinds of service or support. Relationships – commissioners operate as enablers for provider-person relationships, and link to customers for monitoring purposes. Better outcomes for less money 10

TLAP’s offer Up to 6 learning sets with one or two supported meetings each in Support webinars on specific subjects – on demand Support a formal community of interest (web based) – on demand Enable informal peer-to-peer networks to support information sharing 11

The job in hand  Decide if you want to be part of a formal learning set Get a name and lead contact – put it on board 1 (6-10 people - formal rules and commitments - see )  Identify issues for future webinars or discussions – put them on board 2  Sort out your informal support network 12