Darlington Association on Disability Centre for Independent LivingStronger Voices … Strong Support (SVSS) project.Independent evaluation (Year 2)

MAY 2014

AcknowledgementThis project evaluation report was researched and produced by Kevin Caulfield of Equal Citizen Services (ECS). www.equalcitizen.co.uk

Thank you to all the people involved with Stronger Voices …. Strong Support who have contributed to this report by sharing their experiences.

Darlington Association on Disability 20-22 Horsemarket Darlington DL1 5PT

Telephone: 01325 489999 Fax: 01325 488188Text: 0762 481 8780

Email: mail@darlingtondisability.org

Equal Citizen Services1 Lyric SquareHammersmith London W6 ONB

Telephone: 0207 084 6331Mobile/ Text : 07899 752 877Typetalk: 1 8001 02070846331

Email: info@equalcitizen.co.ukWebsite: www.equalcitizen.co.uk

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ContentsAcknowledgement.................................................................2

Contents.................................................................................3

1. Introduction........................................................................4

2. Key findings and recommendations................................8

3. Conclusion.......................................................................13

4. ‘LIVING our LIVES’ Life changing examples from SVSS project...................................................................................16

5. YEAR 2 – What work SVSS did and the challenges.....29

6. The year ahead – What will we do?...............................43

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1. Introduction Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) was awarded funding for the 3 year project ‘Stronger Voices ... Strong Support (SVSS) in 2012 from the Department of Health’s Voluntary Sector investment programme, Innovation, Excellence and Strategic Development Fund 2012-2013.

DAD is an organisation run and controlled by disabled people, which was a key factor in the design of the project. DAD had early recognition of the importance of peer support planning and its wealth of experience of peer working with disabled people in Darlington to realise disabled people’s independence, choice and control over their lives.

The project proposal set out to benefit:

Disabled people/carers through increased quality of support and personal outcomes

The local authority through a cost efficient model of support planning at large scale

Primary Trust and GP consortia in preparation for personal budgets in 2014

Increased capacity in the community for citizens to support each other.

The Stronger Voices…Strong Support project is seeking to achieve the above aims by developing a model of peer support that supports disabled people, from whatever point they are at, in engaging with Adult Social Care Social Services. Support to understand the process better, be able to define their own support needs and to assist them in getting their needs met through exploration of what is available. The project has importantly also supported disabled people who are ‘not eligible’ for local authority support.

The grant was awarded by the Department of Health (DH) to drive innovation and strategic development which means some of the work will encounter barriers; at a policy, structural and implementation level that may

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need to be reviewed if we are to really see a positive transformation of disabled people’s inequalities, support and lives. The report therefore includes recommendations and quotes to illustrate perceptions and encourage constructive discussion; so that disabled people, DAD and wider networks get the most benefit possible as the work progresses through the third year.

The vision that the project seeks to make real for many more disabled people in Darlington is not new and at times the mantra of the personalisation message gets lost in a daunting and restricting process with language that many disabled people find inaccessible. The project crucially has set out to change what people report feels like a very process driven experience compared to the original drive from the Independent Living movement, of supporting the realisation of aspirations and meaningful support for disabled people, their supporters and families.

Nationally there are continuing initiatives to see what works and what is blocking the realisation of Independent Living (personalisation). The national POET (Personal Budgets Outcomes Evaluation Tool) survey1 and the Community Care State of Personalisation Survey 2013,2 looked at access to personal budgets where bureaucracy was a barrier highlighted by both in which;

78% of social workers reported that bureaucracy had increased since personal budgets were introduced.

Two thirds said that the assessment was too complicated for social workers/ clients to complete themselves and 60% said that they didn’t have enough time to effectively support service users through the process.

These are all key issues that the SVSS project has set out to tackle and to assist people through the maze.

An unforeseen outcome of the project has been the projects role in supporting people who do not meet the local eligibility criteria for social care. This work has the potential to be developed further, as a model of 1 http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/POETSummaryFINAL.pdf2 http://www.communitycare.co.uk/state-of-personalisation-2013/

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supporting people who are termed as having “lower level needs and preventative work”. This is illustrated in the ‘Living our Lives’ section (p16).

Darlington Borough council changed its adult social care criteria in December 2012, this means that only people with substantial and critical needs are able to access funded social care (subject to any financial contribution), including personal budgets. People with moderate needs prior to 2012 were able to access funded social care, but no longer are able to do so. In practice this has led to the project supporting people who are also ineligible for funded personal budgets.   Whilst there were plans for the council to support the development of a Community Support Network as part of the mitigation of negative impacts identified in the Disability Equality Impact Assessment of the criteria change, as yet this has not been established.

There has also been a reported culture shift in the message away from the ‘you can use your budget how you want as long as it is legal and it meets the outcomes’ to an unspoken more restrictive interpretation of the guidance. This background has created more challenges for an organisation that is run by disabled people in achieving its aims.

This short evaluation looks at what DAD SVSS said it would do in Year 2, the overall impact on changes to disabled people’s lives and what SVSS actually did in relation to planned outcomes. It covers the outcomes that were in the original Department of Health application and some that were not. The report makes recommendations but is mindful that they need to be discussed in relation to SVSS/ DAD and external capacity.

The evaluation was carried out by a review of all the projects paperwork, including the DH application, the Year 1 evaluation, SVSS materials, reviewing the project monitoring of statistics and qualitative data against the outcomes, 9 face to face interviews, 5 telephone interviews and 8 questionnaires with people who have had support from a peer planner, staff, volunteers, steering group and reference group members and Council staff. The key questions asked were around the real life benefits to people, projected outcomes and examples of additional impact from the work.

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The highlights from the second year has seen the continuing work to provide personalised accessible information and advice, recruit and develop well equipped peer support planners, provide personalised wrap around support wherever people are in their lives (including ‘non eligible’ disabled people), continually promoting the work with disabled people locally such as at the ‘Personalisation – Making it Work event – supported by Darlington Borough Council, with the intention of bringing together everyone who could support disabled people better (March 2014) and nationally such as the regional Office for Disability (ODI) event in February 2014 ; the development of a peer support planning ‘pilot ‘ with Darlington Borough Council, but primarily continuing to ensure disabled people have the knowledge to ask for and get what they need and that the overall learning from the project continues to improve the day to day quality of local disabled people’s lives.

Included in this report are some examples of the changes to disabled people’s lives called ‘Living our lives’ (p16); these are the experiences of eight people that have participated in the project during Year 2. There are also details for the key milestones and activities in the coming Year 3.

The name of the project ‘Stronger Voices … Strong Support’ was thought up by DAD and wherever possible this report includes Stronger Voices (direct quotes) from people who participated in the evaluation.

