Supplement 2
Self-directed support
Self-assessment checklist for council officers

Prepared by Audit Scotland
June 2014

The Auditor General and the Accounts Commission published their joint report, Self-directed support (PDF) , on 12 June 2014. This paper offers a checklist for council officers to help them review progress in implementing self-directed support in their council. Officers should consider each issue listed and decide which statement most accurately reflects their current situation. This approach will enable councils to identify what actions need to be taken.
The last column in the checklist can be used to record sources of evidence, supplementary comments to support your assessment or to highlight actions to take forward.

	Assessment of current position	
Issue	No 
action 
needed	No
but action 
in hand	Yes
in place but needs 
improving	Yes
in place 
and working well	Not applicable	Comments	
Planning	
We now offer Self-directed support (SDS) to all eligible people when we assess or review their social care needs.							
We have a clear vision for the way we want to deliver social care in future:
•	This vision is widely shared and understood by councillors, senior managers and staff.
•	Managers and front line staff are given opportunities to examine their procedures and contribute to changes.							
We have clear strategies and detailed, up-to-date plans to continue implementing and reviewing SDS.							
We have developed ways of assessing the impact of SDS by monitoring how successfully social care services improve people's lives.							
Our plans address:
•	how we assess people’s needs and identify the impact they want services to have on their lives
•	how we allocate individual budgets
•	how we monitor and review the impact of individuals’ support on their lives.							
Our plans address:
•	how we work with providers in the third and private sectors, and local businesses and communities, to develop the services available to people
•	how we work with the NHS so that people receive joined-up health and social care support
•	how we involve service users, carers and families in planning, agreeing and implementing SDS.							
Our plans address:
•	policies, procedures, training and guidance for front-line staff
•	information, advice and advocacy for people to help them make choices under SDS.							
Leadership	
We regularly (at least quarterly):
•	report progress against our implementation plans to senior managers and councillors
•	assess the risks and actions we are taking to lessen them
•	monitor and report on the options chosen by people under SDS
•	monitor use of in-house services to inform reviews of sustainability.							
Our staff have the time, information, training and support they need to work with people to design their individual package of support.							
Our councillors and senior managers are actively involved in engaging with people who use social care services, their carers and providers.							
Working in partnership	
We fully involve users, carers, families, communities and service providers:
•	in planning, agreeing and implementing our SDS strategy (ie, not just informing and consulting them)
•	in discussions about SDS that encourage thinking creatively about what services would have the most positive impact.							
We work in partnership with service providers, giving them information, consulting them about our plans and fully involving them in our strategy for developing SDS services in our area.							
Managing Budgets	
We know at what point each in-house service will no longer be viable and what action we will take if that happens.							
We monitor our spending against our financial plans and we are ready to take action to avoid a potential overspend.							
We have assessed the benefits and risks of our chosen approach to allocating individual budgets and reported them to councillors and senior managers.
We are planning to develop a RAS. To inform this, we have looked at how similar approaches work for other councils and allowed sufficient time and cost to develop it fully. 							
We have decided to introduce a framework agreement with external providers. In the contracts, the standards we require providers to meet and the information we ask them for is not so demanding or restrictive that some new or innovative services would have difficulty meeting them.