Mid point progression: Part 2

Editor's Notes

• #2: Why am I doing this research?In 2009 Westminster City Council started an individual budgets pilotIt was my feeling that as individual budgets was a scheme that concerned disabled people that we should seek to actively participate in the pilot and not rely on the council to design the process and to consult us after the fact. In addition to this claims had been made by organisations such as In Control about how IBs have transformed peoples lives for some years but again the research published by In Control was council led and in my view the citizens were viewed as research subjects rather than active participants. I was interested and wanted to investigate what the emancipatory elements were from the perspective of disabled people and if the research and process was co-designed by them if the outcomes would be different.Was it just the mere fact that it was a new processWas it the fact that people got given moneyWas it that they had more controlA greater ability to make changes for themselvesThe main aim of the research was to seek to generate new knowledge through analysing of some of these processes.The rationale is to investigate if the process of self directed support can lead to increased emancipation through power shifts between disabled people and welfare professionals.
• #3: Following these recommendations and the outcome of the focus group meetings disabled people were able to convince the council to make some changesThey agreed that disabled people should have a chosen advocate with them to assist them is compiling their self assessment.
• #4: There was tangible movement
• #5: Phase two looked at piloting the new process Most participants were unable to complete the SAQ without support, and although an advocate was present the technical and clinical nature of the questions made it difficult for individuals to complete this by themselves. Putting an SAQ online in and of itself was not enough as individuals did not have clinical assessment skills. Those completing the SAQ online by themselves mostly underestimated their needs which had a knock on effect on their Resource allocation.However, participants stated that they felt more empowered by having access to the online SAQ , and stated that it being online made it more accessible to them as they could access it at a time of their own choosing. In contrast, as the online support plan had been designed by the participants, they felt that they were able to complete this with minimal support from their chosen broker. Most identified that they wanted to actively choose which peer broker they wanted to work with and chose peers with a similarbackground/backstory/experience to themselves. Because the point at which the participant was invited to choose their own broker came mid-way through the support planning process, the participants felt that the significance of this act was not adequately communicated. For them, the interaction with a broker was an integral part of the support planning process from beginning to end, and thus they felt that it would be best to come at the start of the process. Working with a peer was felt to fast track barriers as the peer broker had travelled the journey themselvesThose brokers who worked with social workers at the SAQ stage of the process were subsequently able to get support plans signed off first time as apposed to a 6 week wait for those who did not involve social workersService Options:Most expressed frustration with lack of services they could purchase with their budgetOthers expressed only having enough resource to pay for personal care this resulted in more flexibility for people with lower  care needs.Many expressed frustration with commissioners not procuring the right  services*Reference ODI
• #7: Videos to go after here:AndrewGriffinInterview.movAgnesMuhoroInterview.mov