I’ve tried to look on-line but surprisingly there appears little out there in terms of accepted ‘good practice’?
I can only point to three things: one is support brokerage by people skilled in it, which will be a chargeable service, from the likes of companies such as Imagineer https://imagineer.org.uk/ and second is the list of things that CAN lawfully be funded under the Care Act. That’s found in s8 of the Act and even then is only illustrative.
It says this:
8 How to meet needs
(1)The following are examples of what may be provided to meet needs under sections 18 to 20—
(a) accommodation in a care home or in premises of some other type;
(b) care and support at home or in the community;
(c) counselling and other types of social work;
(d) goods and facilities;
(e) information, advice and advocacy.
(2) The following are examples of the ways in which a local authority may meet needs under sections 18 to 20—
(a) by arranging for a person other than it to provide a service;
(b) by itself providing a service;
(c) by making direct payments.
The third thing is this insight from an advocate:
“I’ve always found it helpful to think of the ‘outcome’ that is necessary to meet a person’s needs – rather than the specific service required to achieve that outcome. So for example the outcome may be ‘to be physically fitter’ rather than ‘physical exercise’ – A person may not do physical exercise, but going for a daily walk in the park may make them fitter. And also of course may achieve a whole host of other outcomes if it is done in the company of other persons …
The ‘service’ of course may be a PA to assist to go for a walk.
Orientation of a care plan around outcomes is important because it helps the professionals agree deployments of specific services / but also helps those deployed services to understand their role in supporting a person and use their skills to some purpose.
It all starts with smart and clear needs assessments that identify the actual needs (which are the problems and issues) and don’t conflate a need into an outcome at the early stage.”
The inputs are all important for evaluating whether the sum of money that has been provided is half way defensibly rational, and if the budget doesn’t cover all the needs, the assumption will be that you will be making up the shortfall for free! So be warned and read the Guidance whilst you still have time, OK? This is the link to the chapter on care planning but really you need to start at identifying needs.