In the words of somebody who participated in the project gives their view of the impact of the project.

‘If the project was not here personalisation would never happen, it would just pass by with things remaining exactly the same, as it always has, it would pass us by like a big secret’.

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2. Key findings and recommendationsThe recommendations below should be read in the context that a vast amount of project activity has taken place that is explained in detail further on in the report.

SVSS specific project findings

1. SVSS involvement in the support planning process is having a positive impact on changing people’s day to day lives and not just swapping a direct service for a personal budget.

Recommendation: Publicise more widely, including on the DAD website, using examples of disabled peoples experiences whose lives have changed or are changing with peer support.

2. SVSS is supporting people well who are ‘ineligible’ for assistance from Social Services, enabling people to make positive connections with other sources of support.

Recommendation: continue to develop and publicise the connections, expanding the directory of what is available locally and seek support and funding to expand this area of work.

3. SVSS training is comprehensive, extremely valued and has a positive impact in terms of building confidence, knowledge and skills. The importance placed on accredited training was well spoken of. ‘Living your life’ workshops need to be reviewed as the general feedback on the format says they are too long and therefore exclude people who could be good support planners.

Recommendation: SVSS to continue with work already started to re-focus the workshops. Workshops to begin from a more

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aspirations based approach and increasing the delivery in the community such as the support planning / mobile café idea.

4. Recruitment and retaining volunteers is an ongoing and a constant challenge. People leave for all the right reasons such as getting a job but that can be difficult for the project. Volunteers are experiencing huge personal benefits from the work.

Recommendation; continue ongoing work offering different ways to engage new volunteers, including attracting more people who already have a personal budget to share what it has changed in their lives and look at volunteers being able to do some of the support but may be not all of it.

5. A network of strong friendships has developed as a result of SVSS and people have become less isolated. Peer support reaches people in a way that other ways of working do not.

Recommendation: continue to support the positive role of a peer network and use social media to share information, to promote peer support opportunities and widen the reach of the project.

6. SVSS needs to make the process of collecting and recording of monitoring data easier and ensure it covers what is required precisely during Year 3. This will assist with the effectiveness of the pilot with DBC, the final Year 3 evaluation and assist with further funding applications.

Recommendation: SVSS to discuss monitoring as a team to ensure that the collection of information is clear and understood by all relevant staff and to ensure that planned database revisions will enable capture of all the agreed monitoring data including qualitative information.

7. SVSS has more time to provide support around support planning compared too many of the other Social Work/ support options available and they have developed a unique expertise.

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Recommendation: This should be factored into the blueprint formed from the project’s overall findings and the pilot with Darlington Council in Year 3.

Findings beyond SVSS project1. Co-production could be expanded to assist the improvement and

access to support of disabled people and carers going through the personal budget process.

Recommendation: DAD to initiate developing practical Co production guidelines with partners that DAD and partners can sign up to, to increase effectiveness of specific work with joint interests.

2. The development of the use of Personal Health budgets is slow and requires continuity of engagement.

Recommendation: conduct a co-produced practical review of what implementation means in practice with local people using them. If appropriate look at local Better Care Fund money to move access forward particularly in relation to preventing people needing crisis assistance.

3. There appears to still be a lack of information and awareness by disabled people of exactly what process they are going through, what the point is (choice and control) and even sometimes that they have a personal budget but not understanding what that means.

Recommendation: SVSS continue to focus on providing good quality information, advice and guidance and work with partners to agree a joint practical approach to reaching more people who could benefit from peer support and planning.

4. Financial assessments and changes to FACS eligibility criteria are impacting on peoples. SVSS provides unique support in Darlington around the impact of both policy decisions.

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Recommendation: 1. DAD to discuss with Darlington Council early in Year 3 how independent financial support can continue, including looking more broadly at the links between financial assessments/ prevention.

Darlington Council to look at implementing outstanding elements of the Equality Impact Assessment in relation to FACS eligibility reduction as part of its prevention strategy.

Explore links with SVSS who are well placed to expand links with other community support networks who offer support. Explore use of the Better Care Fund monies to achieve this.

5. SVSS experiences positive engagement with some front line care managers (CMs). However some common key difficulties were noted during the evaluation. These include 1) having access to CMs to explore barriers, SVSS can often only meet the admin teams 2) CMs authority to make autonomous decisions i.e. where a proposed support package is less than indicative budget, 3) failure to follow the 7 steps and non-communication of outcomes. 4) the process culture within public authorities, time constraints, lengthy processes and lack of quick and therefore effective and preventative decision making.

Recommendation: Social Services team managers attend co-produced training around personalisation that includes Independent Living, the social model of disability and focuses the process around aspirations and outcomes. The design of the training would be focused on real changes to improve disabled peoples experiences. Social Services to identify a staff member/s, whose role it is to assist the removal of process barriers. This could be team managers.

6. There are examples in Darlington of the positive use of pooled budgets.

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Recommendation: Explore further availability of pooled budgets from the perspective of more choice and control, by discussion and exploration within peer support networks and with disabled people.

7. There could possibly be more options available to disabled people to manage their budgets.

Recommendation: Explore expansion of Managed Budgets - Individual Service Fund (ISFs) with DBC and check that the range of options available are being explained and are understood by disabled people.

8. Disabled people need to have ongoing access to information and assistance to think through their options, their needs and how to meet them are not going away. Opportunities to maintain the work such as with the DBC pilot need to be explored.

Recommendation: SVSS exit strategy considers as well as the Darlington Council pilot, applying for further Department of Health funding to have a wider reach as well as exploring Better Care Fund.

9. The monitoring and evaluation of the pilot with DBC will need to be robust enough from the outset to comprehensively gauge all the elements of the comparison including ‘cost effectiveness’.

Recommendation: DAD asks DBC to confirm that the proposed collection of data and monitoring is robust enough to facilitate the evaluation working well. Explore potential nationally to develop a fair comparison model.

10. The work of the project has national importance and has developed learning over the two years that is useful to other DPULOS. SVSS is good at promoting the project nationally.

Recommendation: Disseminating the information directly to DPULOs would be very helpful. A short explanation of the project

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could be written up from a DPULO perspective and shared sideways with DPULOs as well as upwards with national bodies.

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3. Conclusion “DAD are doing a really good job promoting inclusion and co-production they don’t evangelise they just do it’ you just have to go to a DAD office.” (Council employee).

SVSS has achieved nearly all the key milestones indicated in the original application for both year 1 and year 2, one milestone the development of the pilot project with DBC was delayed due to the reasons stated in the report but is picking up pace into Year 3. A great deal of work has been done to complete the tasks planned in Year 2 with project staff reviewing what was working well and what was not, to sensibly make changes where it was clear they were needed.

