1. The Value of Information and Advice Jane Finnerty – Society of Later Life Advisers Nicola Taylor – Taylored Training

2. Information and Advice What is it? Who provides it? Advice Gap/Drunken Walk? Prevention services Integration of information and advice Standard – Care Adviser Award Specialist Financial Advice - SOLLA

3. Definition Information is data that has been verified to be accurate and timely, is specific and organized for a purpose Advice offers guidance and direction on a particular course of action which needs to be undertaken in order to realise a need, entitlement and/or access a service

4. Providers ASC - contact teams/OT’s/care management/Brokers/PA’s………. NHS/Hospital Teams – GP’s/District Nurse/Discharge coordinators……. Care advice agencies Residential/Nursing home teams Domiciliary care teams Friends/Neighbours/Carers/Family Financial Advisers/Solicitors Voluntary Organisations/Clubs/Societies

5. Information/Advice or both? ‘ Don’t eat the pasta in the fridge, it’s for tea”

6. How much Information and Advice do you provide daily? Try keeping a daily tally of the Information and Advice that you give in any one of your working days

7. Information, Information, Information without it, how can people be truly at the heart of decisions? “ There are some things that should be universal – information is one” Caring for our future: reforming care and support bill, white paper 11/7/12

8. Care Advice 1 in 3 of us will need long term care but not many people plan for a future care need Why? Have you? Perhaps because we don’t want to think about getting older As an unforeseen need in our busy lives it is not a priority Maybe we can’t afford to make provision for it A lack of information or too much that isn’t appropriate Unhelpful signposting – “passed from pillar to post” Non personalised advice Difficult to contact LA and often signposted elsewhere when we do

9. Who goes where – a drunken walk? During recent ‘Advice Gap?’ sessions with Carers and Care providers we asked which subjects did they need information on or were asked by others for advice on. Local Authority Funding - 31 chose this card Welfare Benefits - 43 chose this card Choosing Care/Housing – 37 chose this card NHS Funding – 9 chose this card Financial/Legal Advice – 3 chose this card

10. Information overload? This is where they said they would go for help or signpost residents to for advice Welfare Benefits – Internet, Job Centre, Carers agency, Advocacy services, CAB, Social services, Internet, Leaflets, DWP, McMillian, AgeUK, Local Authority/District Council, Solicitor Choosing Care- Internet, Yellow pages, Local Authority, GP, Hospital, Family/Friend/Carer, CQC, Church, AgeUK, Alzheimers Society, Chemist, Internet, Solicitor, Care service directory, Independent care agency Local Authority Funding; Local Authority, Accountant, Family/Friend/Carer, Internet, CQC

11. Care Advice gap ? There is a wealth of information available from a variety of sources For it to be useful it needs to be personalised, accurate and take into account what is available in the locality

12. Changing Times Dinot report (2010), published July 2011 The Dilnot Commission report said “There is confusion about the role of benefits, the NHS and social care. People often struggle to find financial information and advice.” Care Bill Information and Advice Legal obligation - Part 1, Section 4 Welfare Reform Act 2012 introduced Universal Credit and PIP – Personalised Independence Payment.

13. Care Bill Part 1, Section 4 - Providing information and advice (1) A local authority must establish and maintain a service for providing people in its area with information and advice relating to care and support for adults and support for carers. ( 2) The service must provide information and advice on the following matters in particular— (a) the system provided for by this Part and how the system operates in the authority’s area, (b) the choice of types of care and support, and the choice of providers, available to those who are in the authority’s area, (c) how to access the care and support that is available, (d) how to access independent financial advice on matters likely to be relevant to adults who have needs for care and support or are making plans for meeting needs for care and support that might arise, and (e) how to raise concerns about the safety or well-being of an adult who has needs for care and support. (3) In providing information and advice under this section, a local authority must in particular seek to ensure that what it provides is sufficient to enable adults— (a) to identify matters that are or might be relevant to their personal financial position that could be affected by the system provided for by this Part, and (b) to make plans for meeting needs for care and support that might arise. (4 ) Information and advice provided under this section must be accessible to, and proportionate to the needs of, those for whom it is being provided. (5 ) In cases where a local authority performs the duty under subsection (1) jointly with one or more other local authorities by establishing and maintaining a service for their combined area— (a) references in this section to a local authority are to be read as references to the authorities acting jointly, and (b) references in this section to a local authority’s area are to be read as references to the combined area.

14. Attendance Allowance Forgotten Million- Independence Payment Approximately four out of five AA recipients receive care, (much of it informal). Only around 170,000 of the 1.3 million AA recipients (mostly Women over 80 yrs) in England receive local authority support. Strategic Society Centre/Independent Age – Independence Allowance developing a new vision for Attendance Allowance June 2013

15. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) will replace DLA for eligible claimants aged 16 to 64 from 8 April 2013 This includes all new claims and existing DLA claimants and is part of a wider reform of the welfare system It remains non means tested and non taxable

16. Scenario Exercise Mr Smith is looking after his Wife who is 75 yrs old and has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimers He is also in his late 70’s and her main carer. He says that he helps with all aspects of her personal care and is with her most of the day to make sure she is safe as she “wanders into the street, day and night” Mr Smith tells you that he is exhausted and needs some help but isn’t sure where to go He tells you that he has Power of Attorney for his wife who has £100k in her own name.

17. Appropriate Information/Advice Attendance Allowance FACS Assessment Carer Assessment/stress relief services/grant Respite/Care and help at home Prevention services/Assistive technology Health Services Specialist Services – Alzheimers Society Financial Advice/Legal Advice services

18. I and A from 5 Local Authorities

19. I and A from 3 Vol Agencies and 2 Specialist services

20. Lost opportunity 5 out of 10 explained Attendance Allowance. Missed potential Annual benefit gain of £19’019 (£73.15 per week x 5 x 52) 5 out of 10 suggested or progressed to allocation for LA Assessment – only 2 highlighted Carer assessment/services Only 2 out of 10 mentioned seeking specialist Financial Advice 7 out of 10 suggested contacting the Alzheimers Society

21. The need for a standard Recognising that specific information and advice is vital for planning how care need is identified, met and funded Information and advice is the foundation for the development of better care, empowering people to make informed decisions gives real choice and control. With so many services all providing information and advice a standard has never been more important

22. Care Adviser Award The Care Adviser Award is a quality mark, a standard across ALL sectors, giving reassurance that those who have achieved it will give accurate information that is relevant to the individuals circumstances. http://careadvisernetwork.co.uk/adviser/pages/care-adviser-award.php

23. Information and Advice Integrating Provision Internal I and A provision S/F ‘Champions’ within Care Management Utilise Brokerage support Outsourcing Advice provision to a specialist care advice agency – First Stop Ensuring Financial Advice is an ‘as well as’ not an ‘instead of’ and that this is provided by a SOLLA accredited adviser

24. Funding Care Awareness © Aims/Objectives The aim of the training is to give a basic awareness of the sources of funding care, helping teams to identify potential entitlement; Basic Benefits Local Authority funding NHS Funding Utilising Specialist Financial Advice