Slides given at launch of ESDSN at event hosted by EASPD, with ENIL in Brussels in December 2013.

1. Self-Directed Support
creating a European network

2. Self-Directed Support
•
It is not new - it has been
growing since the 1960s.
•
It can be found in lots of
places around the world.
•
It has been successful,
but slow to grow.
•
It creates new
opportunities and new
risks.

3. “We are obliged to
surrender to the will of
the strong. Big
companies, cities and
municipalities decide
what is best for us. This
is about power. Why do
I feel a lack of power
in my own life?”
Sami Helle at European
Parliament, November 2013

4. Research
•
Positive outcomes (often)
negative outcomes (never)
•
Can cost less, can cost more
•
Tends to increase demand
•
Design matters - there are
big differences between
different systems

6. English data 2003-2005, first In Control pilot

7. English data 2005-2007

13. Design Matters
1. Rights - secure foundations
2. Control - person focused
3. Clarity - transparent
4. Flexibility - high in options
5. Ease of use - low in burdens
6. Community - connectivity
7. Sustainability - evolving

14. 1. Rights

15. Support should not be a professional gift it should be an entitlement

16. The government
money fallacy
it can’t always be
government money:
where did government get it from?

17. 2. Control

18. The right person must have responsibility control as close to the person as possible

19. Needs are met - but met in ways that are
shaped by the person.

20. 3. Clarity

21. Systems ration resources in different ways
!
1.by responding to crises or requests
2.by creating waiting lists for places
3.by professional assessment
4.by public rules for entitlements
5.by negotiation

23. Clarity about money seems to improve how
people plan and how willing the system is to
provide flexibility. But it can be corrupted.

24. 4. Flexibility

25. Flexible funding helps promote greater
community involvement

27. 5. Easy to use

28. Resistance to innovation often leads to
increases in complexity.

29. •
Big support plans
•
Complex resource assessments
•
Lengthy processes for review and decisions
•
Intrusive bureaucracy and monitoring
•
Multiple and conflicting funding streams
•
Weak incentives to take control
•
Regulations and inspections

30. Trust is critical.

31. 6. Community

32. Self-directed support seeks to move money
into community - in different ways.

33. This includes how people take control.

34. 7. Sustainability

35. Self-directed support demands a new way
of managing - NOT the middle

36. Its about citizenship - NOT services

37. Questions

38. There are some
important risks

39. •
The efficiencies can be turned into cuts
not improvements
•
Service providers can be cut out of the
process and not encouraged to play a
full part
•
The system can burden people with
unnecessary burdens and confusion

40. Service providers led
the move to
self-directed support
and can play a
positive role

41. One useful approach is to offer ISFs flexible managed funds

42. Research on use of ISFs - Choice Support

43. People, staff and families saw major
improvements as savings were also made

44. Major improvements were seen in every
area of life and support.

45. impact on services
•
Changes the security - not
the system, but people
•
Changes the purpose - not
quality, but citizenship
•
Changes the means - not
services, but community
•
Changes the politics - not
funding, but rights

46. We want to explore
how best Europe can
embrace self-directed
support and ensure it
promotes citizenship
and community

47. •
Can we create a European movement for selfdirected support to focus on the right things?
•
Can we put civil society, community and persons
with disabilities at the heart of the movement?
•
Can we encourage experimentation and learning
between European countries?
•
Can we help the European Union strengthen their
support for real human rights and inclusion?

48. Ideas for
European Self-Directed Support
Network
!
Mission
!
To help persons with disabilities across
Europe to achieve full citizenship by reforming
systems for funding assistance and meeting
the human rights of people with disabilities.

49. Ideas for
European Self-Directed Support
Network
Objectives
1.To identify systems of self-directed support used in Europe
2.To identify and share good practice
3.To identify obstacles to good practice
4.To create a network of champions for self-directed
support across Europe (of interested organisations, people
with disabilities and families)
5.To build alliances with other groups who are using selfdirected support (not just people with disabilities)
6.To help improve European policy-making on self-directed
support

50. Partnership
We need partners in all of the objectives.
We need to
• meet, share, learn
• make research, build strategies
• grow a network
• use social media and easy to access -tools
• organise events, lobby, publish papers
• find ways for service producers to help
• work together to promote people’s right to access
full citizenship

51. The
European
Self-­‐Directed
Support
Network
Do
you
want
to
join
in?
Contacts
Aarne
Rajalahti
Development
Manager
Service
Foundation
for
People
with
Intellectual
Disabilities
aarne.rajalahti@kvps.fi
+358
40
517
4447
Dr
Simon
Duffy
Director
The
Centre
for
Welfare
Reform
simon@centreforwelfarereform.org
+44
7729
7729
41
Your
logo
here?
☺

52. © Simon Duffy. Rights Reserved. Full copyright details at www.centreforwelfarereform.org