Ultimately Stronger Voices…Strong Support has tried to ensure that people in Darlington who have a personal budget (or may want a personal budget) have access to peer led, independent advice and support. The choice to use different types of support, purchasing what is needed to meet agreed outcomes; use of different services or different providers should be the expected option, not the exceptional option. The project has worked consistently to demonstrate what is possible.

As the project progresses SVSS are learning many different lessons for example that people are using their social care in more diverse ways. SVSS are trying to find further ways of encouraging and sharing peer support opportunities such as involving disabled people who already have a personal budget. The project has done a lot of work involving supporting people to access opportunities in the community and this will continue in Year 3.

There have also been significant additional benefits to a number of people who have accessed the project that come from being part of a DPULO. This has resulted in better social networks, improved citizenship, increased self-esteem, confidence, more choice and control, greater levels of involvement and inclusion in a vast range of activities and employment and volunteering opportunities.

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“SVSS means a tremendous amount on a personal level to me it’s been a plank in my recovery”.

The project had identified at the beginning that changing cultures within authorities would always be a slow process and the recommendations make some suggestions on addressing barriers. Barriers that are nationally identified as barriers for everyone involved. Significant headway has been made with negotiations in Year 2 with Darlington Borough Council to develop a pilot plan which would focus on support planning for a small group of people receiving personal budgets. This pilot will compare and contrast individuals that were supported internally by local authority Adult Social Care staff and those supported externally by the Stronger Voices…Strong Support project team, staff and volunteers. The project priorities for Year 3 are outlined on p43

The Health Profile 2013 for Darlington (published in September 2013) demonstrates that the health of people in Darlington is generally worse than the England average and that deprivation is higher than average.3 Life expectancy for men is lower by 14.6 years and for women is lower by 11.6 years. Despite the many challenges in the region, Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) Stronger Voices…Strong Support is playing their part to support the health and well-being strategy and key outcomes outlined in One Darlington – Perfectly Placed.  This evaluation explicitly describes the difference Stronger Voices…Strong Support has made, is making and can continue to make to disabled people who need support.

The project is already seen nationally and locally as a good working example of peer led support planning.

“Unique nothing like this in other Local Authorities if it wasn’t for DAD I wouldn’t be doing what I am doing and my son’s life wouldn’t be the same, it would be much poorer” (project participant).

There is overall huge enthusiasm, commitment to and praise for the project from many quarters. The people who work on the project and the manner in

3 www.healthprofiles.info

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which it supports people are both held in high regard by the disabled people who were interviewed. The work needs to continue.

The last words are left to disabled people who sum up what the work is about and an example of how significant the impact of peer support can be.

“The project to my mind is about giving disabled people the means to control the sort of life that they live. Financial constraints are always going to be present but they are not the drivers – it must be the ethics and morals of a society which takes on board the needs of all its members which is the driver”. (disabled person on SVSS Steering Group).

“From being involved in the project I realise I have a contribution to make, value and a future. Before I didn’t think I had one. Not just existing but developing myself instead to be a disabled person who has the right to be something”. (project participant).

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4. ‘LIVING our LIVES’ Life changing examples from SVSS project. The experiences described in this section are some of the many significant changes that have taken place for people who have been supported by Stronger Voices... Strong Support. Whilst for many non-disabled people many of the life experiences highlighted simply happen, for many disabled people who want an ordinary life it requires support, organisation and knowing what choices you have.

This includes working with people who are not ‘eligible’ for social care. This support can be complex as many people can be in isolated situations and not active within their communities. The focus of the work starts with helping the person to recognise what support/ networks/ skills (social capital) they already have and how they could develop this further. People can choose to be supported to develop a plan which helps the person to explore possibilities and identify what support may help to achieve these. Peer support volunteers have also helped people develop confidence to build their networks in their community.

Mostly, the changes have improved people’s day to day living, their quality of life, increased opportunities to be a citizen and general well-being. Mostly people have achieved changes for themselves they just needed the right support to get there and without the project it is unlikely that the changes would have been achieved with the same level of choice and control or at all.

1. SteveBefore getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Steve is man of 26 who already had a personal budget and employed his own team of Personal Assistants. Steve already attended one of

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Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) s other projects the Independent Living Hub. His existing support plan was not providing him with all the life experiences he wanted. Although he already had a personal budget he had little idea that he could do much more as a result of having one.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support “It has given me more insight into opportunities available to myself”.

Together with a support planner of his choice who was a previous teacher, they re-visited an earlier plan that they had created about his hopes for his future and then a new support plan was developed which took several weeks of meetings.

This new plan took account of what was working and what was not working well, the support required for personal care throughout the day and night, managing his support workers and what he needs to do to make his support happen. There were several areas of his life he really wanted to change, including ensuring he had new challenges, speaking up for himself, wanting to engage in wheelchair football, kayaking, music, visiting new places, going to the gym, keeping in touch with friends, having a bath, being employed, having a better income, accessing I.T. equipment and developing skills and simply being spontaneous. He had always felt that he could not be spontaneous. Steve has started being much more spontaneous in living his life, and accomplishing some of the above changes.

By Steve working with SVSS, which meant spending time with staff, arranging discussions with assessing officers and building relationships and trust, this all contributed to ensuring he maintained control throughout.

Steve says:

“I’ve had support with ICT assessments, investigating available access to work employment opportunities and with presenting my support plan at the DAD making it work event. I will also be

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supported by Stronger Voices Strong Support to see that my Support Plan is actioned and also get further support if it needs to be updated or amended in the future.”

Steve also had support to deliver his presentation at the Darlington Personalisation – Making it Work event which had 135 attendees and Steve had his own workshop called ‘My support plan’. Steve hopes now to get further support to develop a small business.

In the process of making a new plan the project staff and volunteers were able to work with Social Services to make sure the process went as smoothly as it could. This helped to make sure that Steve was not simply offered services that he had to fit into and that he was at the centre of the planning that took place from the beginning of the process to the end.

2. Sadie Before getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Sadie is 93 years old and was referred to SVSS by Age UK. Greta who is a worker at Age UK is a friend of Sadie’s and was concerned about her lack of support and her ability to manage on a day to day basis, due to ongoing changes with her eyesight, a degree of deafness and increasingly restricted mobility.

DAD contacted the intake team at Social Services but Greta felt that Sadie would benefit from peer support to complete the Supported Self-Assessment Questionnaire (SSAQ).

Sadie was contacted by a Peer Support Planner and agreed that she would like this to meet and get things moving.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support A peer support Planner visited Sadie in her own home to work on completing the SSAQ at her own pace. This took two visits. The support planner took responsibility for sending the SSAQ to Social Services and following up on the steps of the process.

