Self-directed Support (Scotland) Bill: Analysis of consultation and what the Scottish Government will do next
Introduction
The Scottish Government wants to change the law on direct payments and make a new law about self-directed support.
We held a consultation between 31 March and 23 June 2010 to find out what people thought of this plan.
A total of 130 written responses were received.
What did we find out?
Most people wanted a new law on self-directed support. A small number did not want a new law on self-directed support. Some people wanted the new law to go further than planned.
This is how people responded to the individual proposals
Bringing together the rules into one law.
At the moment the rules about direct payments are in lots of different laws. The Scottish Government wants to bring them together into 1 new law to make it clearer who can get direct payments and what they can do with them.
Most people wanted to bring together the rules on direct payments into 1 new law.
Guiding principles
The new law will have guiding principles that show people how they should behave and treat one another when they make decisions about care and support. One idea is that the principles for the new direct payments law should be:
· Better outcomes - people are healthier and happier
· Choice - people can choose the support they need
· Participation - people can make decisions about their life
· Mutuality - people and social workers work together
· Equality - everyone can get good support
Nearly everyone wanted the Bill to be based on guiding principles. But people had different views on what those principles should be.
Self-directed Support - now and in the future
Self-directed support gives people more control over their lives. Direct payments are one way of having self-directed support but some people do not want to handle the money.
There are other options. Self-directed support lets people:
· Take a direct payment
· Take a direct payment and have it managed by someone else
· Tell your council to buy the services you want
The Scottish Government wants to put these options into the law and set out people's rights in the new self-directed support law.
There was strong support for the new law to define self-directed support and to make clear people's rights to self-directed support.
Saying if you do not want to use self-directed support
There are still lots of people in Scotland who do not get offered direct payments or self-directed support.
The Scottish Government wants to make sure that people always get the choice. One idea is for people to get self-directed support unless they say that they do not want it.
There were a lot of different views on this proposal. A lot of people thought it was a good idea but there were also a lot of people who did not agree were unsure.
People that liked the idea often said that it was fine but there needs to be a lot more support and advice available.
Some people did not agree and quite a lot thought that the right to choose what you want should be the main thing set down in law.
Giving direct payments to carers
At the moment, people who care for people cannot get direct payments.
There are lots of carers in Scotland. Caring can make people stressed and sometimes the carers can get ill. When they get ill, it can mean that the person they care for has to get help . The Scottish Government says that carers do a really good job, and it wants to give them more support.
One idea is to let councils give direct payments to carers to spend on services that will help them carry on caring.
There was a lot of support to give councils a power in the law to support carers and to let carers direct their own support. However some people felt that the money should always go to the disabled person who could spend it on his or her carer's needs.
People who do not have the capacity to agree to a direct payment and manage it themselves
The law says that adults must be able to understand what direct payments are and say that they want them. If adults cannot do this, they need an attorney or guardian to do it for them.
It is quite hard to become a guardian. Guardians usually help people with lots of areas of their life, but some people only want help with their direct payments.
The Scottish Government wants to make it simple and straightforward for everyone to direct their own support, including people who cannot ask for themselves. They asked people what they thought about letting people who are not guardians or attorney make decisions about care and support for people who cannot make decisions on their own.
Most responses wanted to see this change. There was very strong support from local authorities.
Some people also disagreed. They said that these decisions should only be made by a guardian or an attorney.
Giving direct payments to people who live in a care home (residential care
At the moment, people cannot buy care in a care home with direct payments. Many people do not want to live in a care home. For those who do, direct payments may give them more choice.
The Scottish Government wants to know if people should be able to use direct payments to pay for residential care.
There were lots of views and no strong view either way. A lot of people supported the proposals and a lot of people had no views.
What the Government will do next
The Scottish Government has decided that it wants to speak to people again. It wants to provide a draft Bill for people to see what the new law might look like. The draft Bill will have all of the main ideas that were looked at in the first consultation but in a lot more detail and presented as how it will look when it finally becomes a law.
After they get people's opinions on the draft Bill the Government will decide if it wants to take the draft Bill to the Scottish Parliament.