Exploring the difference between advocacy and support brokerage

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Exploring the difference between advocacy and
support brokerage

• Lambeth Health and Social Care Voluntary and
  Community Sector Forum
• 29th May 2008
• denise.hill_at_advocacypartners.org

? Advocacy Partners
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What is advocacy

• Advocacy is taking action to help people say what
  they want, secure their rights, represent their
  interests and obtain services they need.
• Advocates and advocacy schemes work in
  partnership with the people they support and take
  their side. Advocacy promotes social inclusion,
  equality and social justice.

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What is advocacy

• Advocacy can be defined as an individual being
  supported to express views, communicate choices
  and receive services or participation as a
  result. It promotes social inclusion and
  equality.
• Disability Rights Commission 9 (August 2006)
  Delivering the Choice and Voice Agenda the role
  of independent advocacy services

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Professional Advocacy

• Where a person is supported by a paid advocate
  employed by a service, such as the health service
  Independent Complaints Advocacy Service or
  Independent Mental Capacity Advocacy Service
  (IMCA)

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Self Advocacy

• Where people are enabled to set up groups to
  support each other to speak up about their views
  and choices, regardless of how they communicate

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Citizen Advocacy

• Citizen advocates are usually volunteers and
  often act to ensure the rights of the person they
  work for are enforced.

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What is support brokerage

• A Support Broker has the role of enabling people
  to plan and organise any support they need. The
  support broker does not have the job of rationing
  resources or of providing other services.
• Definition adopted in Lambeth- based on In
  Control definition

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What is support brokerage

• Support Brokerage involves the assistance that
  people need to work out what their choices will
  be, and the support required to make it happen.
• Disability Rights Commission 9 (August 2006)
  Delivering the Choice and Voice Agenda the role
  of independent advocacy services

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Support Brokerage tasks - examples

• assisting in development of a vision
• of how a person wants to live
• working out costings
• identifying and applying for funding
• supporting the FACS appeals process
• identifying community resources
• liaising and negotiating with support providers

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Why is support brokerage needed?

• To
• Enable people who may need support to have
  greater choice and control.
•  By
• Making sure that people and their families who
  want extra assistance to plan and make choices
  about support can get this.

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Why is support brokerage needed?

• A lack of readily available help with support
  planning is acting as a barrier to the
  implementation of self directed support.
• Readily available assistance is essential to
  confidence in self directed support.
• Additional support required, especially to
  include people without active families.

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How are people supported to plan in Lambeth?

• 18 people in receipt of an Individual Budget
• Support from
• Families
• Care managers
• Providers- Mencap, Southside
• Advocacy Partners
• DASL
• Lambeth People First
• Planning Live events

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Support Brokerage pilot

• Small scale- to support, learn about and
  recommend future development.
• Managed by Advocacy Partners.
• Involvement of Lambeth Council, Southside, DASL,
  Lambeth Mencap, People First Lambeth.
• Funded by In Control, Advocacy Partners and
  Southside- for one year from Feb 2007.

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Strengths and limits of current approach to
support planning

• Major positive changes for some people.
• Active role played by peoples families.
• Range of stakeholders involved.

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Strengths and limits of current approach to
support planning

• Ad hoc and getting by.. for now.
• No explicit system to enable choice.
• Limited resources to enable people to do it
  themselves.
• Potential confusion, including with in-house
  brokerage function - words matter.
• Continued reliance on Local Authority to lead
  support planning.

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Care Management

• Care management has a vital role to play
• Ensuring plans are robust, protecting the
  interests of vulnerable people and the Authority.
  
• Over-dependence on Care Management for support
  planning
• May not result in full potential for community
  based solutions.
• Blurs the line between rationing resources and
  enabling people to plan.
• Risks the perception that control remains with
  the Local Authority.

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Care managers views- nationally

• Care managers identify that they are often not
  best placed to support people to plan.
• Just 15 of situations (Duffy 2007).

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Overall direction

• Enable people and families to do as much they
  wish.
• Co-ordination and capacity building to encourage
  and quality assure a range of approaches and
  providers.
• Deliberate strategies now needed.
• But one size wont fit all given diverse needs
  and population.

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Help people do it themselves

• Communicate clear messages about the rights of
  people to control their own support.
• Invest in local information, advice and advocacy.
• Ensure that this focuses on self directed
  support.
• Continue to provide information to the general
  public- e.g. Lambeth Life, libraries.
• Publicise national info and develop local
  information.

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Co-ordination, development of support brokerage

• To enable people to access and choose.
• To promote and assure quality.
• To act as bridge to community organisations and
  hub for capacity building work.

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Capacity building of community, advocacy, user
led organisations

• Investment required to encourage organisations
  and individuals to develop support brokerage
  roles.
• Including access to training and information,
  grants and partnership initiatives.
• Clarification and communication about projected
  need to enable business planning and capacity
  building.

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Recommendations

• 1. Proposals be invited
• (i) For an organisation or consortium to enhance
  the availability of quality support brokerage.
• (ii) To enhance the support available locally to
  people and families to plan for themselves.
• 2. Resources be identified for capacity building
  support probably linked to the above.
• 3. Lambeth includes as a part of its work-plan
  exploration of the future role of providers and
  care management in relation to support brokerage.
  

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Discussion

• Positives - now and future
• Issues - now and future
• Concerns - now and future
• 1 key issue or challenge identified to take back
  to the meeting

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Advocacy Partners

• Lambeth Accord
• 336 Brixton Road
• SW9 7AA
• Tel. [phone]
• denise.hill_at_advocacypartners.org