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Sadie was not getting out much due to her health though she does go out from time to time with Greta and she also gets some support from a friend and neighbour Adam.

Support was then put in place at a time of crisis (July 2013) and prevented Sadie from being moved to residential care which was something she was adamant she did not want. Her G.P. had suggested it on more than one occasion but she was keen to remain in her own home as long as possible. Sadie is now still living alone with support.

The support enabled Sadie to have a good experience of completing her SSAQ with a peer who had herself been through the process and who could put her at ease, take the time needed and not have to rush the process and completed it over the two visits which better suited Sadie.

The main focus for Sadie was around personal care and day to day living.

3. Katherine. Before getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Katherine is 35 years old and would like to live independently. She lives at home with her parents and is the youngest of 3 children, having two older sisters. Katherine is not in receipt of a personal budget and does not have a support package from the local authority as her pervious assessments have always stated that her needs were moderate.

SVSS supported Katherine to complete a new SSAQ so that her needs could be reassessed. Currently the majority of Katherine’s support comes from her parents but Katherine would like to live independently in supported housing in the future. Her parents may not be able to provide such a level of support indefinitely.

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Katherine contacted SVSS because she had a review coming up. She had realised that her peers in the community enterprise café, where she goes for two half days a week, were getting a direct payment to be there. They were also getting direct payments for the other support they were receiving. Katherine felt that she was perhaps entitled to support in her own right rather than depending just on her parents’ to provide it.

Katherine wanted support to complete the new SSAQ with a peer support planner at SVSS rather than a care manager.

Katherine needs support to manage the process but with the right support she will be more than capable of making the change from living at home with her parents to living on her own. Having a direct payment and being able to pay for her own support (with the help of her parents to manage finances) Katherine will have more control over her life. Her support plan will reflect what she needs practically to plan for independent living.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support Katherine has had both home visits from a peer support planner and has also been into the office. Time and care was taken to explain everything and to support Katherine by giving examples so she could relate to them. Her mum also supported her throughout this process as she was able to identify when Katherine did not understand what was being asked of her. The planner was then able to put questions in a different way. The peer support planner was also able to fill out the questionnaire on Katherine’s behalf as completing a form is a barrier.

SVSS has not yet reached the support planning stage. However Katherine is already thinking about independent living and has begun to discuss this with her parents. Both are willing to support her and are both now heading towards retirement.

Katherine has recently had the opportunity to house share with two peers but she has decided that she wants her own flat. She has identified accommodation near to her parents. A friend of Katherine’s

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is living independently and Katherine has visited her flat land likes it and could see herself living there. Currently Katherine is awaiting a decision on her assessment to see if she will have the resources to achieve this. The support she is accessing in the community is mostly free. Her involvement at the community enterprise café is not currently funded. Katherine is involved with community groups that are generally supporting people with learning difficulties. With a direct payment Katherine she could expand her network and experience of life beyond that community with support of a Personal Assistant (PA).

Katherine is fortunate she has support of loving parents who have made sure she is safe and secure. However she is grown woman and wants to have her own life.

So far peer support is enabling Katherine to make explore making positive life choices not only in her current situation but also around how she wants to take her life forward in the coming months and years.

Katherine was already making good use of community facilities as she can but she cannot achieve everything she wants to without support.

4. VioletBefore getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Violet is 63 years old and was diagnosed with cancer recently and realised she needed some support.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices ... Strong Support SVSS provided support with looking at different possibilities and with the forms explaining every aspect possible. She says “One member of SVSS staff gave me 110% support I never got a refusal”.

Violet went through filling out the SSAQ, support planning process.

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Violet has always wanted a computer partly to occupy her as she lives on her own. She also needed practical help around the house. Her daughter used to help her unpaid, but now she gets paid to provide the appropriate support. This is working well for them both.

SVSS additionally helped Violet to get a new cooker/ grill as Violet is on a no salt diet and needs to eat fresh food and the old cooker was not working.

Violet recently had a review at 6 months that went well but which Violet thought to be unnecessary as she has a small package and a terminal illness. A phone call would have done.

Violet said when you know there’s no support it’s awful. I hope SVSS continues to be funded as there are so many other people who need support.

5. SarahBefore getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Sarah lives in a shared house with five friends. The arrangement was set up through an Independent Living Trust which has been working well for the past six years. Sarah and her friends pool budgets to cover the support they need and the running of the house. At first it was difficult to gain the trust of the Local Authority and for them to accept that parents could run the house in a professional manner. However, the relationship is much better these days and now everyone can see how it can work and how much can be achieved.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support SVSS helped Sarah to review her plan, as people’s lives change, so that she could move forward from what she had been doing to new areas of interest. Sarah was originally using a day service and went swimming and horse riding which were her hobbies but not her main passion in life art.

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Sarah finds working with SVSS easier as there is a more personal approach than her experience of Social Services and she finds the information easier to go through the SSAQ process and she found that care managers sometimes do not have enough time to properly assess her needs.

Sarah had been supported by the Independent Living Trust to set up an art project called 121 with a friend that operates out of the garage of their house. The project has now developed into a small business as they have now employed a talented artist paid by their direct payments and they are making large murals for nurseries, events and whoever wants one. Sarah already had some experience setting up her own activities.

With the support of SVSS she is now getting on and aspiring to greater things for herself.

6. Alice Before getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Alice is 42 years old and was referred to SVSS by Talking Changes (Psychological Services) she identifies herself as being from the Gypsy Romany Travelling Community and until very recently lived at home with her parents who did most things for her such as cooking, cleaning, washing, ironing etc. Alice was isolated from other people and she has never really been supported to read and write.

Alice does not have a lot of contact with her family but remains in contact with her cousin and aunt who have helped her move into her own flat in Darlington. She experiences panic attacks and anxiety and finds it difficult to be in crowds of people and to engage in community life. This was adding to the isolation and forming barriers in relating to the job centre, the local authority and many other aspects of her life because of her experiences with reading and writing.

Initially it was thought SVSS might help Alice out with practical support like benefits and household items when she first contacted DAD’s 'shop mobility'. However SVSS discovered that she needed a range of

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other support and that she was probably not eligible for a social services package even though her issues around her mental health are quite debilitating.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support Alice was not looking to complete an SSAQ so SVSS looked at using other community resources. She was not able to access support from the local authority as her needs are not ones that are deemed to be ‘eligible’. SVSS however was able to offer different support that met her needs which has helped her avoid slipping into further crisis.

A volunteer peer support planner helped Alice to make a plan that would support and enable her to participate in community life. The project began to identify local support that Alice could access for support:

Creative Support (access to obtaining household items, help with benefits and possible emotional support if Alice wanted it via a support worker)

Just Good Friends (Befriending Service) Basic Skills in English Level 1 (Coleridge Centre) Bridge Centre for Visual Arts (Mental Health Project PCT) Peer Support (Stronger Voices to access community project.

