Counting the Cost of Choice and Control: Evidence for the costs of self-directed support in Scotland

Abstract

1. Self-directed support (SDS) allows people needing social care services toexercise greater choice and control over how they receive services and support.2. The Scottish Government aims to introduce legislation in 2012 (the Social Care(Self Directed Support) (Scotland) Bill) which will consolidate existing (sometimescomplex) provision for SDS. It is intended to bring SDS into the mainstream ofsocial care and increase the numbers of people directing their own support.3. Under the forthcoming bill, Local Authorities will be placed under a duty to offerservice users a variety of options which include: - Direct Payments (DPs) - the making of a payment directly to serviceusers to arrange their own support; - Directing the available resource - where the user selects the support that they wish and the Local Authority arranges matters on theirbehalf. In practice this would encompass options such as IndividualService Funds (ISFs) where the Local Authority contracts with providers on behalf of the service user; - Local Authority 'arranged' support where the authority arranges support on the user's behalf to meet their needs; and - A mix of the above options for distinct aspects of the user's support.4. This study was commissioned to provide inform the SDS strategy and to provideevidence for the forthcoming SDS bill on the current and future costs of SDS inScotland in order to understand the resource implications of making SDSmainstream and increasing the numbers of people directing their own support.