Impact – enabling short breaks for disabled children

1. Impact – enabling short breaks for disabled children Key Elements of Personalisation for Providers Some thoughts collected from successful providers in adult services November 2012

2. Where has this material come from? The experiences of three main organisations - but especially based on the thoughts of Doreen Kelly from Partners for Inclusion, Scotland HFT Natural Breaks, Merseyside

3. The Direction of Travel

4. Staying local so access is easy and cheaper A willingness to provide tailored services in line with person centred plans The money relates to the individual and is not pooled A willingness to see short breaks as only part of the whole picture Able to work in partnership with the family, young person and the council Staying small and person-centred Factors that are important for success

5. Essential Components… • Individualised Funding • Dedicated and matched staff • Child centred decisions • A positive ‘can do’ culture seeking the best outcomes for the individual • Service Design & Working Policy is clear and ‘lived’ • Good agreements with families • Organisational design (size matters)

6. Things for providers to do • Providers will need to price things clearly • Market what they can offer • Be clear about conditions of delivery and notice periods • Both councils and providers need to adapt finance systems (to cope with contributions from personal budgets) • Both councils and providers need to provide training for all stakeholders • Check regularly with the council how fast the speed of change is expected to be

7. The Money Principles • Decisions are made as close to the child as possible • Too much money reduces creativity • If you have the money, work with the families and children to choose what to do with it • Money should be transparent and monitored • Most of the money should be spent on the service • Staff should have flexible contracts

8. Financial arrangements Income Received from Council/local Authority for Child as ISF or from family as a direct payment For the Organisation: Central Management/ Administration Charges Service Management Fee Support Salaries Support Expenses Training /Recruitment Insurance Pot Other costs e.g. Specialist input

9. The possible future scene • Many families will opt for something individual to meet their child and family’s needs • Many families will continue using existing services but this will lessen over time • Some people will want existing services to do more for them but in a more customised way

10. Possible take up of services via brokerage • Some families will be able to organise their own support with help from family and friends and they might manage to do this for free or at low cost • Some families may need help to do this either from the council or an independent broker • A few people in crisis or who don’t have many natural supports may need someone to make arrangements for them but short breaks should be pre-planned

11. Marketing • There is advice on marketing produced by ACEVO: https://www.acevo.org.uk/Document.Doc?id=773 • Glen Crosier’s blog: http://www.sellingcare.co.uk/about/

12. Final thoughts The success of personalisation ... is almost entirely dependent on the knowledge, skills & confidence of the workers employed to manage the process as well as those staff who work with people on a day-to-day basis. At Partners for Inclusion you don’t have problems, you have learning experiences Andrew Tyson No problem is too big for an individualised service, in-built flexibility allows change as necessary. Doreen Kelly Support worker