Welfare Reform on the Web (October 2007): Social care - UK - community care

Communities and Local Government (CLG) supporting people strategy

E. McMullan

Housing, Care and Support, vol.10, Aug. 2007, p. 31-35

This briefing paper looks at key themes set out in the Department for Communities and Local Government's Supporting People Strategy launched in June 2007 and their implications for stakeholders. The strategy is built on four key themes:

• Keeping people who need housing support services at the heart of the programme and of local delivery of the service through user involvement, integrated needs assessments, and promotion of choice through individual budgets.
• Enhancing partnership with the third sector for delivery of Supporting People contracts
• Delivering in the new local government landscape, including integration of Supporting People into Local Area Agreements
• Increasing efficiency and reducing bureaucracy

Ground control

M. Ivory

Community Care, Sept. 13th 2007, p. 14-15

The present government is committed to the ideal of personalisation of social care, advocating a model in which users work in partnership with professionals to improve outcomes. The professionals contribute knowledge of the system and its resources, while the users are experts in their own lives. There are concerns that personalisation may turn into a cost saving exercise. Moreover, the model assumes that users are able and willing to manage their own budgets and organise their own support. This may not be feasible for frail older people and those with mental health problems.

I'll do it my way

L. Vickery

Housing, Care and Support, vol.10. Aug. 2007, p. 12-17

In recent years Carr-Gomm, a provider of supported housing, has encouraged the use of person-centred planning as a main option for client self-development. This article reports on a small research project which used the World Health Organisation's Quality of Life Application Model to evaluate person-centred planning at Carr-Gomm in practice. Results suggest that person-centred planning is, for some people, a powerful process that aids self-motivation to reach tangible goals.