lessons from personalisation alex fox, ceo shared lives plus sharedlivesplus.uk

www.Shared Lives Plus.org.uk www.communitycatalysts.co.uk

Lessons from personalisation

Alex Fox, CEO Shared Lives Plus

www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk http://alexfoxblog.wordpress.com

Karl and Clare with carers Blossom and Mike, at their wedding, before moving to live independently


Shared Lives Plus is the UK network for family-based and small-scale ways of supporting adults. Our members are Shared Lives carers and workers, Homeshare programmes and micro-enterprises.

Shared Lives is UK wide and used by 15,000 people. The micro-enterprise sector is much less well established.

Shared Lives Plus was established in 1992 and has 4,500 members UK-wide.

Community Catalysts: our sister Community Interest Company, helping councils create micro-enterprise friendly areas.

Who are we?


Pre-Community Care reform

A sector characterised by:• disabled people warehoused in long-stay institutions;• a medical model of disability and low expectations of people

with long term conditions;• ‘one size fits all’ state social care services, centrally planned

and organised, with little individual or family control.

But also:• community and whole-family social work approaches• huge contribution from unpaid family carers (was and

remains poorly recognised and valued by the state.)


Community care reforms

The Griffiths Report (1988) and others led to:• closure of nearly all long-stay institutions for people with

disabilities • huge shift of care for people with disabilities & mental health

problems, into community-based settings

But:• model remained individual (not family / community) focused• needs, not asset-based• led by professionals and decision makers, not people


Putting People First 2007

Four equal quadrants:

1. a universal offer of advice and information to help people make informed choices;

2. a focus on developing inclusive and supportive communities (‘social capital’);

3. a focus on investing in prevention;4. introducing choice and control through the introduction of

personal budgets.


Putting People First 2007

Of the four quadrants, only number four - personal budgets - became truly embedded:

• 340,000 personal budget holders; • £1.57bn in personal budgets; • up 100% on 2010. • 25% (44% of the cash value) are Direct Payments

(ADASS 2011).


Supply as well as demand

What of the intended culture change: individuals in control of their services and their lives, living in and contributing to their chosen relationships, families and communities?• Only partially facilitated by the mechanism change of

personal budgets and Direct Payments.• For some people, life has been transformed out of all

recognition, often via PAs (new market of provision). • But for some, the changes represent more hassle, risk and

red tape, without real increase in choice (no new providers).• We need an increasing focus on relationships, community

participation, volunteering, employment.


• Near eradication of long term, institutional care for disabled people (but older people’s residential care market growing);

• Principles of choice, control and independence for all service users firmly embedded in sector’s values;

• The rise of user-led or user-owned organisations• People involved in decision-making at every level;• Increasing satisfaction of the majority of users and families;• Some examples of a more plural and creative market;• Some community development & asset-based approaches;• little evidence of increasing fraud or inappropriate spending.

Huge successes


• Misunderstandings of values and aims of personalisation • perverse implementations of the new mechanisms and

everyone focused upon the money;• variable uptake of personal budgets and Direct Payments • Destabilising the provider market can lead to reduced

provider diversity, loss of small/ niche providers;• Increased pressure upon unpaid family carers leading to

poor health and unemployment;• Low employment rates remain largely untouched;• Increasing isolation for some people living ‘independently’

(alone); and (rare) instances of hate crime.

Huge challenges


• Focus on supply as well as demand – market build• E.g. develop and ‘scale out’ micro-enterprises• Local people working with/ for other local people• May be led/ owned by service users/ families.

Ways forward: market diversity


• Co-production is often influencing someone else’ service – increasing numbers of people want (shared) ownership and responsibility for making a contribution.

• Not just User-Led Organisations (ULOs) but citizen-delivered services and interventionso CHANGE’s job-share model, working with parents with learning

disabilities.o Co-op and mutually owned models of service delivery.

• Service user, family and citizen led commissioning.o Stamford Forum/ Leeds Council neighbourhood network model.o Local Area Coordination (LAC) and other Asset Based Community

Development (ABCD) approaches.

Ways forward: citizen ownership & leadership


• The ‘unfinished revolution’ (CSJ): communities involved, not just ‘community-based’ traditional services.

• Professionals need to share power and share the risks.For instance:• Shared Lives: registered Shared Lives carers involving

family, friends and neighbours in support.• KeyRing: a community-based volunteer who helps people to

form and link up networks of support.• Partnership with families: training, breaks, information

sharing (with permission), family group conferencing.

Ways forward: family and community


Alex Fox, CEO, Shared Lives Plus, [email protected] www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk; 07738641897http://alexfoxblog.wordpress.com Twitter: @alexatnaaps

Contact details

lessons from personalisation alex fox, ceo shared lives plus sharedlivesplus.uk

Documents

shared lives carers

ceo shared lives

disabled people

low expectations of

family control

family community focusedneeds

community participation

sister community