Tag Archives: disability

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

Pic Credit: Rex Features

Friday 26 October 2012 11:22

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.

‘I think it’s amazing how committed care staff are, who we don’t deserve to have’

Pay concerns are leading to around 200 home carers used by a council to look after vulnerable people to leave their jobs each year.

Richard Wheeler Tuesday, October 23, 2012
7:00 AM

Norfolk County Council spends £34m a year on using 25 main agencies to provide care to around 5,800 older and disabled people in their homes.

But people who use the service have raised concerns about the quality and continuity of the care they receive, due to staff leaving on a regular basis.