With Alice’s consent SVSS referred her to ‘Creative Support’ who has provided a support worker twice a week which has been working really well. SVSS also supported her with getting a fridge, freezer, washing machine, microwave, crockery, cutlery to help her to have basic household items improving her home environment.

Alice said “none of this would have happened without SVSS support as previously nothing had changed. She said that the SVSS project worker “had acted, put things in place and followed through with what she said she would, helped find people who were willing and able to support her and that SVSS keeps in touch with her and do what they say they will do and that as an organisation ‘SVSS has

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supported me 100%”. If SVSS had not come along I would not be where I am now’.

Alice still feels she has a long way to go but she knows she has made some good progress. Alice may need long term support rather that short term to enable her to maintain her positive changes.

7. BobBefore getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Bob has been a DAD volunteer for about two and a half years. It was his Occupational Therapist who introduced him to DAD and voluntary work to help with his recovery after a period of mental distress and being in hospital.

At first Bob helped on a DAD young people’s project taking on some clerical work but following another period of ill health Bob was again hospitalised.

In 2010 Bob was struggling with his mental health and admitted to hospital. “I think the best way I can explain how my depression affected me was to say that I woke up every morning with a feeling of hopelessness and desolation. The fact that I had a fantastic family and great friends made no difference”.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support Bob came back to DAD as a volunteer for the Stronger Voices team.

“This has been an interesting and rewarding experience as the project’s purpose is to help people with improving their lives. In particular they can help with personal budget planning. The project has a wealth of experience in this area, staff having their own budgets as disabled people themselves and learnt expertise from assisting others. A major factor here is the government’s budget cuts and the affects they are having on the lives of disabled people trying to survive in our modern day world”.

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As Bob has got stronger since his hospitalization he has been able to participate in a number of activities that have greatly added to his sense of well-being and self-confidence, such as joining a walking group, 5 a side football and a camera club.

At SVSS Bob found it inspiring to meet people who, despite their own circumstances, spend their time helping others and passing on their experience and knowledge to help people overcome the difficulties they face in their everyday lives.

The main help Bob found volunteering at SVSS as a peer support planner is mixing with positive people who want to help others. “This makes the organisation ideal as a stepping stone to help volunteers like myself recover; gaining confidence to move forward with their lives and meet the challenges life throws their way”.

“Peer support has helped increase my own confidence, develop new skills and meet new people. I have also had the opportunity to engage in training opportunities through my volunteering”.

8. Anna Before getting in touch with Stronger Voices... Strong Support

Anna been going to the DAD Independent Living HUB for 18 months and felt that her time there had come to a natural end. Anna came to Stronger Voices to volunteer as she herself has a Personal Budget and a Direct Payment. Anna was looking for the next step in her life.

Through the peer support volunteer training process Anna identified that her own plan, which had been written for her by her Care Manager had had no input from her and it did not cover any of her aspirations, said nothing about who she was, or her likes and dislikes.

Changes since being involved with Stronger Voices... Strong Support Through the knowledge she has gained and with support from the project Anna wrote her own plan and gave it to Social Services. She made changes to her package and employed her own Personal

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Assistants (PAs) so she could go out socially each week, doing the things she enjoys. Anna was supported each week to volunteer with the project both physically with PA support whilst at the project, with emotional support if needed, practical support and training including supervision and volunteer expenses.

When possible, Anna uses leisure facilities independently and community networks. Examples are the Mima Museum in Middlesbrough, free parks and gardens in the summer months or free exhibitions or craft fairs. Anna has strong family networks and wants to ensure that these relationships and networks are maintained and strengthened. Anna is able to get support from her sister and maintains a close relationship with her and her niece.

Through her volunteering at SVSS Anna made new friendships with other volunteers. This has also had an impact on her partner Samantha who gave up her full time job to support Anna when she came home from hospital after 3 months on neuro –rehabilitation as Anna was unable to be left alone. Through her involvement with direct payments and Anna’s volunteering experience, Samantha has been able to develop a new career as a Personal Assistant (PA) and now works with other people who have a direct payment.’ She is also involved in Cafe JJs a community enterprise cafe run by people with learning difficulties with support which is run by one of the other SVSS project volunteers.

With her personal budget Anna also pays for her PAs Morag and Janet. Anna enjoys the Cinema, the Arts; and nature, Anna also loves Owls so she has visited three of the areas sanctuaries where Anna enjoyed a 1/2 day of handling and flying owls.

In talking to Anna she feels there was a combination of support that has enabled her to get to the point she is at now. Anna has needed very little ongoing support since from Social Services. Since then Anna has gone on from accessing the HUB to employing her own PAs and to volunteering for a year, and in January 2014 Anna started working 22 hours a week for the Stronger Voices project.

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Anna has also been able to decrease her social support package by 8 hours a month and returned this time and money to the Local Authority as she feels that through the support she has received this has enabled her to reach a point where she is more able to meet some of her social needs through her working relationships.

Peer Support enabled Anna to make sense of her own situation, navigate the system and better understand the real benefits of having a personal budget.

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5. YEAR 2 – What work SVSS did and the challenges I) Milestones The application to the Department of Health set out four ‘milestones’ that needed to be achieved in Year 2. The delivery of the milestones additionally included the delivery of the other continuing main strands of the work Level 1 Information, Guidance & Advice, Level 2 Living your Life workshops and Level 3 the ongoing direct peer support from a peer mentor. These make up three very distinct and logical areas of support that were identified by disabled people themselves as being crucial, if people were going to be able to turn their budget into something that supported their aspirations and Independent Living rather than just having a service replacement.

Below this report looks at the milestones in detail, Stronger Voices…Strong Support have been able to deliver 3 of the 4 milestones and have made significant progress on the fourth. There is no doubt that the second year of the project has overall been very successful. Learning from what has worked well and what has not worked so well is being acted on by the project team and there is a strong foundation to plan and move forwards into year 3.

MILESTONE 1 April 2013: Evaluation of year1 and review plan for year 2 based on findings.

What did SVSS DO? The independent project evaluation was completed in April 2013 by a disabled person and sent to Department of Health with the End of Year

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progress report. The work activity plan for Year 2 was developed from the findings of the evaluation and internal discussions within DAD.

The DH Grants Monitoring Officer visited the project in the summer of 2013 and was happy for DAD to restructure the staffing group that made changes to the way the project was delivered. The positive meeting included a discussion about the exit strategy for the project. The Grants Officer suggested that if the SVSS model of support planning became a “proven model” DAD could make an application for further funding in order for the concept of peer support planning to have a wider reach.

