Draft Self-directed Support Statutory Guidance on care and support

1. Learn and understand what people need and want

Individuals in receipt of support, operational social workers, and providers are all rich sources of data for building a picture of need and demand in an area. The authority/partnership should consult with a variety of different sources in order to gather the good quality information about what people need and want from the services available. User views and information about current services will provide an understanding of what is already on offer and whether it matches what people need or want.

2. Set out what you will do to meet what people need and want

The authority/partnership should use the information from their consultation in order to plan what the variety of services might look like in future. This will provide information about gaps in support provision and evidence for influencing the development of new support and services.

3: Try out different approaches

The authority/partnership should bring together the results of the analysis and planning stages into what they will actually do to facilitate the choices. The actions taken at this stage will be different depending on the needs of the local area but may include: allocating additional resources for specialist support services, providing specialist training; setting aside funding for innovation; financial incentives to meet gaps in support; or simply being clear about the commissioning or de-commissioning of services.

4. Review - ask if it worked and make changes

This final stage is an opportunity to assess whether the process has worked. By reviewing the information gathered during the earlier stages this assessment should shape what the local authority intends to do to facilitate a variety of choices in future.