The forgotten story of social care

a support worker helping the individual, or a specialist service such as employment, adult learning and volunteering support. Without this type of intervention, some services may resort to using a long-term package of care to provide activities in substitute of volunteering, employment or community activities. This long-term package of care tends to most commonly be access to day services, which is likely to further differentiate the independence of the individual compared to others in their non-disabled peer group.

Thematically, delivering optimum outcomes for individuals in this cohort involve navigating barriers related to employment, volunteering, and wider use of public services. Local authorities who tend to deliver the most independent outcomes for individuals in this cohort often use short-term interventions in order to help navigate additional initial barriers for those with mild disabilities. This might involve a progression or enablement service (similar to reablement in older adults) which focusses on 3–6 months support from

LD Cohort Five: Individuals with low levels of need and whose package of care is not changing in cost

This has been a stable routine which has largely looked the same for the last 5–10 years. Her parents are worried about what will happen to Sade as they get older and find it harder to provide the same level of support to her.

Sade is a 35-year-old woman with Williams Syndrome who lives with her parents and two young sisters. She enjoys cooking with her mum and spending time in the garden. Sade receives support from a PA through a direct payment for three hours a day. She predominately uses this for personal care support and accessing the community. Her family provide her with support in all other areas.

How can improved outcomes be delivered for this cohort? Delivering optimum outcomes for this cohort centres around continuous forward planning, similar to cohort four above. However, in contrast, individuals in this cohort are less likely to be prioritised for review if an authority is delayed on their annual Care Act review cycle. This is most commonly due to individuals in this cohort having a long-term routine with the same support, without a change in needs. Whilst it is positive that this cohort has a stable routine, there may well be a missed opportunity for authorities to help these individuals to better plan for their future. With the age group of this cohort being largely under 40-years-old, many individuals will be living with or having additional support from their family, most commonly their parents. As these individuals increase in age above 40–50-years-old, their parents are more likely to suffer from frailty and decreasing health, and therefore may be less able to provide the same level of support as they did previously.

This can then result in the individual experiencing a significant increase in their level of social care support, so joining a different cohort (likely cohort two), and undergoing a change in their routine and level of autonomy as they often need to move setting (to residential or supported living) with a higher level of support. In order to ensure the optimum long-term outcomes, stronger performing social care services tend to focus on progression, enablement and future planning with this cohort. This may involve a progression or enablement service (e.g. supporting learning to use public transport, meal preparation, or other independent living skills without the same reliance on parents), or through focussed goal setting and regular reviews through existing support plan providers (e.g. direct payment or homecare).

What is known about this cohort:

Volumes

Based on the data analysed for this programme from the participating authorities, this cohort makes up 14% of all individuals with a learning disability, and accounts for 7% of learning disability expenditure . On average, individuals in this cohort are slightly more likely to be aged 26–39 years old than individuals with a learning disability as a whole, and overall are more likely to be less than 55 years old.

Demographics

Expenditure The average package cost of £475 per week per person has not increased over the last four years. Support types 46% of individuals in this cohort are in receipt of direct payment or homecare, 25% are supported through low cost supported living or extra care, and 14% receive day services .

The proportion of working age and lifelong disabled individuals in this cohort ranged from 1.8% in one participating authority to 9.8% in another. Minimal variation between package costs was found for this cohort. The average cost of packages of care for individuals in this cohort ranged from £445 per week in one participating authority to £534 in another, indicating minimal variation nationally.

Variation between authorities

80 HOME

HOME

81

Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs