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Individual Budgets Pilot FAQs
This page will provide you with answers to questions we feel most people may want to ask about this pilot project Coventry are undertaking.
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What is the Individual Budgets Pilot?
What difference will it make to anyone who uses it?
Will people still need an assessment?
Is this an assessment of needs?
What is the difference between needs and 'Outcomes'?
What makes you think this pilot will work?
Are 'Outcomes' just about care?
Will an 'Individual Budget' help achieve all of these 'Outcomes'?
How can anyone find out more about 'Outcomes'?
Will there still be Eligibility Criteria?
Does a person have to have a Direct Payment?
How will people know if Individual Budgets have worked?
How else can people get involved in the Pilot?
Is this just another way of saving money?
Can people choose not to have an Individual Budget?
Is the Pilot happening everywhere?
What is the Individual Budgets Pilot?
The Government has asked Coventry to take part in a pilot for trying out new ways of arranging the care and support people need to help them remain independent. This pilot will last for a period of 2 years.
What difference will it make to anyone who uses it?
An 'Individual Budget' should allow a persons support to be organised a lot more quickly and much better by changing the
way we carry out assessments.
Each person should be told, exactly how much money they have to spend on their care and support
needs. This amount of money is known as their 'Individual Budget'.
It should also give each person more choice and control over how they actually get their care.
What if it does not work?
Once we have agreed someone's care and support package, they will not lose that support just because the pilot has stopped.
Will people still need an assessment?
Yes, but as well as being about care, the assessment should also cover other things like:
- equipment they may need
- housing support
- adaptations to their home
- support at work
- money for care from the 'Independent Living Fund'.
Is this an assessment of needs?
No. One of the things we will do differently is to use the assessment to look at what each person wants to do with their lives, or what their goals are, and what ‘outcomes’ they want to achieve.
What is the difference between needs and 'Outcomes'?
By thinking about needs, people think about the present moment in time. If the assessment is about 'outcomes', it helps the person who needs care and support, and the other people involved in the assessment, to think about how that person's life could be better in the future. It is then easier for each person and the people supporting them to work out how they are going to use their care and support to achieve these goals.
What makes you think this pilot will work?
York University ran a five-year project to test out the idea that 'outcomes' assessments are better. People who use care and support services felt an 'outcome' assessment was:
- more relevant to them
- less intrusive
- less stigmatising
- more likely to make things better
Are 'Outcomes' just about care?
Are 'Outcomes' just about care? No. They cover:
- Autonomy and self determination
- Personal cleanliness and comfort
- Economic participation
- Social Participation
Will an 'Individual Budget' help achieve all of these 'Outcomes'?
No. Most of the outcomes someone wants to achieve will only be viable with additional support and commitment from:
- The person themself
- Their family, friends and social network
- Other organisations, such as educational organisations
However the 'outcomes' assessment will help everyone work out who needs to do what in order to achieve each outcome.
How can anyone find out more about 'Outcomes'?
The person who does the assessment will help explain to you more about what 'outcomes' will mean for you.
Will there still be Eligibility Criteria?
Yes. Exactly the same eligibility criteria will be used as before to assess what support and care somebody wants and if they are entitled to it.
Does a person have to have a Direct Payment?
No. As part of the pilot we have to show that:
- We have given people more choice and control about how their care and support is organised.
- That they have more flexibility about how to spend the money that they have been given (their 'Individual Budget') for the care and support they need.
- Each person will still be able to choose to have a Direct Payment, and they will also have a social worker to support them to plan their care. We also want to find new ways of supporting people to use their 'Individual Budgets' in the way that suits them best.
How will people know if Individual Budgets have worked?
People who have them will be asked if they think it has worked better for them. Researchers from York University will spend time in Coventry asking people who have used them what they think. They will want to know what is better and what is worse, and also if people can think of ways of making them work better.
How else can people get involved in the Pilot?
ANSWER
Is this just another way of saving money?
No. The Government is not giving us any more money, but by giving people more care and control over their care and support, they think they will get better value for money, so the same money will actually go further.
Can people choose not to have an Individual Budget?
Coventry has agreed with the Government that we will use the pilot for anyone who is going through a major life change. This may be because:
- They are 16 or 17 and are having to start to make the choices that will help move them into adulthood.
- They are living in residential care outside Coventry and want to move back into the city.
- They have spent some time in hospital or have been in a rehabilitation hospital and want to move back to live independently.
Is the Pilot happening everywhere?
No. The pilot is only happening in Coventry and 12 other areas of the country. We are very proud that Coventry was chosen by the Government to take part in the pilot.
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