Right to Control: Trailblazer councils test disabled access

The way disabled people access government services has taken a step towards integration, with the announcement of eight 'Trailblazer' local authorities that will test the new Right to Control policy. Right to Control aims to give disabled people more choice and control over the services they receive and is seen as a major step towards the government target of achieving disability equality by 2025. The policy has involved intense negotiation between different central departments to enable local authorities to provide personalised support for disabled people, by integrating different services, including housing, employment and community care - but not health. Personalised budgets for healthcare Jonathan Shaw, minister for disabled people, said that the health bill going through parliament will be an opportunity to look at personalised budgets for healthcare, but added that identifying funding streams within devolved health budgets is more challenging than identifying the budgets for social care and access to work. "We will do the health pilots and see if it is possible to align them to the Right to Control areas," he commented. "But this is the direction of travel and the 'Trailblazer' areas will give us good and important lessons as to how to shape future policy." He added that it will be important to develop sustainable funding for user-led organisation that are going to provide advocacy and support for disabled people. The eight Trailblazer areas that will test the new arrangements include Greater Manchester, Leicester, the London borough of Barnet and Essex county council. James Wilson, programme manager for Right to Control at Essex county council, says the programme will, for the first time, enable disabled people to combine money from different state funding streams, as a cash payment, to be spent on whatever they think most appropriate for their needs. "This really gives us the opportunity to take our personalisation agenda to the next stage," comments Wilson. "We have a vision in Essex to move to an approach that includes all public sector organisations, not just the council, and this will be the catalyse to do some of that change." More tailored services The services will include most of the main funding for disabled people's services, says Wilson, although it will not include disability living allowance, attendance allowance, employment support allowance or health funding. Despite this, it will enable people to arrange more tailored services, or to buy equipment they need and has been warmly welcomed by disabled people's organisations. Richard Watts, director of policy and development at the Essex Coalition of Disabled People, said the new policy is "incredibly important" as a natural extension of moves towards more personalised services, particularly in its inclusion not just of social care services, but also employment and education. He said the long term aim would be to include health funding as well. "But we know this is a really innovatory way for statutory authorities to work," he said. "It is a really good first step to integrating services around individuals' lives." One example could be that if someone is assessed as qualifying for a disabled facilities grant, a local authority may authorise funding for a stairlift and an upstairs shower. "Under Right to Control, the user will have the cash equivalent, to which they could contribute a bit of their own money and could, for instance, build an extension downstairs, using builders they know and trust, rather than those used by the local authority," explained Watts. Essex is hoping to develop a single, integrated way of assessing disabled people's needs, rather than individuals having to fill out different forms for each type of funding. Last month, the Office for Disability Issues launched a consultation, which will run until mid-May, on the regulations that govern the Right to Control Trailblazers.