MILESTONE 2 June 2013: 10 peer support planners recruited who will be active in providing support at levels 1 and 2.

The role of the peer support planner is to provide volunteers who have been trained by SVSS to assist people with all stages of accessing a Personal Budget (or other public funding) and by assisting people to build networks for themselves. People with the lived experience and expertise of disabled people/carers are generally best placed when trained to fulfil the role. Being able to provide trained Peer Support Volunteers has enabled the project to support people with a range of issues including Supported Self-Assessment Questionnaires, Indicative Budgets, Support Planning, Brokering Services, charging for Social Care and Disability Related Expenses.

What did SVSS DO?In Year 1- 7 peer supporters were recruited and trained and the target was to raise to15 by the end of year 3. 12 Peer Support planners have been recruited and trained by the project by the end of year 2 (seven in place at end of year one, four in training at beginning of the year two)

The project has maintained a core of five active and consistent volunteers, and has recruited a further 3 volunteers who will start their training early in Year 3 of the project. All have been active at providing support at levels 1 and 2 and some active at level 3 offering in depth support planning.The project has recruited new volunteers to provide peer support and four of the volunteers have since gone onto find employment. Whilst this has

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been a very successful aspect to the project, it has however reduced the number of volunteers which SVSS are currently trying to increase. The employment outcome is more likely to happen when disabled people are connected to other disabled people, providing information and inspiration.

Volunteers have developed skills, knowledge and developed their understanding around the personal budget process, increasing their confidence, self-esteem and self-determination by becoming a volunteer on the project. For some volunteers they believed that employment was something out of their reach. Two volunteers have successfully gained employment with Darlington Association on Disability, one within the Stronger Voices…Strong Support project. Two others have gained employment outside of the organisation.

“I feel I am achieving and really a member of the team it feels good to get paid” (disabled person working at SVSS who was previously a volunteer)

With their increased knowledge and skills, volunteers have passed information on to approximately 76 people within their networks creating a wider audience. They are sharing information with people when they are not officially volunteering, now feeling confident to share their new expertise on a much wider basis within their own communities. The training that volunteers have received has also increased their appetite for developing greater knowledge about community activities, particularly those which are accessible, cost effective and welcoming to disabled people.

It has taken time during the year to continue building the expertise, understanding and skills needed by volunteers, who have their own challenges, in order for them to be confident and offer the more in-depth support that level 3 aims to offer. Nevertheless, the project staff and volunteers have been able to offer in-depth support which has enabled people to have greater control and the ‘Living your Life’ examples (p11) reflect this. The examples of the impact of changes in people’s lives that have benefited directly from the input of a peer support planner. Without that support, it is unlikely from what people have said that the changes would have occurred.

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To ensure that support plans developed and written with the support of Stronger Voices…Strong Support project team were signed off with as little delay as possible, all staff and volunteers have received training in developing Support Plans through Helen Sanderson training. All staff and volunteers have access to a wide range of different good practice resources including ones that have been developed internally such as Top Tips for Support Planning and a range of resources that have been collated from external sources such as Support Planning Guidance, and Model Support Plans. The plans are developed taking into consideration the individual’s access needs and creating a plan in the way that they want. There is sometimes a mismatch between processes as the individual plan is fitted into Social Services computerised support plan and then returned in a different format.

All support plans developed through the project are quality checked through the Deputy Project Co-ordinator for accuracy, legality and cost. In addition to this where issues arise, the Stronger Voices…Strong Support worker liaises with the local authority’s assessing officer. Through the development of an internal “reflective practice” meeting, staff and volunteers are able to discuss the barriers that they have encountered, and the solutions they have found. A steering group attended by project staff and staff from the local authority Adult Social Care team also addresses issues of good practice, barriers and finding solutions.

There is a very visible strong bond between the volunteers and staff as they have developed their own rewarding support network. Everyone seems to have gleaned inspiration from each other’s experiences and that has developed throughout the project leading to increased self-esteem, confidence and an ability to move forward individually often breaking down experiences of isolation, and lack of direction.

Comments from disabled people who had a peer support planner “the support from SVSS is like a backbone you don’t always know what is available from Social Services and they are not always forth coming. (Parent of adult with learning difficulties who at 35 is considering for the first time moving away to live independently)

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“Oh god I don’t want to go back to fighting my own battles with Social Services, going back to the 1st care assessment they didn’t listen to me, this time (with involvement of a peer support planner) they actually did their job properly as I had help with the bureaucracy and some continuity” (disabled person going through the process).

“The process is so different from direct services that people get, it’s almost mysterious” (parent of a disabled adult).

The benefits for volunteers“It means that I have something to look forward, an opportunity to make good friends, it’s getting out doing things and not just wallowing”

“One side effect of the project is that volunteers have become very good friends”

“I am in a much better place since I got involved with SVSS”

Staff peer support planner “We managed to work with Mary and create a support plan for her as a ‘carer’ in her own right alongside one for her adult son. She is often labelled as being a ‘difficult person’ but I have managed to build a relationship quickly, she trusts me, some people start the process and then disengage due to mistrust”.

Beyond Darlington. On training a group of 2nd year trainee social workers in Sunderland on support planning, a staff member who had had a poor experience in developing her own plan told the trainees.

“You never want someone sitting here training saying you wrote a rubbish support plan” One of those trainees is now on a placement at DAD.

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“We need more volunteers the complexity of process has led to training that takes a long time and people’s time is at a premium” (peer support planner).

The project has undertaken support planning training for volunteers in Middlesbrough. The project has also co-facilitated a series of information and Peer Support events in Hartlepool with a Disabled People’s User Led Organisations (DPULO).

There is universally excellent feedback on the comprehensiveness and content of training available to volunteers. However there is clearly a challenge given that nearly all the feedback for this evaluation highlighted training sessions, particularly the ‘Living your Life’ workshops as being too long. The format used in Year 2 can discourage people who otherwise might be good peer support planners and exclude people who cannot because of their impairment condition attend lengthy training sessions. The project has additionally provided training on Safeguarding Adults, community care and the law and, manual handling, autism awareness, crisis intervention training and easy read training.

Also highlighted as of significant value towards personal development and work prospects were the accredited training that was undertaken by volunteers and staff. This included Mentoring level 1, Advocacy level 2, Advocacy 3, Applied Suicide Intervention training and Mental Health First Aid.

MILESTONE 3August 2013: Phase 2 of national dissemination ensuring links has been made with 5 national agencies/ bodies.

DAD is very keen to promote the work of the project nationally so that other Disabled People’s User Led Organisations (DPULOs) / Local Authorities can benefit from understanding the successes and challenges of the project. DAD has historically been at the forefront with other DPOS of initiating projects that have significance beyond local boundaries. This is helped by other DAD projects that inform what is happening nationally.

