£400 million funding for carers’ breaks
Everyone eligible will get a personal budget by 2013 so they can be in control of their own care and more carers will get breaks, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced today.
This is part of the Government’s plans for adult social care, A vision for adult social care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens, published today by the Department of Health.
Personal budgets give people and their carers greater choice and control over the social care services they receive. Users can tailor services to meet their specific needs and carers can use them to take a well earned break.
Personal budgets were introduced in 1996 but currently only 13 per cent of people who might need one have one. The Government expects councils to provide personal budgets to 1 million eligible people, preferably as a direct payment, by 2013.
The initiative can have huge benefits to people who need care. For example Lynn uses her personal budget to pay for an epilepsy seizure alert dog, Dougal. It means Lynn can now live independently, knowing that her dog will alert her to telltale signs of a seizure so she can get to a safe place free of hazards.
And carers can use their own personal budget to spend on taking a break from their caring responsibility - whether that’s time to pursue a hobby, take a holiday or have some time to themselves. The Government is making £400 million available through the NHS over the next four years to support carers breaks.
Paul Burstow said:
"Personal budgets can make an incredible difference to people's lives. They give people choice, control and independence. They look to people not the state to shape services, and improve outcomes, making a reality of the Big Society.
"I want councils to provide everyone eligible with a personal budget by 2013."
The vision sets out a new agenda for adult social care based on a power shift from the state to the citizen, by committing to:
• extend the rollout of personal budgets;
• increase preventative action in local communities, keeping people independent and helping to build the Big Society;
• break down barriers between health and social care funding; and
• encouraging care and support to be delivered in a partnership between individuals, communities, the voluntary sector, the NHS and councils - including wider support services, such as housing.
The vision is the first of three pieces of work, along with the forthcoming reports of the Law Commission next spring and the independent Commission on the Funding of Care and Support next summer, that will feed into the development of a White Paper on social care in autumn 2011, and future legislation.
Mr Burstow said:
"Social care is a vital service for many older, disabled and vulnerable people. It embraces the most intimate care and support for people at times of greatest need. How well we look after each other says a great deal about the strength and character of our society.
"Often people find the social care system confusing, inflexible and not suited to their needs – that’s not good enough. I want to see the vision brought into practice at a local level. Councils can offer more choice, control and flexibility over care, which is what people tell me they want."
The Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS)
President Richard Jones said:
"We welcome the Vision and the framework it provides for the ongoing transformation of adult social care. The seven key principles within the Vision are ones that ADASS fully supports.
"ADASS is clear that further reform is needed to improve outcomes for people and their carers. We are committed to working with people as citizens, building on their assets and experience and providing real choice and control. We support a shift towards prevention and to enabling and encouraging community-based support. We want to secure a radical realignment of the way resources are used across public services, including the health service, to deliver agreed outcomes through integration and collaboration. Alongside proven partners we are determined to help support people to stay independent and in control of their lives.
"This new Vision will help underpin and promote these changes. It provides a strong platform for the proposals set out in the recently published, Think Local, Act Personal: Next Steps for Transforming Adult Social Care which ADASS helped produce and is co-signed by 21 other organisations."
National Director for Social Care Transformation, Jeff Jerome said:
"I am delighted that the Government's new vision for adult social care underlines the continuing need to personalise care and support arrangements and recognises the crucial importance of supporting families and communities as part of this. Personal budgets for all those entitled to publicly funded social care, underpinned by the right advice and support and a wider range of services, will allow such individuals and their carers to exercise better choice and control alongside those who already use their own money to this end."
Paul Burstow also today unveiled a new funding programme for charities and consortia of regional and/or local charities, as well as social enterprises, co-operatives and mutuals to get involved in health and social care.
The National Grant Scheme for the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund will make around £3 million available from April 2011 for groups who want to make a difference to people’s lives in their area. Groups will be invited to set up projects in key areas such as personal budgets, cutting smoking and encouraging healthy eating and each approved project could receive up to £200,000. Projects should operate across at least four localities in different regions or counties, but should differ substantially in scale and priorities from local projects.
