Social care

Overall aim

Disabled people experience evident choice and control over social care.

Achievements from 2005 to 2009

• 'Transforming Adult Social Care' (external link) is giving people more choice and control over the social care services they use, including access to high quality information and signposting of care and support.
• Publication of 'Independence, Well-being and Choice' (external link) (2005), a consultation paper setting out proposals for the future of social care in England which enable disabled people to take greater control of their lives.
• Putting People First (external link) launched in 2007, setting out shared aims and values to guide the transformation of adult social care.
• Councils have received £520 million over 2008-11 to transform adult social care and introduce personal budgets more widely. Widespread progress is being made and four out of five councils say the range and flexibility of the services they offer has improved.
• More than 90,000 people in England now receive a personal budget (external link) - a detailed breakdown of the money allocated to them for social care support, and an explanation of how this was worked out.
• More than 115,100 people in England are already receiving direct payments (external link)- cash instead of services from their council. This means that they can have more choice and control over their social care services, and is just one of the ways people can use a personal budget.
• On 14 July 2009 the government published a Green Paper, 'Shaping the Future of Care Together' (external link) and launched the Big Care Debate. We set out a vision for a National Care Service that is fairer, simpler and more affordable for all adults in England. This reform of our care and support system will ensure that those who need care get high quality care, and that carers are better equipped and better supported to provide it.

Next steps on our strategy

• Working to ensure people have greater choice and control over their care and support through access to personal budgets.
• People have access to a range of high quality information, advice, advocacy and support.
• Greater investment in cost effective preventative interventions that reduces the demand for health and social services.
• Greater involvement of service users in the transformation of social care and personal budgets.

• Article 19 - living independently and being included in the community
• Article 20 - personal mobility

• 2.1 (scoping work for two initiatives):
• 2.1.1 (Action and Learning Sites to demonstrate redeployment of resources from professional assessment and care management to user-led support, advocacy and brokerage).
• 2.1.2 (a regional initiative to demonstrate the efficacy of investing in independent living for older disabled people in residential/nursing care or at risk of moving into care).
• 2.2 (following on from scoping exercise, decisions will be made concerning the design of, and investment in, the Action and Learning Sites and Regional Initiative).
• 6.5 (investigation of impact of reforms to the benefit system, employment support programmes and charging policies within adult social care).
• 6.6 (charging and residential care).
• 7.1 (social care modernisation programme and individual budgets).
• 7.3 (continue to encourage and monitor take-up of direct payments by adults, particularly amongst currently under-represented groups).