In September I blogged about the project In Control carried out
in the north-west of England earlier this year -twenty nine
ways of making personalisation real. I'm now going to
add number thirty to the list, that is the pooling of
personal budgets, an approach to choice and control that has
not had the attention it warrants and whose time has now come.
What do we mean by pooling in this context?
At its simplest it is a process where people decide to bring
together their resources - including their money, often some of the
money in their personal budgets, but also their skills, passions
and other 'assets' (what we often refer to as their 'real wealth')
- for something they want to do as a group. People do this
for a wide variety of reasons, but in some shape or form, all who
go down this road do it because they value the company of others,
often particularly those they regard either as their 'peers' or
those with whom they have particular shared interests.
The needs for companionship, friendship and the support of our
peers are common to us all and the sharing of our resources in
sports clubs, faith groups, political organisations, community
associations and so on is normal in all communities. The
pooling of personal budgets and of other aspects of 'real wealth'
is just a particular instance of this, one which brings its own
challenges of course, (see below) but in many ways it is simply one
manifestation of community life.
The organisation RUILS, the Richmond Users of Independent Living
Scheme, has done a great deal to help local groups in west London
to set up pooled arrangements and to describe some of the
challenges and solutions. A couple of years ago it
produced a pooling guide that is particularly helpful for
organisations that are uncertain about the mechanics pooling or how
to go about it. RUILS is happy to try and answer queries about
pooled budgets and can be contacted via the link above or on 020
8831 6083/4.
Groups that have already set up pooled arrangements include:
- Stepping on Out, a group of people with learning
disabilities from Richmond Adult and Community College set up a
non-profit organisation, making and selling cards.
- The Wings group, people with mental health needs from
Worcestershire put their money together to form a social
club.
- The Out and About Consortium, a group of friends with
learning disabilities from Richmond, put money from their personal
budgets into a pool to employ personal assistants to support them
to do a variety of fun and exciting things in their local
community.
RUILS highlights a lengthy list of practical considerations for
groups considering going down this road. Some of the early
questions often concern the ways in which someone who
wants to do so can safely and successfully join up
with others in similar situations to their own: are the others they
identify the right people; do they genuinely share the same
interests; will they be able to pay their way; will they stick with
it? In some of these situations there may be an important
role for local authority commissioners or social workers or for
third sector organisations in making suggestions to bring people
together to 'broker' meetings, and perhaps to make sure that the
people involved are making a good connection and that everyone
involved is safe and happy. In other instances there may be an
already existing group and the early questions then are not so much
about who as what and how:
what exactly will the money be used for (paying for
venues or transport, employing staff, purchasing equipment or
what); and how does the group deploy its skills and
resources to organise these things? In particular there
will of course need to be discussions about how much money each
person contributes; how that money is looked after; how the group
is assured that everyone is fully involved in decision-making and
that all remain content as things progress; and discussions about
how different people take on different roles and responsibilities
with no-one feeling either excluded or overly burdened. All
of the usual things about running a joint venture of any kind in
fact.
There are particular additional practical issues when it comes
to pooling personal budgets: normally the outcomes concerned must
be registered in each person's support plan and these support plans
must be signed off by the local authority. Is a pooled arrangement
the best way of achieving the agreed outcomes? Is it a good
use of money? Thought needs to be given to opening a bank
account, the group needs to decide whether to go for a joint
account; or for a sole account for one member who is trusted by all
(simpler but less secure); if it's a joint account they need to
decide who the signatories are, is there a need to set up direct
debits or standing orders; do they require help with the books and
so on; depending on the composition of the group there may be
issues also about powers of attorney or best interest decisions;
and if the group is planning on using the money to employ support
staff, about tax and insurance.
It's also critically important that there are proper safeguards
in place to ensure that people really are freely choosing a
particular pooling arrangement and not giving into any form of
pressure (whether that comes from families, peers, staff or anyone
else) to 'join in.' The last thing we want is to re-create the
worst aspects of some of the old services, and what we are most
definitely not advocating here is that personal budget figures are
set at lower levels on the basis that people are
expected to pool resources. We also need to be confident
that there are strong arrangements to check with people that they
really are getting the outcomes they want and need as the pooled
arrangement develops and things evolve over time: proper 'review'
remains an indispensable building block of any genuinely
personalised system and people must not be prevented from opting
out of a pool at any point in the process.
In October 2012, RUILS organised a seminar at the Scope offices
in north London to look at the future of pooled budgets. One of the
many interesting discussions in the course of this day was about
some of the exciting business ventures or microenterprises people
have launched in various sectors and in various parts of the
country, which use 'capital' from pooled personal budgets.
These ventures clearly extend the scope and reach of pooling
arrangements and open new doors for individuals to find their own
way to make a contribution to society and in some instances to make
money. There were also helpful discussions of tax
issues, led by a representative of HMRC; on employment law from
Peninsula Business Services; and on insurance from Fish Insurance.
The HMRC representative addressed a number of concerns, including
'who is the (PAYE responsible) employer' in a joint venture. Fish
Insurance made the point that for insurance purposes there needs to
be certain absolute rules and responsibilities so that it is clear
who is responsible (liable) for what. In fact the importance of a
very clear and comprehensive pooling agreement
(sometimes called a consortium agreement or a
group agreement), setting out what is intended by the
pooling arrangement, how it will work, who will do what, and what
the checks and balances in place are, was a recurring theme at the
seminar.
The pooling of personal budgets is an idea whose time has
come. Days of austerity and the closures of many traditional
services, where people used to meet their friends and socialise,
have pushed pooling to the front of the queue as something people
in many places now really need. We must get pooling publicised and
on agendas as a real viable option, that is we must 'develop
the marketplace'and assist local user led organisations, brokers
and perhaps also traditional service providers, to see that they
have important roles in developing and supporting pooled
arrangements. The fact that there are readily available solutions
to some of the practical challenges also needs highlighting.
And staff and managers in all parts of health, social care and
mainstream services, including commissioners in local authorities
and in clinical commissioning groups, need now to start taking
pooling seriously, and work to set up systems that encourage its
development and make it a viable option available to all.
Andrew Tyson
Associate
In Control
Last Updated : 18 December 2012. Page Author: Pam Schreier.