Notes to editors
1. ‘The Vision for adult social care Capable Communities and Active Citizens’, can be found at http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/index.htm
2. Personal budgets deliver the personalisation of care services by allocating a budget that people can control themselves. They can then decide how to spend this to meet their assessed eligible care needs and agreed outcomes, in line with a personalised support plan. The allocated budget may be taken as cash (a direct payment) or as a service managed on their behalf where they have choice and control over how the funding for their care is spent, and can be used to design and purchase support from the public, private and third sectors, increasing people’s autonomy over their care and support.
3. We are also publishing Transparency in Outcomes: a framework for adult social care - a consultation. The consultation envisages a framework that places outcomes at the heart of social care, improves quality in services, and empowers citizens to hold their councils to account for the services they provide. The next stage will be co-produced with partners, based on responses to this consultation.
http://nds.coi.gov.uk/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=416559&...
PDF version Short breaks for carers in England have been boosted by an extra £400m over the next four years.
Announcing the funding today, care services minister Paul Burstow said he wanted to see carers determine how the funding was used through direct payments.
The money will be channelled through primary care trusts and will be in addition to the extra £1bn a year allocated to the NHS for adult care through last month's comprehensive spending review.
It was welcomed by Carers UK, whose chief executive, Imelda Redmond, said: "Carers who don't get breaks are far more likely to fall into ill-health and support which allows carers to take a bit of time off can prevent them being pushed to breaking point."
However, she said it was crucial that the funding reached carers, citing a previous allocation of £150m given to PCTs from 2009-11 to spend on short breaks that has not been spent as desired.
"In the past, carers have been let down, as funding pledges which have made headlines have not been delivered on the ground," she added.
Burstow pledged today's funding announcement would be different from those made by the previous government saying that lessons had been learned.
He said that the forthcoming NHS operating framework would make spending on carers' respite a priority for PCTs and that trusts would receive specific allocations to spend in this area.
Today the government also announced its vision for adult social care, which entails greater use of personal budgets and greater use of outsourcing.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/16/115829/Short-breaks-f...
Young carers will bear the brunt of government social care cuts, campaigners have claimed, after new research revealed there could be four times as many of them in the UK than previously thought.
The figures, uncovered by the BBC in a survey of school children and published today, show that about 700,000 children and young people could be caring for a parent or sibling - four times higher than the number identified by the 2001 census.
The National Young Carers Coalition said the figures came as no surprise and were probably an under-estimation. Budget cuts would leave young carers with even less social worker support, it claimed.
"Thresholds for those needing care will be put under immense pressure," said the coalition. "Many families will increasingly have to rely on the care of their child, or children, to do the things that social care had previously done or should have been doing. In turn, this will put pressure on already stretched specialist young carers' services."
The coalition, which includes Martin Narey, chief executive of Barnardo's and Carole Cochrane, chief executive of The Princess Royal Trust for Carers, urged national and local governments not to cut funding for services that support young carers and their families because it could be detrimental to their health.
Jan Leightley, strategic director of children's services for Action for Children, said: "The research has confirmed that there is a hidden army of young carers across the UK who desperately need help and support.
"Now that the magnitude of this problem has been identified we urge local authorities not to reduce support for this vulnerable group of youngsters.
"Further, all those working with vulnerable adults who have children need to do all that they can to make sure that these children are being supported.
"We know that, with the right support, young carers can flourish and reach their full potential and this must remain a priority despite the economic pressures."
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/16/115827/young-carers-t...
Funding for short breaks expected to be delivered through Early Intervention grant
Short breaks for disabled children may have to be funded from the £2bn early intervention grant announced in the comprehensive spending review it was revealed at Community Care Live Children and Families.
Christine Lenehan OBE, director of the Council for Disabled Children, told delegates that her organisation is expecting to see the early intervention grant cover funding for both short breaks and the transformation programme Aiming High for Disabled Children.
Lenehan said: "Aiming High continues to be ring-fenced until the end of March next year, but we know this won't continue into the next financial year. In the comprehensive spending review settlement the government talked about the development of a £2bn early intervention fund or grant-which in effect picked up elements of Sure Start. Aiming High was delivered through the Sure Start mechanism so if there is any specific money for its continuation it will be delivered as part of the early intervention grant."