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What did SVSS do? The project reference group initially met the targets with 3 national representatives and the subsequent building of further external contacts. These included Skills for Care, In Control and Think Local Act Personal (TLAP). Whilst the representatives from the Office of Disability Issues (ODI) and Disability Rights U.K. did not attend reference group meetings in person they requested to remain on the distribution list for the project and this has supported the dissemination of the project. At a recent (February 2014) regional event facilitated by the ODI it was commented

“Thank you so much for your great contribution, much appreciated by all, and picked up by ODI as a really good example to share nationally”.

It was through the Office for Disability Issues and the links that SVSS had made with the ODI Ambassador that the project was invited to take part in the North East regional DPULO event. This gave SVSS the opportunity to talk about Disabled People’s User Led Organisations and the unique experience that they bring and also provided an opportunity to talk more specifically about the project, peer support and how the “lived experiences” of disabled people can support other disabled people to have greater choice and control through peer support.

This was recognised by the ODI as a good way to engage disabled people and to potentially make ‘personalisation’ more meaningful. At this event DAD was selected to represent the North East Region at a Ministerial meeting with Norman Lamb and Mike Penning in March 2014.

The project has made ongoing efforts throughout this year to involve organisations such as In Control, the National Development Team for Inclusion, The National Autistic Society and The National Brokerage Project and to encourage them to come along to the Reference Group. They have also tried to ensure local DPULOs are involved making contact with North Yorkshire Centre for Independent Living, which is a new organisation.

Efforts have been made to sign up to Making It Real (TLAP). This is a programme which encourages leadership, partnership and practical

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progress by developing joint approaches to ‘personalisation’. Many Councils have signed up to Making It Real and this is also open to providers as well. Darlington Council has signed up to Making It Real and DAD is just about to plan their identified priority “I Statements” and develop an action plan.

Plans are in place for SVSS to contact Shaping Our Lives, Spinal Injuries Association and National Voices who have also done some work around Care & Support Planning. SVSS was also featured in the publication “Trust is the Key” Increasing the take up of direct payments developed by TLAP in 2013.4

Additionally the project has delivered a one day “Personalisation Making it Work” event. This event attracted 135 delegates including staff members, volunteers, speakers and the general public. A number of delegates were from around the country.

MILESTONE 4 January 2014 Start of producing a blueprint to be costed for use by other areas, including sampling, comparison and correlation of the support provided to people accessing the proposal compared to that of other types of support.

Disabled people are always going to need support to achieve inclusion, equality and have opportunities on a near level playing field with non-disabled people. A three year project would need to be an open ended project if real benefits on an ongoing basis were to be achieved.

At the beginning of the second year in the spring of 2013 a proposal was made to Darlington Adult Social Care Service to carry out a small scale pilot peer support planning project. The plan was for the ‘pilot’ to provide support planning to approximately 16 people, 4 who are people with Mental Health issues, 4 Older People, 4 People with a Physical/Sensory Impairment and 4 People who have a learning difficulties. The participants may be people who are new to accessing support or people who are at review stage. The project has drafted a time recording sheet and a project

4 http://www.thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/_library/TLAPTrustIsTheKeyFINAL.pdf.

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plan. It will be important that the project can monitor the time element and outcomes for individual people closely to ensure that a model can be developed at the end of the project.

The aim of the project would be to look at the effectiveness of peer support planning outcomes for individuals and the cost effectiveness for the local authority.

In September 2012 a worker was contracted to oversee the development of the project. Initially it was agreed with the local authority Commissioning Manager to access the ‘Project Initiation Documentation’ process that the authority uses, but it soon became clear that the pilot project would need to come about by a different route and it was agreed to outline the pilot plan together. This process seems to have delayed moving forward more quickly. It was felt important to ensure the pilot covered three main areas;

The Current situation – Where are we now?

The Future situation – Where do we want to be?

The Pilot Project Proposal – How do we get there?

The pilot project proposal drew up a “Milestones and Key Target Dates” framework. (Attached to this report).

Whilst the initial draft proposals were put to Darlington in the early part of Year 2, a full proposal was submitted to Darlington Adult Social Care in December 2013 with a view to commencing the pilot in January 2014.

Throughout December 2013 and January 2014 the project proposals were tweaked and as of March 2014 Darlington Adult Social Care has now indicated specific Care Managers who will be involved. The pilot is now being put into practice and the results of the pilot will now be implemented throughout the final year 3 of the project.

This is a key and exciting development which will hopefully give the project the ability to continue the excellent work it has started and to support hopefully increasing a more visible culture change within the Adult Social

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Care Department. This investment of resources by the Local authority in the work will hopefully increase the understanding and commitment from front line staff and see an acceleration of people being supported to do their own plans with disabled people providing the peer support.

Although the work is behind schedule there is a joint implementation group up and running to co-produce all aspects of the work.

It is envisaged that the pilot programme with the local authority will provide further evidence about time, efficiencies and outcomes that will be measured and compared. A blueprint will be developed throughout Year 3 which will be costed for use by other areas, including sampling, comparison and correlation of the support provided by SVSS to that of other types of support.

II) Beyond the milestones – more outcomes The project has over the course of year 2 worked with a total of 182 people providing a range of support including telephone enquiries, e-mails, events, outreach, workshops.

Guidance and advice shared signposting Advice and Guidance: This continues as in Year 1 to be delivered through telephone enquiries, e-mail enquiries, face to face enquiries and through volunteers informally within circles of friends, neighbours, and public contact. The number of enquiries has increased from Year 1 and is coming from a wider range of sources.

SVSS has been further able to improve knowledge and skills through the advice and guidance, workshops and support to people. Where people have been thinking about requesting a personal budget it has given them a better understanding and informed decision making about what they need to do and the route to obtaining a personal budget. By sharing knowledge, information and providing project team staff and volunteers SVSS has been able to improve outcomes for individuals and their families. Knowledge is a real key but the knowledge provided by people who have been on the

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journey is invaluable. The lived experience of personal budget holders and their families has really empowered disabled people to take more control.“They were very understanding that was the biggest part and much more than that they put their finger on the button”. (parent who received guidance).

SVSS has also created a folder for information from different local services for people. The process of gathering information about community activities their accessibility and costs also makes further links.

Living your Life workshops 54 People have attended 6 workshops over the year 2013-2014. People attended have demonstrated a consistent increase in knowledge and have found it very beneficial. Beneficial also from meeting other people and sharing information, e.g. tablet reminding phone apps, flexi foot for crutches, just information from one disabled person to another.

