At our Members Open Space Meeting on the 22nd November we discussed Dr Simon Duffy’s paper
- Implementing SDS – Lessons from the English Experience
You can link to this paper on the website of the Center for Welfare Reform Website by clicking this link.
Simon Duffy summarizes this paper by saying:
‘Despite some success, central government in England has so far failed to:
- Use SDS to enhance citizenship
- Support local leadership and community development
- Enable efficient implementation
- Integrate or simplify the management of resources
These mistakes are not necessary and they probably reflect the particularly centralised and meritocratic nature of the welfare system in England. Hopefully other countries will choose to a different path. The recent commitment in Australia to create a proper system of entitlements in order to underpin self-directed support is particularly encouraging.’
Picking up these ideas of enhancing citizenship, local action and community development seem central to our ideas of Citizen Directed Support in Wales.
Our members felt that it is central to the cultural change that we are trying to make together that we learn from practice around us and learn from papers such as this.
What do you think of this?
Filed under: Policy and Practice
