Individual Service Funds: a guide to making Self-Directed Support work for everyone

Extract from the Foreword:

The use of an Individual Service Fund as a way that people can have more control, choice and flexibility in their support is not a new idea. In Scotland, Individual Service Funds have been used by a small number of organisations for more than 20 years as a way to enable people to take more control over their life and their support, even if they were not deemed to have the capacity to take a Direct Payment. The authors of this paper have a long standing commitment to this approach and can describe clearly how an Individual Service Fund works and why it makes Self-Directed Support available for everyone.

This paper was commissioned by In Control Scotland with the aim of promoting inclusion and social justice through greater understanding of the benefits of the creative use of Individual Service Funds It is intended to be an enabling document which will be of value to individuals, families, care providers and funders It is intended to inspire greater consideration of the untapped transformational potential of Individual Service Funds by providing lived examples It also takes the form of a provocation, intended to stimulate questions and conversations about where power, choice and control lie in any situation involving an individual budget.