Government pledges
£900,000 towards independent living and launches support programme
for councils
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release issued by The Government News Network on 4 June 2008
Minister for Care
Services Ivan Lewis today announced an extra £900,000 to help
disabled people work towards having more independent lives.
Speaking at an Office for Disability Issues consultation event on
delivery of the Independent Living Strategy the Minister pledged
new funding to help create up to 14 user-led organisations become
new Action and Learning Sites. These organisations are led and
controlled by disabled people and aim to help disabled people lead
more independent lives.
Also being launched today is the Personalisation Resource
Toolkit, part of the early work on the Personalisation Programme.
This programme will work with leaders in the adult social care
field to help councils transform their systems so social care
service users have more control over the care they receive. The
toolkit is the first product of the programme and will provide
advice and examples of good practice to local authorities as they
move to implementing a personalised system.
Minister for Care Services Ivan Lewis said:
"I am delighted to announce this new funding for Action and
Learning sites, to support disabled people in leading more
independent lives. Last year over 100 User-Led Organisations
applied to become action and learning sites. We hope that there
will be a similar level of interest in the Second Wave. We are
already supporting 12 sites which we announced in March this year.
"I am also pleased to support the Personalisation Programme
with the introduction of the Personalisation guide. This guide
will provide councils with the building blocks to deliver a more
personalised care service where the individual themselves is in
control of their support. The Department of Health will also be
working with leaders in the adult social care sector to recruit a
National Director for Social Care Transformation, and will be
leading a series of workshops around the country to help local
authorities transform their systems."
The extra funding will assist User-Led Organisations to develop
and improve their capacity and long term sustainability. The best
practice resulting from the Action and Learning Sites will be
shared to ensure that every locality has the chance to develop and
have access to a user-led organisation.
Minister for Disabled People, Anne McGuire, said:
"Today's announcements reflect the Government's
commitment to give people greater choice and control over the
support they receive. We are consulting on how to involve disabled
people in implementing and monitoring the Independent Living
Strategy. I welcome the additional funding for user-led
organisations which are so important in achieving independent
living for disabled people".
The Personalisation Toolkit is an on-line resource to help
councils and their partners set up a change programme and will
provide helpful tools, templates and examples based on early
learning from the individual budget pilot and the work of in Control.
[ENDS]
Notes to Editors:
1. The funding announced in this release is on top of the
£750,000 which has been shared between 12 User-Led Organisations
to help them become Action and Learning Sites from March 2008
2. User Led Organisations and The Personalisation Resource
Toolkit are part of Putting People First, announced in December
2007 the cross government concordat, which sets out the shared
aims and values, which will work across agendas with users and
carers to transform people's experience of care and support services.
3. The Personalisation Programme is being developed and delivered
with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services, the
Local Government Association and the Improvement and Development Agency.
4. The Personalisation Toolkit is available from http://www.toolkit.personalisation.org.uk
and includes help to develop resource allocation systems for
personal budgets, advice on the range of ways people can manage
their budgets and different approaches to to support planning and
brokerage. Over the next few months, a team from the Care Services
Improvement Partnership will share the materials in regional
workshops with those leading transformation in councils.
5. Putting People First is included in the cross-Government
Independent Living Strategy published in March 2008. The Strategy
is jointly owned by the Office for Disability Issues, the
Department of Health, Department for Children, Schools and
Families, Department for Transport, Department for Work and
Pensions, Communities and Local Government, and Department for
Innovation, Universities and Skills. The Strategy is available at
http://www.officefordisability.gov.uk/independent/strategy.asp