Office for Disability Issues report

September 2009
Trailblazer Information Events
Workshop feedback

At the trailblazer information events on 14th and 15th July we

invited delegates to consider the following four questions:

1) What have you done so far to streamline processes across

funding streams accessed by disabled people?

2) What are the legislative and administrative barriers that stop

public bodies streamlining the support disabled people
receive?

3) What relationships currently exist in your areas between the

local authority and Jobcentre Plus?

4) What support would you require from the Office for Disability
Issues:
a. in developing your proposals for becoming trailblazers
for the right to control? And
b. as a trailblazer during the two-year implementation
period?

The answers to the questions are summarised below and will be

used to inform the development of secondary legislation and plans
for implementing the right to control during the trailblazers.

Question 1: What have you done so far to streamline

processes across funding streams accessed by disabled
people?

Experience of streamlining processes across funding streams

varied considerable between areas. Some delegates felt their local
authorities had limited experience in this area, whereas others
were able to provide examples of work that had already been
undertaken. This included:

• Co-location of employment and local authority services

• Joint visiting teams
• The use of integrated assessments, including FACE and
work to develop a Common Assessment Framework (CAF)
as part of the CAF pilots
• Joint-commissioning of services
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September 2009

• Incorporation of Supporting People funding with Adult Social

Care in a Individual Budget
• Incorporation of Disabled Facilities Grant funding with Adult
Social Care in an Individual Budget
• Work to streamline Independent Living Fund (ILF) processes
with Adult Social Care
• Pooled budgets for community equipment

Question 2: What are the legislative and administrative

barriers that stop public bodies streamlining the support
disabled people receive?

Those areas which had attempted to, or succeeded in,

streamlining processes across funding streams were able to
identify a range of challenges to implementation. These included:

• Differing eligibility criteria for different funding streams

• Auditing differences between funding streams
• Different performance management systems and targets
driving different behaviours in different organisations
• Different review timescales and frequency
• The lack of data sharing protocols between local delivery
agencies
• Different approaches to assessing and managing risk
• Different / incompatible IT systems
• Different payment procedures – in arrears for some funding
streams, in advance for others
• Differing charging policies between areas
• Inflexibility regarding what funds can be spent on, for
example the restrictions placed on ILF

As well as legislative and administrative barriers, delegates also

identified political and cultural barriers to streamlining support,
including:

• People at all levels across the organisation not being

committed to making the change
• Local political issues hampering joint-working arrangements
• Internal structures preventing closer working arrangements
• Front line staff unwillingness to work differently
• Managers wanting to protect their areas of accountability and

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seeing joint working as a threat to their jobs or ways of
working

Question 3: What relationships currently exist in your areas

between the local authority and Jobcentre Plus?

Links between local authorities and Jobcentre Plus were in place in

most areas at some level; however relationships were often
described as “patchy”. It was felt that although Jobcentre Plus
were often represented on Local Strategic Partnerships (LSPs)
and therefore played a role in setting the strategic priorities for the
area, this often did not result in changes to existing ways of
working. Also, while LSPs often had chose employment as a
strategic priority, this didn’t necessarily translate into a focus on
employment for disabled people.

Many areas recognised that front line staff in both local authorities
and Jobcentre Plus has developed good working relationships,
however this was often as the result of “ad hoc” contact regarding
specific customers rather than because of planned joint-working
arrangements.

Some delegates raised questions regarding the “overlap” between

local authority customers (those receiving Adult Social Care,
Disabled Facilities Grant or Supporting People) and Jobcentre Plus
customers (those receiving Access to Work or the Specialist
Disability Employment Programmes). The number of disabled
people who access services and support from both Local
authorities and Jobcentre Plus is currently unknown and this is
something that the right to control trailblazers could explore.

Question 4 a: What support would you require from the Office

for Disability Issues in developing your proposals for
becoming trailblazers for the right to control?

Delegates identified the following areas:

• More information on the funding streams that will be included

under the right to control, including what they are for, who
administers them, how eligibility is determined, etc.
• Clarity over what is required of them, the financial support
available and the criteria on which trailblazers will be
selected
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September 2009

• Guidance on what targets will be set for the trailblazers

• Support with getting senior management and Member buy-
in, including clear identification of the benefits to local
delivery agencies and how this fits with both local and
national performance indicators
• Support with identifying key partners and building the
relationships between delivery agencies in the local area
• Mentoring by authorities who took part in the Department of
Health Individual Budget pilots

Question 4 b: What support would you require from the Office

for Disability Issues as a trailblazer during the two-year
implementation period?

Delegates identified the following areas:

• Trailblazers to be led at a Local Strategic Partnership level

• The relaxation of policies and procedures that prevent joint-
working
• The development of regional networks to share information
and learning as well as other mechanisms for sharing best
practice
• The use of an “action-learning” approach to evaluation that
enables trailblazers to change and improve their approaches
throughout the implementation period
• Adequate funding to enable project management and
change management within each area

The Office for Disability Issues will consider the points raised by
delegates at the Trailblazer Information Events when planning for
implementation.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in the workshop activity.