She continued: "When the government announced the end of the child trust fund it also announced an additional £20m to fund short breaks but there was no mention of the mechanism of delivery. What we are now expecting is that that money will appear as a feature in the early intervention grant," Lenehan said.
She added that the Council had not yet seen any of the details.
She said the Council also expects the government's forthcoming Green Paper on disabilities and special educational needs to be published between mid-December and mid-January. It had been previously billed as due this autumn.
Insiders have indicated that the green paper will focus on educational and employment opportunities for disabled children and young people, Lenehan said, adding that the government's commitment to personal budgets for disabled adults would "also certainly apply for children".
"The government is very keen to bring into the Green Paper options and suggestions of how we move forward with personal budgets," she said.
A recent report from Every Disabled Child Matters found many local authorities are not meeting their legal obligations when determining which families are eligible for breaks.
It warned local areas will be at risk of judicial review if action is not taken to clarify the law around eligibility criteria and called on the Department for Education to clarify this in forthcoming guidance.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/18/115847/early-interven...
Local authorities will be required to notify disabled children's carers of short break services in their area and the criteria on which they will be assessed, from April 2011 if parliament approves new regulations put forward today.
The move follows survey findings released last week by Every Disabled Child Matters showing that 28% of English local authorities could face legal challenges over their short-break assessment criteria.
The government today put forward new regulations on breaks for carers of disabled children which state that by 1 October 2011, local authorities must publish a statement for carers in their area setting out:
• Details of the range of short breaks services provided; any criteria against which eligibility services will be assessed; and how the range of services is designed to meet the needs of carers in their area.
• When preparing or revising this short breaks statement, the local authority must have regard to the views of carers in their area.
David Congdon, head of policy and campaigns at Mencap and an EDCM Board member, said: "These regulations go a long way to strengthening disabled children and their families' rights to short breaks. Parents have told us that 'the lack of short breaks was the biggest single cause of unhappiness with service provision'. Giving carers this right is a huge step forward to families with disabled children living ordinary lives."
"The regulations will now be laid before both houses of parliament for approval. The government will also be writing guidance to go alongside the regulations which we anticipate will be published soon after the regulations approval.
"We hope that the accompanying guidance on the Short Breaks Duty is produced in a timely way allowing local authorities to prepare for the duty's commencement on 1 April 2011. This guidance will help local authorities navigate the legal maze on short breaks thus ensuring that families receive the breaks they are entitled to, and reduce local authorities' risk of legal challenge."
Earlier this week Community Care revealed that the £20m the government promised to fund short breaks may have to come out of the early intervention grant announced in last month's spending review.
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2010/11/19/115861/government-tou...
Breaks for Carers of Disabled Children Regulations 2011 — Motion to Refer to Grand Committee
The mother of a disabled child has criticised Prime Minister David Cameron saying he should do more to protect respite care for families like hers.
Riven Vincent, of Staple Hill, near Bristol, says she cannot cope and may put her disabled daughter into care. She said: "We are crumbling."
Ms Vincent posted a message on the Mumsnet website saying her council had said it could not provide more help.
The Prime Minister said he was "very concerned" and would write to her.
Ms Vincent's six-year-old daughter Celyn is blind, quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
David Cameron had visited Ms Vincent and her family at their home near Bristol during the general election campaign.
It was a private visit after she had spoken to him online in April 2010 during a Mumsnet discussion.
To read more http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-12237100
also covered at http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/01/20/116143/cameron-writes...
David Cameron is to write to a mother who may have to put her severely disabled daughter into care.
Riven Vincent, from Bristol, told the online forum Mumsnet that she could no longer cope with the day-to-day care of Celyn, six, who is blind, quadriplegic and has cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
In her message, she wrote that her local authority, South Gloucestershire Council, had refused to provide her with extra respite support to help with her daughter's care.
She wrote: "Have asked [social services] to take [my daughter] into care. We get six hours respite a week. They have refused a link family. They have refused extra respite. I can't cope."
Vincent - who had a private meeting with David Cameron during the general election campaign after she spoke to him in a Mumsnet discussion last year - said she had written to her local MP and wanted to contact the prime minister.
"I don't know how to email Dave now he's PM or I bloody would. I have called local MP Jack Lopresti too. I don't know what else to do," she said on Mumsnet.
