Practical approaches to safeguarding and personalisation (pdf ...

Practical approaches to safeguarding and personalisation
Introduction
This briefing paper sets out how personalisation of support and more effective safeguarding
can be mutually supportive. It shows how self-directed support can help to prevent or reduce
the risk of harm and abuse. It is not, primarily, about how councils and partner organisations
should respond to abuse. Personalisation does not replace the need for adult safeguarding
systems and procedures.
Strengthening citizenship and communities in line with the personalisation agenda can
contribute to keeping people safer. Self-directed support enables people to have choice and
control over their lives, and be active citizens rather than passive recipients of services.
People who have choice and control over their support arrangements, keep in touch with
family and friends, and stay active and healthy, are likely to be at less risk of abuse than those
who are isolated and dependent on services. They are also more likely to have people in their
lives that would notice and take action in response to any concerns of abuse.
Self-directed support provides a framework for managing risk. By incorporating critical
checks and balances into person-centred approaches, the management of risks and the
maximisation of benefits arising from taking considered risk can be improved.
An exploration of the evidence base concerning risk enablement in the self-directed support
process has been produced by the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE) 1 . The SCIE
report identifies that misunderstandings about personal budgets have sometimes led to the
misconception that people will be left unsupported, taking full responsibility for managing
risk alone. It also identifies that misunderstandings about the principles and practice of
independent living can impact upon common conceptions of personalisation being ‘risky’.
Risk aversion and generalised assumptions about groups of people can lead to professionals
denying opportunities to people and restricting their lives. Emerging evidence does not appear
to support concerns about increased risk through personalised services. A Skills for Care
survey 2 shows that despite fears that a move towards person-centred care may leave
individuals more vulnerable, people moving to direct payments and employing their own
personal assistants experienced significantly less abuse than those recieving traditional
council-commissioned services.
This briefing attempts to dispel myths and focus on practical and positive ways in which
councils are integrating safeguarding and personalisation, particularly in relation to selfdirected
support and personal budgets, as they redesign their care management process around
the principles of personalisation.
The principal objectives of this briefing paper are:
• to improve understanding of safeguarding and risk management as an integral part of
personalisation
1 Carr, S (2010) SCIE Report 36: Enabling risk, ensuring safety: Self-directed support and personal budgets
London: SCIE
2 Employment Aspects and workforce implications of direct payment. IFF research. Skills for Care 2008
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