Yesterday, the chair of ILG Community Jade Hamnett, had the privilege of being personally invited to a meeting with Stephen Kinnock, the Minister of Care, and Ben Dyson, Director for Adult Social Care in England, to discuss direct payments. The meeting took place at the Department for Health and Social Care in Westminster.

The meeting also included four other people, each of us having a direct payment budget for ourselvesd, or a loved one. There was a range of budget types – commissioned, local authority and CHC.

It was an opportunity for us to have an open conversation about the challenges we’re facing and the solutions we’d like to see.

Key Topics Discussed

Below are some of the key topics that were covered:

• Declining Usage of Direct Payments: Stephen acknowledged the importance of direct payments and raised concerns about their declining usage. He wanted to discuss with us the reasons for this, and any potential solutions.
• Patchy Support: We discussed how the quality of support varies greatly across the country. Some areas provide excellent assistance, while others fall far short. Good support makes a significant difference, especially when people are taking on the responsibility of being an employer. We also discussed how woolly the law is on what support councils need to provide which is a potential cause of the difference between the support levels. Offering consistant and good support is key to increasing the amount of people willing to use a direct payment.
• Direct Payments and Flexibility: There was a discussion about the lack of flexibility in direct payments and how budgets are moving from person-centred care to being overly prescriptive and specific. It was discussed how this issue is getting worse, and leading to poorer outcomes. Budget holders should be able to control how they use their budgets to meet their eligible needs – which the law intended.
• Increased Scrutiny from Councils: The growing scrutiny from councils was a topic of concern, especially the added monitoring, lack of trust, and increasing paperwork that many recipients face. The cost of this monitoring was also discussed, which a question raised about how much each council spends on excessive monitoring which again goes against the Care Act which asks for proportionality.
• The Care Act Guidance vs. the Act Itself: We discussed contradictions between the Care Act guidance notes and the Act itself. We agreed that if councils followed the Care Act in its entirety, many issues could be avoided.

Specific Issues Highlighted

• Care Charges: While we continue to oppose care charges, it was put forward there is a lot inbetween the status quo, and zero care charges that would make them fairer and more manageable. For example Disability-Related Expenditure (DRE) needs to be reviewed indepth, the Minimum Income Guarantee (MIG) should be raised to a fair level and PIP should be ring-fenced like in other means-tests.
• Universal Credit and Direct Payments: The massive issue of Universal Credit wrongly counting care budgets as income or savings was also raised, which a request for this to be resolved urgently.
• Monitoring and Trust: The harmful impact of increased monitoring was emphasised, particularly how it’s raised stress and anxiety among users of direct payments.
• The Roadmap to Independent Living was discussed also which lays out many solutions to the care crisis. The document can be found on their website.

Outcomes

Stephen Kinnock agreed to:

• Write to Stephen Timms regarding the UC and care budget issue.
• Review the Care Act guidance notes.
• Look into the cost of council scrutiny and explore ways to reduce monitoring.
• Take a look at the Roadmap to Independent Living.

Ben Dyson also agreed to a follow-up meeting to discuss the Roadmap to Independent Living and was provided with a copy of the document for further review.

Conclusion

Overall, the meeting felt both productive and positive. Stephen Kinnock was genuinely engaged with the issues, and there was a good range of attendees representing various funding bodies and disability types.