individual budgets
case study
support may also be more involved in the purchasing of care for family members. We expect control to reflect the increasing involvement of families where they are willing to co-produce and co-manage services on behalf of their family members.
Contractual issues
As well as control, contractual issues are also a significant issue under personalisation. Previously, we may have been a relatively passive recipient of the terms and conditions set out by the local authorities we work with. Clearly, under personalisation there is a requirement for us to become more proactive in this area. As well as defining our contract
terms we must also consider how, when and to what extent we would enforce these contracts against individuals. As a charitable organisation our attitude is likely to be different to that of a support provider that is a commercial enterprise. Our priority is to help the individuals we support and their families to navigate through any confusion or short-term difficulties they may have. Of course, a contract will be
of little use if a contractee is not able to fully understand the terms and conditions that it sets out. Part of our new role under personalisation, therefore, is to make contracts more accessible and this may include reconsidering who should be party to them and accountable for them.
Transformation
Transforming services to more personalised systems can present issues too. More traditional services where care is devised on behalf of the people we support may become less attractive options to individuals and their families, leading to costly voids. The transformation of services may
become a necessity in some instances. The finance function has had to
www.civilsociety.co.uk
What is personalisation?
Personalisation means money will go directly to social care service users, who will be able to choose the support they buy, rather than local authorities purchasing it on their behalf. The idea is that people will be empowered to shape their own lives and the services they receive.
become adept at helping all parties understand the financial consequences of the changes. Also, budgeting for these services during the transformation process is a challenge in itself.
Conclusion
Personalisation is arguably the biggest change social care has ever seen. Finance will continue to change significantly in response. We may not have yet reached a
critical mass of individual budgets, where everything changes, but enough has moved on to necessitate significant modernisation in the finance department and organisation-wide. This will continue to develop. There is a cost to modernisation and the different way we are required to do business. However, we have been successful in becoming more efficient and in developing strategies to mitigate these costs. We live in the real world. Ultimately, personalisation will
deliver large benefits for the people we support and that is what we all want.
Lessons from personalisation:
• Think about accounting for Individual Service Funds. Where will the tipping point be when it is no longer possible to manage these on a manual basis within a traditional system? What will high-volume [of individual budgets] accounting look like and how will the processes to support this be different?
• What systems will lead to efficiencies? The IT strategy should complement the business strategy and should minimise data collection, errors and paper. • Encourage the organisation to adopt IT culturally. It is likely that personalisation will require greater use of IT systems throughout the organisation, which can often be a problem with IT-phobic people. Incentivising employees to engage with the system, for example by making useful information such as payslips available through the intranet, is a useful investment. • Look at parallels in commercial businesses. What does their finance function look like and how do they use IT? • Use standard project management techniques in transforming existing services. Try to develop a consensus across the organisation and a broad partnership for the actions required. • Be as transparent as you can with costs. Individuals will look for value for money and may need to be reassured that the organisation is efficient and cost-effective. Consider reference to an appropriate Care Funding Calculator to support your overall pricing position. • Have standard forms of contract drafted, which are accessible. Understand how and when you would enforce these. • Consider your attitude to, and appetite for, mergers. A combined organisation may have more resources and efficiencies may help balance some of the cost pressures. Also, the organisations joining may already have solutions to some of the issues you are facing. However, the process of merger requires investment and if integration is not efficient it can be problematic. ■
Mark Horlock is finance director at Dimensions
Charity Finance April 2009
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