State of Autism in England - A Policy Analysis

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1 Real Challenge: Real Change Business Intelligence Sheets England

2 Policy Context: England Care and Support White Paper Published 11 July 2012 by Department of Health The white paper sets out a vision for a reformed care and support (social care) system. It was published with the draft Care and Support Bill and a progress report on funding on 11 July This is part of the ongoing process of trying to reform the care system so that elderly people are better cared for in their old age. It isn t learning disability specific but there are implications for us all. The system needs to be reformed because it isn t fit for purpose, being largely reactive and often in crisis mode. The white paper talks about choice, control, dignity and respect which is central to what we strive for at ARC and moving to a person-centred system. financial protection through capped costs and an extended means test would be the right basis for any new funding model. Draft Care and Support Bill Published 11 July 2012 by Department of Health Once the consultation process has concluded this will go towards being the Health and Social Care Act. Again this does have implications for learning disability but the main theme is caring for the elderly. The draft care and support bill has its own website where you can post comments on the draft Bill until 19 October 2012, and contribute to the largest overhaul of the law around adult care and support in 60 years. Draft Care and Support Bill factsheets The DH published 8 factsheets explaining some of the key topics covered by the draft bill. Caring for Our Future The white paper has its own website bringing all the information, documents and comments together in one place making reading or contributing to the consultation easier. Caring for Our Future: progress report on funding reform Published 11 July 2012 by Department of Health The report sets out that the government agrees the principles of the Dilnot Commission s model Welfare Reform Act 2012 Received Royal Assent on 8 March 2012 The Act legislates for the biggest change to the welfare system for over 60 years. It introduces a wide range of reforms that will deliver the commitment made in the Coalition Agreement and the Queen s Speech to make the benefits and tax credits systems fairer and simpler by: creating the right incentives to get more people into work protecting the most vulnerable in our society delivering fairness to those claiming benefit and to the taxpayer. Think Local, Act Personal: Making It Real Think Local, Act Personal is the sector wide commitment to transform adult social care through personalisation and community-based support. It 2

3 committed over 30 national organisations to work together and to develop, as one of the key priorities, a set of markers. These markers will be used to support all those working towards personalisation. This will help organisations check their progress and decide what they need to do to keep moving forward to deliver real change and positive outcomes with people. Fairer Funding for All The Commission s Recommendations to Government Published by the Commission on Funding for Care and Support (The Dilnot Commission) On 4 July 2011 the Commission reported to Government with its finding and recommendations for a new funding system. Commission on Funding of Care and Support Launched on 20 July 2010, the Commission on Funding of Care and Support was an independent body tasked by Government with reviewing the funding system for care and support in England. Health Committee Third Report Social Care Published 4 March 2010 by the House of Commons, Health Committee Publications This report looks at Social Care and what previous reports have published about what could be done to reform the system. Autism Act November 2009 The Autism Act 2009 was the first ever disabilityspecific law in England. The Act did two key things: The Act, strategy and the statutory guidance relates only to adults with autism living in England. Shaping the Future of Care Together Published 14 July 2009 by HM Government This green paper sets out a vision for a new care and support system. It highlights the challenges faced by the current system and the need for radical reform, to develop a fair, simple and affordable system for everyone. Mental Capacity Act and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards Received Royal Assent in July 2007 The Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (formerly known as the Bournewood Safeguards) were introduced into the Mental Capacity Act 2005 through the Mental Health Act 2007 (which received Royal Assent in July 2007). The MCA DOL safeguards apply to anyone: aged 18 and over who suffers from a mental disorder or disability of the mind such as dementia or a profound learning disability who lacks the capacity to give informed consent to the arrangements made for their care and/or treatment and for whom deprivation of liberty (within the meaning of Article 5 of the ECHR) is considered after an independent assessment to be necessary in their best interests to protect them from harm. The first was to put a duty on the Government to produce a strategy for adults with autism, which was published on 2 March The second was a duty on the Government to produce statutory guidance for local councils and local health bodies on implementing the adult autism strategy by the end of This guidance was published on 17 December

