Social care support reform: summary of discussion paper responses

2. The refreshed Implementation Plan for Self-directed Support 2019-2021

2.1 What is the Self-directed Support Implementation Plan?

Self-directed support is Scotland's mainstream approach to social care. It is defined in law by the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013. The approach set out in the Act is:

• social care is controlled by the supported person to the extent that they wish
• it is personalised to their own outcomes (including where they receive services commissioned or delivered by the public sector); and
• it respects the person's right to participate in society.

The move to a self-directed model of social care involves changes to systems, to the way in which workers go about their roles, and also to how supported people and the public think about social care.

There have been three phases of the implementation of self-directed support to date, in line with the original 10 year strategy. These have focused on:

• information to promote understanding of self-directed support;
• developing guidance for the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013;
• supporting innovation
• consolidating and sharing learning from innovative practice around self-directed support; and
• understanding and implementing self-directed support in the new context of integrated health and social care in Scotland.

Scottish Government is currently working with a range of partners to develop actions for the next phase, which will cover the years 2019 to 2021. These actions will be set out in an Implementation Plan.

2.2 How does the Implementation Plan relate to reform of adult social care?

The new phase of the implementation plan will be one of the ways to plan and take forward some of the things that stakeholders said need to happen, change, or grow to make adult social care in Scotland fit for now and for the future. The Plan will help to organise the activities and monitor progress to understand whether changes are happening quickly enough and in the right places. It will also be a way for everyone involved to commit to working together to achieve a common goal.

Stakeholders were asked in the questionnaire to say what they would wish to see in the new phase of the implementation plan for self-directed support (i.e. covering 2019-2021). Self-directed support is not a separate topic within adult social care, but describes Scotland's approach to social care overall. Therefore, all of the detailed information from the responses to this question are weaved throughout the main body of this report.