Greater Say In Self Directed Support Services

23rd November 2010

Plans for greater say in care services
Robison announces new Self-directed Support strategy

A new strategy to give people more control over how social care and support is provided to them was today (TUES 23rd November 2010) launched by Minister for Public Health Shona Robison.

The Self-directed Support (SDS) strategy aims to ensure as many people as possible can choose how their funding for social care support is spent.

Self-directed support is a term that describes the ways in which individuals and families can have informed choice about the way that support is provided to them.

Ms Robison today visited the Reidvale Neighbourhood Centre in Dennistoun, Glasgow, to meet people who have recently chosen to direct their own support through the Glasgow City Council self-directed support test site.

For example, David Cusick is 44 and from Easterhouse in Glasgow. He has been using self-directed support as part of the Glasgow pilot and works in the Reidvale Cafe. He said:

"I just started working here last month in a training position and I love it. Because I can choose how my budget's spent I have a work coach who comes with me and it's made a really big difference to me.

"I chose to do this and I'm able to pay for it. Being able to do that makes a real difference for me day to day, because I like being in control of my own life and making my own decisions."

Forty-seven year old Helen Black is from Dennistoun and has also taken part in the Glasgow SDS pilot. Having lived in a group home for many years, Helen is now about to move into her own flat with only minimal support. She said:

"Having more control over my life has meant the world to me. I've been coming to the Reidvale Centre to help out as a volunteer for nearly a year now and I love coming to work. I've made a lot of friends and I'm happier than I've been in a long, long time. I really get a lot out of being here.

"I've always wanted to live in my own flat by myself as well, so I'm really excited that that's about to happen for me. I've had control of my funding for a wee while now and I love that I can start to make my own decisions about my life and my future."

This 10 year strategy, drawn up with the support of COSLA and stakeholders, aims to make self-directed support the mainstream route for funding of support services. It is hoped that as many people as possible will take advantage of this route.

Self-directed support, encompassing direct payments, provides individual budgets for people to buy or arrange their own support packages to meet their assessed personal, social and healthcare needs.

More than 3,500 people across Scotland are already choosing to use self-directed support, but the Scottish Government aims to increase this number.

Research has shown that when individuals have greater control and influence over their care and support and direct control over how the money is spent, they can spend those resources in a smarter way and they achieve much better outcomes in terms of their satisfaction and general wellbeing.

Ms Robison said: "This strategy represents an important step forward to delivering support that is fit for the future.

"Traditional methods of a local authority deciding how to provide care to someone assessed as needing support can be restrictive and may not meet an individual's needs in the way that suits them best.

"The increasing numbers of people accessing social care and support and the range of individual needs mean that services will have to be much more flexible in the future. We want to see many more people being given the chance to change their lives for the better.

"The people I have met here today show what can be done when people are enabled to think about what they can do, not told what they can have. This is an excellent example of supporting people to be part of their community.

"We want to take this even further. Not only are we publishing our strategy today, but we will publish a draft Self-directed Support Bill in December, which will aim to underpin the strategy by modernising the law on social care and enshrining choice and control for individuals."

Jim Elder Woodward from the Independent Living in Scotland Steering Group said:"Government figures have shown self-directed support in the form of direct payments has only grown by one per cent per annum since its inception. Independent Living in Scotland therefore welcomes this strategy as a positive step to address this, but stresses that it will be crucial to develop and maintain the leadership needed within local councils to make it a reality for the majority of disabled people in the community.

"We call on both government and local authorities to show leadership and share the vision of independent living, a vision in which self-directed support plays its central and crucial role in securing disabled people's place in society, as free and equal citizens."

The Self-directed Support Strategy is published today at www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2010/11/05120810/0. The three Self-directed Support test sites in Scotland are in Glasgow, Dumfries and Galloway and Highland. These have each been given £1.2 million funding from the Scottish Government over three years. The test sites are working to increase the uptake of self-directed support by focusing their work on three themes of intervention: bridging finance; cutting red tape and leadership and training.