4 Facts & Figures: England ARC Head Office/England in Numbers 22 Staff (9 full-time, 13 part-time, 16 contribute to activity beyond England). 6,190 Disclosure applications processed by the ARC Disclosure Service (2011/12). 1,300 People on the LaDDER network (Learning Disability, Diversity and Ethnicity Review). 89 Organisations/individuals signed-up to the Giving Us A Voice National Charter for Inclusion. 622 PA Assistants and PA Employers are part of PA Net network/e-forum. 40 Organisations benefitted from 471,434 Skills for Care Workforce Development Funding, distributed via ARC (2011/12). 174 Candidates working towards a qualification through ARC Training Services (2011/12). 178 Candidates achieved a qualification through ARC Training Services (2011/12). 1,332 Training products purchased (2011/12). 106 People attended training courses (2011/12). 425 People attended the Annual Conference, best practice workshops and branch networking events (2011/12). 184 England and UK-wide Member organisations (19/09/2012). 12 People with a learning disability have already or are currently undertaking training for the City & Guilds Introduction to Training Skills Award 4 have now achieved the qualification. My Life Your Job Project (Human Rights training) 486 People with a learning disability and support workers benefitted from training delivered. 12 Individuals with a learning disability trained to be project trainers. 8 People with a learning disability supported to achieve a mainstream training award. Demography and Strategic Context In England it is estimated that there are 1,191,000 people with a learning disability. 286,000 children (aged 0 17 years) 905,000 adults Only 189,000 adults with a learning disability are known to learning disability services. Safety Net Project (Raising awareness of Mate Crime) 413 People with learning disabilities received Friend or Fake training Social care staff, professionals and family carers received training/awareness sessions Friend or Fake Brochures/CD toolkits distributed. 150 People with learning disabilities took part in a Mate Crime march in Barnstable Signatures collected on a petition to influence the candidates for the soon-to-be elected Heads of Constabularies to keep disability hate crime high on their agenda. Over 138,995 adults with a learning disability are living in some form of accommodation. 41, 205 are living with family or friends. 81,935 are living in permanent accommodation: 23,456 in registered care homes 17,610 in supported accommodation/ supported group homes 17,405 in some form of tenancy 23,464 other (e.g. adult placement schemes/ long-stay facilities/hospitals/sheltered housing) 4

5 Member Views: England ARC England Members Survey Q9 How do you ensure staff meet the Refreshed Common Induction Standards? In July 2012 ARC England conducted a Members Survey utilising Survey Monkey, an online market reasarch tool. The survey was distributed to all member contacts via a dedicated promotional , with reminders placed in the monthly Members Newsletter and a link directly to the survey added to the footer of all England staff s. The Survey was divided into sections with the option for recipients to complete the whole survey or skip sections to only answer applicable questions. The survey contained questions surrounding: 100% of organisations said they deliver the Common Induction Standards to new staff and just over half of them get external training providers to help them with this. Workforce Development CRB Disclosure Service Health of organisation / current issues / challenges Review of ARC products and services. The following overview highlights the key pieces of information and most significant findings from each section of the survey. Q10 How do you ensure your staff have a good understanding and knowledge of how to support individuals with learning disabilities? Workforce Development The questions linked to Workforce Development were answered by 40% of respondents and the feedback gained was very useful. When asked how much the organisation actively supported staff development, this question had an excellent response, 87.5% stated that they supported staff development, via a range of in-house training provided by themselves and externally provided training. The remaining 12.5% stated that they supported staff development but not fully. No one reported that they did not support staff development. 100% of respondents said they provided staff training in knowledge and understanding learning disabilities, again, with a combination of delivery methods and 87.5% purchasing external training. It is reassuring to know that ARC Members value staff development and ensure staff are appropriately trained. We can see from these figures that there is also potential for ARC to become an external training provider, with such high percentages purchasing from external training providers, ARC needs to market training products and services to members. 5

6 The statistics around our members awareness of the training products and services that we offer show that work needs to be done. We found that only 62% were aware that we provide Health and Social Care Training and only 50% aware that we also provide training for individual units. This, again, highlights the need to increase our marketing and promotion of our services to ARC members and beyond. With greater knowledge of the service comes greater potential for new business. 100% of respondents reported that their organisation funded workforce development. However, only 60% reported that they accessed Skills for Care Workforce Development Funding (WDF) through ARC, meaning 40% of ARC Members are not accessing the WDF monies for staff training. ARC can increase publicity and marketing of the benefits of WDF monies and support members to access this funding for QCF units (not just complete qualifications). Q57 Would you like ARC to help you in any of the following areas? Overview The key finding regarding the factors affecting our members showed 95% were concerned over the economical factors. This is confirmation that the current economic climate is impacting on everyone, ARC needs to ensure that all Learning and Development products and services are not only of an excellent quality but also provide value for money. ARC Disclosure Service/CRB checks Significantly, only 1 respondent reported that they did not use the ARC Disclosure Service for their CRB checks. When asked how well the ARC Disclosure Service met their requirements, there was a very positive response with 72% reporting they were very satisfied and 14% fairly satisfied. 53.8% of respondents expressed a desire for support from ARC for managers and leaders to develop, this was the option that received the highest response. This is an excellent opportunity for ARC to develop the continued promotion of our Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management Diploma. Along with updating our Manager s Induction and developing new Mentoring qualifications, this will allows us to respond to our members needs and increase our business at the same time. When asked if the ARC Disclosure Service proved value for money, again, there was a very positive reponse with 72% finding it good value and 42.9% of those found it very good value. 6

