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• IB Guidance for Social Care Staff

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• IB Guidance for Social Care Staff

Guidance for Social Care Staff

This page provides social care staff, both internal and external, with an overview of the project and what it will mean for them in terms of the assessment process and access to work for people.  It also provides staff with a guide and information documents necessary for them to carry out their training and work.

The Individual Budgets Pilot Scheme - Objective/Introduction

The objective is to allow improved, cost-effective services and outcomes for service users and their carers.  In essence the Individual Budgets Pilot asks Coventry to deliver on 4 objectives:

• To deliver an improved and streamlined assessment process where the service user feels more in control and can access multiple resource streams as efficiently as possible.
• The assessment should then produce a transparent and understandable allocation of resources.
• The service user should then have choice and control over how their support is delivered via a menu of options about how to receive the support they need to spend the money to meet their support needs.
• We need to do this within current resources.

The following gives a brief overview of documents, which will be useful to staff and can be downloaded using the links in the text.

Guidance for Social Care Staff

There are a selection of pages that will take you through each aspect of the pilot project, from general guidance to forms and documentation.

Provides information for staff on:

• Background/Objectives of the Pilot/Meeting the Objectives
• Who will be in the Pilot
• How will we know it has made any difference?
• How will it change my practice?
• Integrated and Coordinated Assessments
• The Outcomes Assessment
• The Outcomes Focused Review
• Changes to current practice
• Screening of referrals
• Completing the Outcomes Assessment/completing the suggested support plan
• Options for managing care
• Evaluation 
• Commissioning activity to support Individual Budgets
• Promoting Independence work with private sector providers
• Independent Sector Brokerage/Care Navigation
• Forms, IBSEN User Registration form, IBSEN Baseline Data Form
• IBSEN Service User Consent Form
• Schedule of Costs
• Outcomes Focused Resource Allocation System.

The Outcomes Focussed Assessment and Support Planning Framework

These documents provide information on:

• Autonomy outcomes, for example financial security
• Personal outcomes, for example physical health and access to appropriate services
  Economic participation outcomes, for example access to training or paid employment
• Social participation outcomes, for example access to support for personal relationships

Financial Assessments

Several of the funding streams accessible through the Individual Budgets scheme will also require a service user contribution. We are trying to align the financial assessment process, so that a service user will only require one financial assessment to determine their overall contribution.

The Financial Assessments Team have developed a joint financial assessments form with the Independent Living Fund (ILF).

In order that a service user can be informed of their contribution as soon as is possible, an Individual Budgets Financial Assessment should be requested as soon as their eligibility for services is determined. 

Electronic Social Care Record (ESCR)

To use the Electronic Social Care Record (ESCR) you must be logged in to the Coventry City Council server. To become a registered user please contact Barbara Ashby.

All assessments, support plans and reviews must now be completed electronically. This includes applications to the Independent Living Fund (ILF), Access to Work (AtW)  and Assessing for Housing Related Support.

Supporting People

The Supporting People documentation on task analysis and frameworks will enable you to determine the support available. Typically, the support available will be limited to established floating support services within the City. Any application for Supporting People Funding within an Individual Budget and the relevant Service Authorisation Form should be sent to Andrew Reece (Individual Budgets Project Lead). If a service user is a resident of a Supporting People Housing project they will not be eligible for further funding.

If you are not applying for Supporting People funding within the Individual Budget, you should send the completed Service Authorisation Form to your budget holder.

Referral to the Independent Living Fund (ILF)

The Independent Living (1993) Fund is a Trust, which was set up in 1993 by central government.  The Fund receives all of its funding from central government.  The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) is the government department that gives the Fund money to pay to Fund users.

The Fund is intended to support disabled people so that they can live independently at home, rather than in residential care.  It makes payments to disabled people so that they can afford to employ personal assistants or agency workers to provide the support that they need to remain in their own home.

To apply  for support from the ILF you must already be in receipt of £200+ of personal care support per week from your local authority, be in receipt of the higher rate care component of Disability Living Allowance, be aged 16-65 and have no more than £18,500 in savings or capital.

Access to Work (AtW)

Access to Work (AtW) provide support for disabled people and their employers. The scheme is run by JobCentre Plus and provides funding to assist with the extra support costs that can be incurred in employing a disabled person.

Applications for funding from Access to Work are made through forms provided by JobCentre Plus.

Outcomes Focussed Resource Allocation System

This section is currently under development, please refer to the 'Guidance for Social Care staff'.

For more information on the Individual Budgets Pilot or the information documents on this page, please contact: