Category Archives: disability
£300m pot for independent living opens
29 October 2012 | By Rhiannon Bury
Bidding has opened for a £300 million pot aimed to help older people and adults with disabilities find affordable homes.
The care and support specialised housing fund, launched today by minister for care Norman Lamb, marks the first time that the Homes and Communities Agency has run such a programme on behalf of the Department of Health.
The HCA will administer £240 million of the fund. A further £60 million will be administered by the Greater London Authority.
100% personal budgets target scrapped
Care minister says councils must have 70% of service users on personal budgets by April 2013, ditching 100% ambition.
Pic Credit: Rex Features
The government has scrapped its target for councils to move all service users in the community on to personal budgets by April 2013, care minister Norman Lamb announced today.
Lamb said he had agreed a new target of having 70% of users on personal budgets by the same date, following talks with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.
Lamb said personal budgets were not suitable for everyone, but stressed that the 70% target was a staging post and should not be seen as a ceiling.
His announcement, at the National Children and Adult Services Conference, was strongly welcomed by Adass president Sarah Pickup.
She said that it would mean councils could stop “chasing a number” and focus on outcomes.
Lamb also issued a strong personal commitment to implementing the Dilnot commission’s proposals of a cap on the care costs faced by individuals.
Thousands of Norfolk young people reveal which issues matter most ahead of Westminster debate
25 October 2012
More than 2000 young people in Norfolk have cast their votes in a national poll to find out which issues most concern young people ahead of a debate in the House of Commons later this month.
A total of 2,737 young people from across Norfolk voted in the UK wide Make Your Mark ballot that gives young people aged between 11 and 18, the chance to choose the top five issues they consider to be the most important to young people today.
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