'Independence, well-being and choice' green paper

The Independence, well-being and choice green paper sought views on proposals setting out a revised direction for social care and a long-term vision to enable services to become ‘person-centred, proactive and seamless.’

The green paper confirmed previous announcements that the Commission for Social Care Inspection and the Healthcare Commission would be merged into a single body by 2008.

Proposals

The main proposals were centred on:

• promoting and extending the use of direct payments to give people greater choice and control over services for their needs, particularly in groups with low take-up, including older people and people with mental health problems
• testing individual budgets for users from 2007 onwards, enabling them to manage budgets for their care through the use of direct payments
• increasing the focus on preventative services to enable early intervention
• a stronger strategic leadership role for local government and greater partnership working between NHS, voluntary and community sectors
• making better use of new, responsive models of care including telecare and specialist housing services
• expansion of the role of the director of adult social services (which was subject to a separate consultation) to provide strategic leadership across all services
• the establishment of six outcomes that would form the foundations of a social care framework:
  1. improved health
  2. improved quality of life
  3. making a positive contribution
  4. exercise of choice and control
  5. economic wellbeing
  6. personal dignity.

Individual budget pilots were to cover a number of different funding streams, including social care, disabled facilities grants, employment and housing support.

In practice

In the event, it proved impossible to reconcile the different eligibility criteria and funding streams into a single budget for an individual. Consequently, personal budgets (and their cash equivalent, direct payments) were designed only to meet a person's assessed social care needs.