Through the workshops SVSS have formally collected feedback from sessions together with “before and after” information about participants levels of knowledge 1 being low and 10 being high. The majority of participants demonstrated a gain in knowledge and understanding. The knowledge of the attendees increased considerably on all areas of topics covered ranging from between 66 percent to a 100 percent.

The workshops looking specifically areas of the process in accessing personal budgets including:

Knowledge about Personal budgets Assessment process Indicative Budget Financial Assessment Support Planning Managing Your Money Organising Your Support Seeing How Things have worked

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People found it beneficial that those people facilitating the day had “personal experience” of accessing personal budgets, and people were able to gain more information that was unknown to them. One participant said “Before with my mum who was ill with cancer I didn’t know how to deal with Social Services but now with my grandparents – well the knowledge I have now has made a big difference”.

“The initial workshop training gave me the inspiration to not see myself as being on the scrapheap” (potential volunteer with long term mental health issues).

A significant amount of feedback has also suggested the workshops are too long, so for Year 3 the project is anticipating changing the style and venues.

Drop In sessions - Whilst the original project plan was to deliver Drop In sessions there was a lack of take up, however, these sessions have been replaced with more one to one advice, support and guidance about Personal Budgets and other public funding. In addition to this SVSS are looking to develop an external “support planning café” at a local community café and a “mobile café”. The mobile café’ aims to meet people in their own communities.

Promoting the project Stronger Voices…Strong Support developed a promotional strategy which has targeted relevant teams in local authority areas; the voluntary sector and smaller self- help groups. The project presented information to 135 people who were part of smaller groups such as the MS Society, Parkinson’s UK (Darlington) and Darlington Town Mission. This has raised the profile of Stronger Voices…Strong Support and as a result there has been a direct increase in the numbers enquiring and receiving advice, support and guidance.

In addition to this, the promotional strategy has been a route to recruit further volunteers to the project. The project has worked particularly hard to ensure the project connects with a wide range of different groups and

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communities by attending meetings, delivering leaflets and making contact with these groups through telephone and e-mail.

The SVSS project team has also worked to ensure that DAD’s workforce has a good understanding of what the project delivers and had an event to provide information about the project and how the organisation could develop an action plan embracing “Making It Real” in order to develop increasing positive outcomes from the personal budget process. The event Personalisation Making it Work (March 2013) – (118 participants) included workshops on Personal budgets (33 participants); Stronger Voices…Strong Support – Peer Support (27 participants); Support Planning (15 participants); Pooling personal budgets (12 participants); what we learned from the national Personal health budget pilot (17 participants); Person Centred Approaches (11participants). People could also attend one to one sessions which included: Support Planning & Personal Budgets; Direct Payments; One Plans & Education, Health & Care Plans

The day also asked people “To Have Your Say” asking participants “What you feel would make personalisation/personal budgets/SEN reforms work even better? These comments will be captured in DAD’s Making It Real action plan.

Support for Disabled People who experience multiple barriers/impairments 40 people in Year 2 Disabled people often experience multiple-oppression if they are from further marginalised groups including black & minority ethnic communities, lesbian, gay men or transgender/transsexual, or from gypsy and travelling communities. Their exclusion is therefore more likely. The challenge of reaching “hard to reach groups” is never easy and whilst Stronger Voices…Strong Support has been able to capture some information about people who are at a greater risk of exclusion.

People with a number of challenges also face consequent multiple barriers, but here the project has the advantage of being managed by a large and well developed local user led organisation of disabled people with a track

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record of overcoming barriers to working effectively with people with different impairments. However, it was highlighted that

“the project is quite impairment diverse but could do more in relation to ethnicity and culture”. (project participant).

6. The year ahead – What will we do?The key milestones for the project for Year 3 are as follows:

1. April 2014: Full model in delivery at levels 1, 2 and 3. 2. July 2014: Start of final outcomes focussed evaluation 3. November 2014: Scalable solution to peer support planning is

modelled.4. January 2015: Final evaluation complete. Phase 3 of the

dissemination of learning begins based on the final evaluation. This will include 10 nationwide agencies and bodies.

Other planned activities1. Continue to deliver Guidance and Advice restructured Living your Life workshops/ peer support and direct support from a peer mentor. The three levels will continue to be delivered, and more volunteers are currently being recruited who will receive training in their role as Peer Advisors Peer Support Planning Partners.

2. Increase the number of volunteers for the project. Plans include extending the reach of the project to a variety of community activities and by making more use of community facilities, it is hopeful we can draw more people into the volunteering role. Also SVSS will adapt the Living your Life workshops to become even more accessible to disabled people.

3. Develop the option for Peer Support Planning accredited training through the National Open College Network (NOCN)Whilst volunteers and project staff have accessed a range of training, not all of it has been accredited. SVSS are therefore developing an accredited

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training option for Volunteers who provide Peer Support Planning. SVSS can learn from existing community enterprises such as the National Brokerage Network, My Support Worker and link into existing opportunities that the National Open College Network (NOCN) have in the Darlington area.

4. Develop a greater understanding of Micro-Enterprises and Pooling Opportunities through Personal BudgetsSVSS knows there are several good examples across the country; that have developed such opportunities. The project aims to learn from these organisations, in particular Community Catalyst, Shared Lives, RUILS and Rotherham’s Social Prescribing initiative. It is anticipated the models such as JJs Café already thriving in Darlington could become blue prints for other individuals to develop similar micro-enterprises.

5. Personal Health Budget – Increasing the knowledge and demand for Personal Health Budgets across Darlington and surrounding areas. Personal Health Budgets are now being more widely promoted in particular NHS England has made available a grant of £10,000 to approximately 28 voluntary and community sector organisations. It is anticipated that this may “grow” the demand for information about Personal Health Budgets in Darlington through requests to the project for information, advice & support. SVSS will link in with the North East NHS England development lead to gain further insight into the development of PHBs in the region and develop additional relationships where possible.

6. Continue to implement the Pilot Project with Darlington Council’s Adult Social Care DepartmentThere is now a core group of Darlington Council’s Adult Social Care staff assigned to the pilot project including 4 Care Managers and a Development and Commissioning Manager. Three core staff from the project will be instrumental to the Pilot Project and meetings have been arranged to steer this project to ensure the pilot project can achieve the information about the two sample groups that will provide the analysis.

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7. Scalable solution to peer support planning is modelledBy ensuring appropriate recording takes place the pilot project should be able to determine a scalable solution to peer support. It anticipated that by analysing 32 Case Studies about the cost of support planning, the indicative and final budget comparisons and also the outcomes for individuals it will help to highlight and demonstrate the value of peer support planning.

If the model of support planning became a “proven model” SVSS could take this to the Excellence Funding opportunity in order for the project to have “wider spread”.

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