Person-centred planning and self-directed support

Person-centred planning

At Excel, person-centred planning is at the heart of what we do. This approach is also described as personalisation by local authorities and social care and health professionals.

Person-centred planning has the person requiring support as its focal point and enables individuals to plan what they would like to do and achieve in the future, along with the support that they will need to make this happen.

The process, which includes family and friends that the individual wishes to be involved, focuses on what they want from life, including housing, education, work, leisure and friendships. It is designed to assist them in deciding:

• where they would like to live and who they would like to live with.
• how they would like to spend time each day.
• who they would like to spend time with
• hopes and dreams for the future.

Excel offers support in facilitating person-centred planning and preparing plans. As part of this, we support individuals to produce a person-centred workbook, including an action plan setting out goals for the future, the people who can help to achieve these and how long the process may take.

Self-directed support (direct payments)

Personal budgets (using Resource Allocation System (RAS)), made up of money coming directly from a local authority following an assessment of social care needs, are a key part of the personalisation approach. The amount payable will depend on  the level of need and the local authority’s criteria for providing care.

Individual budgets are similar to personal budgets, but draw together different sources of funding, which might include grants, money for adaptations to accommodation and local authority funding.

People can choose to receive a personal or individual budget as a direct payment – cash paid directly to them – which is also known as self-directed support. These direct payments enable individuals to choose the services that best suit them, giving them greater control and independence.

Such budgets can be used flexibly but in a way that meets needs and achieves outcomes identified in a care or support plan agreed with the local authority. The care plan should ensure access to the right sort of care to meet the individual’s needs and improve their quality of life and should include:

• clear expectations of what the direct payment will achieve
• a list of the different types of support available
• a review process so the support can be evaluated.

Managing direct payments

Anybody receiving their budget as a direct payment will also need to deal with the administration that goes with it. For example, employing care staff directly rather than through an agency means that the service user would have to be classed as an employer and have insurance to cover someone employed in your home.

For people who are unable or prefer not to manage their own direct payments, other people and agencies can help including:

• brokers, such as Excel
• advocates
• family members or friends
• a local authority.

Acting as a broker, Excel can assist with:

• identifying a person’s preferences, needs and resources, resulting in a person centred care plan
• identifying and evaluating potential support options
• finding, negotiating and contacting support providers (such as Excel)
• finding and preparing community services and resources
• identifying the need for secondary support and where it can be found
• writing and costing the support plan
• co-ordinating support arrangements and other resources in the plan ready for implementation
• initiating implementation.

For more information on our supported living services, please contact us.