7 Q27 What factors keep you using the ARC Disclosure Service? Over 50% did not know about the certificate storage facility available to them, which is disappointing but it has not been advertised so really it is to be expected. One of the key questions was to guage the interest in an online service and there were no surprises in the response 66.7% were very interested in an online service. However, it was surprising that 33.3% would not commit to an answer. Overview The one most significant piece of information gleaned from the Survey results is how well the ARC Disclosure Service currently meets customers requirements and is value for money. However, the results show overwhelmingly that the ARC Disclosure Service has not been marketed and advertised well enough. Our membership is unaware of the full range of services we provide, which is sad considering that they feel we are value for money. This was a very surprising response as 71.4% chose accuracy and efficiency whilst personal service and communication although equally good results scored 57.1%. Overall a very pleasing result. When asked what could be done to improve the service there was a disappointingly low response to this question. However, it has backed up the team s own thoughts that lower costs and an online service would be an improvement. There were some surprising results when asked about the use of the ARC Disclosure website. 42.9% have visited our website and 28.6% did not know of our website and 57.1% did not know that supporting documentation can be downloaded from here. It was actually anticipated that a higher percent would not be aware or not be using the website. Some pleasing results but does show that the ARC Disclosure website needs further advertising. We have hit so many highs in this survey with our accuracy and efficiency, communication and personal service and the only improvements acknowledged are costs and an online service. We must consider the implications if we do not find ways to market our services and ensure our customers are made aware of all the services we provide and hope to provide over the next two years with the current changes within the CRB and the checking process. The big question then arises regarding an online checking service. Over 66% of respondents want this service. Can we oblige or do we lose 66% of our customers? 7

8 Questions for CEOs/Senior Management on the health of the organisation and current challenges When asked where the majority of their income came from 100% of respondents reported that it came only from local authority fees. None of the respondents claimed to have any income through Direct Payments (DP) or Individual Budgets (IB). This could just be a mis-interpretation, and some providers may still view DPs and IBs as being local authority funding, since that is where it originates. There are potential implications here; if providers regard DPs and IBs as local authority funding still, then it could imply that there has been no change in culture despite the move to Self Directed Support and the agenda for more control to individuals. If on the other hand, there really is no income from DPs or IBs, then once again, it could suggest that providers are not engaging with the new customers, who have their own funding. Another interesting outcome of the survey is that 95% of members that responded said that it was economic factors rather than political factors (40%) that concerned them most at the moment, despite 100% of their income coming from local authorities. Q47 There was a very positive response to the value of bringing organisations together (80 85% valued the networking, sharing and influencing it offered) and, interestingly, in the following question over 21% of respondents reported that there were not enough local networking opportunities, with nearly 58% saying they had access to some, but still not describing that as plenty. In recent times ARC has dramatically decreased its local branch activities in England but responses to the survey suggest that members place a high value on this. Q39 Do you think bringing organisations together is useful for: How financially secure do you think your organisation is? Q39 How financially secure do you think your organisation is? 100% of those members who responded said they use Person Centred Planning tools to assess impact on service users lives. This is an encouraging response, and offers a good foundation for setting up a PCP forum, where experienced members can share experiences and ideas with smaller/less experienced members. It is interesting to see that 52% of respondents reported a profit or surplus, 14% made a significant profit or surplus last year, 19% broke even and only 14% ate into their reserves or made a loss. These figures would seem to suggest that the majority of the organisations surveyed (85%) are financially stable, which is more positive than we expected. 8

9 Q40 If your organisation is experiencing financial pressures what is being done to save money? An overwhelming 90% highlighted that they were making efficiency savings, which would seem to tally with what is happening at Local Authorities across England; the Audit Commission recently stated that 312m could be saved annually through more efficient working (particularly with client assessments). The other methods of saving money were redundancies 20%, reduced pay or hours 35% and reducing training and development 15%. Sadly, this is often the first thing to go but it is still a relatively low figure, meaning careful targeting will still encourage members to utilise ARC Training Services for their training and development. No respondents reported that they were reducing services, which again, should be regarded as really positive. It would suggest that they are aiming to work harder and smarter without compromising the quality of service they provide. 9

10 Association for Real Change Central Office & England Marsden Street, Chesterfield, Derbyshire S40 1JY Tel: www. arcuk.org.uk