CIPFA Scotland launches financial guide to self-directed care

31 Jul 15
CIPFA has launched a new guide to the implementation of reforms to social care provision in Scotland that are designed to lead to greater personalisation of support.

The guide, published today by the institute and the Scottish Government, provides a financial framework that can be used by councils to support moves to so-called self-directed support.

Self-directed support represents a major shift in the way health and social care services are delivered. The aim is to make services more person-centered, allowing people eligible for social care support, as well as their carers and families, to make informed choices on what kind of help they receive and how it is delivered, making it possible to meet agreed personal outcomes.

Today’s guidance is intended to help Scotland’s 32 local authorities, who spent almost £3bn on social care in 2013/14, to implement the more personalised service through sharing good practice. It also sets out how the reforms can be incorporated in plans, currently being developed at local levels, to integrate health and social care.

The guidance was launched at the official opening of CIPFA Scotland’s new office in Edinburgh today, an event attended by Jamie Hepburn, the Scottish Government’s minister for sport, health improvement and mental health.

“Along with health and social care integration, self-directed support is part of a package of public sector reform policies which require a fundamental shift in culture to be achieved,” Hepburn said. “This financial management guidance and self-evaluation framework promotes good practice and will give financial managers the confidence to facilitate creative and collaborative approaches to social care and support.”

Don Peebles, the head of CIPFA Scotland, added that the pressures of an ageing population and tightening of budgets require the development of new ways of delivering health and social care services.

“As policy develops, we as finance professionals need to ensure that we are providing modernised support to politicians and to the public,” Peebles said. “That’s why we support initiatives such as the Scottish Government’s self-directed support, to provide care users with personal budgets to give them a greater say over their own care provision while delivering value for money for taxpayers.”

The address of CIPFA Scotland’s new office is 160 Dundee Street, Edinburgh, EH11 1DQ. The new HQ was opened by John Matheson, CIPFA's first Scottish-born UK president since 1961, who suggested that it was a good omen that the building was located on the site of Sir Sean Connery's birthplace. He said the premises were proof of CIPFA's "continuing investment in its members in Scotland and in Scotland itself." It includes three development suits and other facilities to support CIPFA's new apprenticeships programme.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon had made her priorities for the country clear, Matheson said: a stronger economy, a reformed public sector and a reduction in social inequality. His own priorities for his presidential year were succession planning, innovation and reaching out to partners beyond the public sector.

The ceremony also saw the presentation of CIPFA's first Governance Mark of Excellence accreditation to the Scottish-based third sector group Includem, which works with marginalised and highly disadvantaged youngsters; and a £500 donation on behalf of CIPFA Scotland to the Alzheimer Scotland charity.

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