There has been an explosion over the past few years in new types of locally based care, support and training delivered by personal assistants (both employed and self-employed), micro enterprises and umbrella organisations (who often act as matching and coordination agents for a fee).
These innovations have been driven by community spirit, entrepreneurialism, individual creativity and a desire to do things differently. To date they have been reliant upon the flexibilities of self-funding or direct payment arrangements and are still relatively small scale in comparison to other more developed elements of the market providing only limited capacity.
This discussion paper by IPC Associate Chris Watson explores how these new models of care could be supported by local commissioners to meet additional demand using individual service funds.
For more information contact IPC Assistant Director, Philip Provenzano.