A Downing Street spokesperson said the prime minister is "very concerned at what's he's heard".
"He's writing to Riven Vincent and he's asked her local MP for all the details of her case urgently. He's also asking the MP to speak to the local council to make sure that she's receiving all that she's entitled to."
Christine Lenehan, director of the Council for Disabled Children and a board member of Every Disabled Child Matters (EDCM), said she was concerned that more families could find themselves in the same situation because respite funding is not ring-fenced.
"The EDCM campaign is deeply concerned by Riven's story. Many families with disabled children are under extreme pressure because they do not receive the support they need.
"The government recently allocated £800m for short respite breaks over the next four years. However, because it is not ringfenced, we are concerned that councils will divert the funding to other priorities.
"Over the next few weeks, we will be writing to local areas to ask for evidence that they plan to spend this funding on providing vital support to families with disabled children."
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/Articles/2011/01/20/116143/cameron-writes...
This factsheet sets out the Government's position on social care funding and carers, in response to BBC
research on the impact of the ageing population.
On social care funding
Minister of State for Care Services, Paul Burstow said:
"We know that urgent reform of the social care system is needed. That's why we established an independent Commission to consider how we ensure affordable and sustainable funding for care and support for all adults in England. The Commission will report to us in July next year and we will bring together its findings with other work we are doing on care and put proposals before Parliament.
"To bridge the gap until we have reformed the system, we have taken action to ensure that health and care services are prepared to meet the pressures of the aging population. The Department of Health is investing extra money in social care - rising to £2billion a year extra by 2014/15. This means that no council needs to reduce access to social care due to an increase in the number of older people."
On councils' budgets for social care
Minister of State for Care Services, Paul Burstow said:
"The Coalition Government has prioritised social care - the Spending Review announced significant extra funding for social care for each of the next four years, increasing to an extra £2billion investment in 2014/15.
"This extra money means that no council need reduce access to social care or fail to meet demographic pressures, if councils improve efficiency and drive forward with reform to make services more personal and preventative.
"We are investing in reablement services that get people back on their feet after a stay in hospital. By using telecare and developing preventative services, councils can cut their costs, reduce pressure on the NHS and improve the quality of life of their residents.
"Local authorities will have greater freedom and flexibility to determine how best to use their resources and they must ensure that the investment in social care is reflected in the services provided."
On personal budgets
A DH spokesperson said:
"The Government is committed to extending the roll-out of personal budgets to give people and their carers more control over the care that is funded for them. The vision for adult social care, which will be published shortly, will provide further detail on how we plan to do this."
On respite care for carers
A DH spokesperson said:
"Later this year, the Government will publish a revised Carers Strategy that will remind health and social care services in England that it is very important that carers get breaks from their responsibilities."
Background:
The Government is updating the Carers Strategy and will produce a clear plan of action for 2011 to 2015 before the end of this year. This will set out the key activities on which the Government — working in partnership with Local Authorities, the NHS, employers, the voluntary sector, local communities and carers — can focus from April 2011, within the context of the 'Big Society' and the capacity of the community to support and empower people.
We have received around 750 responses to our call for evidence about what are the most important priorities on which the Government should focus in the coming years. We have heard from individual carers, from voluntary sector organisations, from local authorities and from health bodies.
Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced in October that over £4million is being reinvested across eleven projects to provide training for carers. The Government is investing in a range of projects for carers including:
• £1.8million funding to a range of third sector organisations supporting carers, including the Afiya Trust, in recognition of the particular needs and challenges faced by carers from ethnic minority communities.
• Over £1million funding for training and raising awareness of carers for key health and social professionals, including GPs and practice staff.
• £1million funding for a grant scheme aimed at encouraging bids from illness specific organisations wishing to do more to support carers.
Thousands of new or ‘hidden’ carers in England will be offered a helping hand from a new Government fund, Care Services Minister Paul Burstow announced today.
The Government is investing £1.39million to support 79 local projects around the country to help identify and support carers, particularly those who have taken on the role for the first time and those who may not realise they are a carer.
Caring for someone can be incredibly rewarding but the six million carers in the UK face huge pressures on their own lives. Children in particular may not realise that the support they are providing to family members puts them into a caring role.
