Pilot project wins praise

A new approach to delivering social care, which Manchester City Council helped to pilot has won praise in an independent report.

The City Council's Adult Social Care department was one of 13 Local Authority sites selected by the Department of Health to pilot the use of Individual Budgets, (IBs) where people decide how their care is managed. The City Council focused on introducing IBs to Older People, for the purpose of the pilot evaluation, but has offered IBs to all customer groups.

The report by the Individual Budgets Evaluation Network, (IBSEN) found that IBs allowed people using them to feel more in control of their daily lives compared with those receiving conventional social care services. Typically IBs help pay for personal care, domestic help as well as social, leisure and educational activities.

The report did find that some Older People were not quite as happy as other groups with IBs. Since the report was carried out in 2007, Manchester City Council has worked with Older People giving them more choice and flexibility by using a combination of preventative service development, IBs, re-ablement, and the re-organisation of independent sector home care services to ensure they provide more flexible and personalised care.

By working closely with them, Manchester City Council has now helped almost 2000 people create their own Individual Budget. With that they have purchased not just home care but computers, electronic books, gardeners and scooters. A total of 89 older people had an IB at the end of the pilot in July 2007, by October 2008 this number has grown to 647.

One person who has used his Individual Budget in a variety of different ways is David Miller, 66. * David suffered a massive stroke, which left him paralysed down one side of his body, but with the help of an IB has been able to improve his life dramatically.

He used his Individual Budget to employ a Personal Assistant, buy a PC and employ a gardener. As well as helping him with his personal hygiene, his PA helps cook him fresh meals and takes him on short walks, which previously wasn't possible. David uses his PC, for online shopping and researching alternative treatments for his condition. The gardener, helps keeps David's garden tidy, a job that he could no longer manage himself.

David said: "The IB has really helped me, I can go online and order my weekly shopping, but also find out more about my condition. The fact that my garden is well maintained means I can sit outside and enjoy it. Individual Budgets are a good idea and the City Council have really helped to organise things for me."

Following the end of the pilot in July 2007, IBs have gone from strength to strength and one year on Individual Budgets are made available to all new customers from all service areas.

Councillor Basil Curley, Executive Member for Adult Social Care for Manchester City Council welcomed the report. He said: "This report makes very interesting reading. Since IBs were first piloted in Manchester we have gone from strength to strength, first piloting them and then bringing them into use across the whole department. We are now working towards ensuring all our customers receive support through an Individual Budget."

He added: "Manchester City Council will continue to work closely with all of our customers to fully understand their needs to understand about how they feel about the services we offer and how we can continue to improve."

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