Paul Burstow said:
"I want every carer to get the support and help they need. But we can only help them if we know who they are. We’re investing £1.39 million in projects that will help carers to identify themselves so we can give them a helping hand.
"Children and teenagers are often hidden carers - they may not realise they can get help. With the proper help and support we can help ensure their school work doesn’t suffer so they get the same opportunities as other children."
The 79 projects will reach out to carers through hospitals, GP surgeries, the workplace, supermarkets, places of worship and other community settings.
By helping people identify themselves as carers, we can provide them with key information and practical advice about how to care for people with specific conditions and support them to live a life of their own. They can also be pointed towards expert sources of information, advocacy and support on caring including advice on flexible working, replacement care, housing adaptations and practical help with independent living.
Examples of the kind of projects in which we are investing include:
- a team in Basingstoke which will go into five secondary schools and two colleges to help young carers to identify themselves, provide support groups for them and support them when they change schools or colleges;
- a project in Telford that will help people identify themselves as a carer; and
- a project in Derby Headway will identify people who have been unexpectedly thrown into a caring role, for example, through a loved one being seriously injured, and help them understand what has happened to their relative and cope as a carer.
Notes to editors
For media enquiries, case studies and details of further fund projects, please contact the Department of Health Newsdesk on 020 7210 5221
The 79 projects are currently in the process of receiving their funding.
Link to the 79 projects is available in the attached document.
There are 5.67 million carers in the UK.
In the next 20 years, 1.7 million more people will need help looking after themselves and need a carer than do today.
There are an estimated 2 million people who are moving in and out of caring roles each year.
The Government is also making £400 million available through the NHS over the next four years to support carers to take breaks from their caring responsibilities.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/MediaCentre/Pressreleases/DH_124173
also refer http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/SocialCare/Carers/DH_124163
By 2013 local authorities should provide personal care budgets to the 1m people who are eligible for them, the Department of Health (DH) said as it published the document 'A vision for adult social care: Capable Communities and Active Citizens'. At the same time the government is providing £400m over the next four years to enable carers to take breaks.
The move is said to be part of the drive to shift adult social care from the state to the citizen. As well as extending the rollout of personal budgets, the DH wants more preventative action in local communities, to keep people independent, to break down barriers between health and social care funding, and to encourage care and support to be delivered in a partnership of people, communities, the voluntary sector, the NHS and local authorities.
Although personal budgets were introduced in 1996, 13 per cent of people who might need one currently have one but councils will have to give a persona budget to everyone who is eligible by 2013, care services minister Paul Burstow insisted.
"Personal budgets can make an incredible difference to people's lives," he said. "They give people choice, control and independence. They look to people not the state to shape services, and improve outcomes, making a reality of the Big Society."
He added: "Social care is a vital service for many older, disabled and vulnerable people. Often people find the social care system confusing, inflexible and not suited to their needs – that's not good enough. I want to see the vision brought into practice at a local level. Councils can offer more choice, control and flexibility over care, which is what people tell me they want."
Richard Jones, president of the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS) said: "We support a shift towards prevention and to enabling and encouraging community-based support. We want to secure a radical realignment of the way resources are used across public services, including the health service, to deliver agreed outcomes through integration and collaboration. Alongside proven partners we are determined to help support people to stay independent and in control of their lives."
David Rogers, chairman of the Local Government Association's Community Wellbeing Board, said that making personal budgets available for anyone who wanted one could only be a good thing but added: "The challenge of Britain's ageing population is huge and councils are under massive financial strain having to tackle 28 per cent budget cuts. The extra money for adult social care received in the Comprehensive Spending Review was much-needed, but town halls still anticipate a potential multi-billion pound shortfall. This leaves serious questions about the funding to meet these Whitehall targets."
• Burstow also announced a new funding programme for charities and consortia of regional and/or local charities, as well as social enterprises, co-operatives and mutuals to get involved in health and social care. The National Grant Scheme for the Health and Social Care Volunteering Fund will make around £3m available from April 2011 for groups who want to make a difference to people's lives in their area.
http://www.publicservice.co.uk/news_story.asp?id=14754