Other areas of work

The Aiming High for Disabled Children (AHDC) programme is the Government's transformation programme for disabled children's services in England. This page provides information and updates on areas other than those which have a dedicated page on this website.

Individual budgets

AHDC included a commitment to pilot individual budgets (IBs) for disabled children. In April 2008 the DCSF commissioned SQW Consulting to undertake a scoping study prior to the piloting of IBs for families with disabled children. The primary purpose of the study was to inform the development of the IB pilot programme. Individual budgets (IBs) for families with disabled children: A scoping study was published in October 2008 and identified a range of factors for a successful IB programme.

Pilot sites

In March 2009 a small number of LAs along with their primary care trust (PCT) partners were invited to apply to pilot AHDC IBs for families with disabled children. The following sites have now been selected. Each site will offer IBs to a target number of families with disabled children. While offering IBs to the full range of eligible children and families, each site will also have identified a beneficiary group upon whom they wish to focus. The groups are:

children coming out of early support: in this group, families will use their IB to continue to build on the tailored support of joint planning and control of the services already experienced while on the Early Support programme
young people in transition: in this group pilot sites will explore how an IB can be used to support personal development plans for more independent living
newcomers to the social care system: the scoping study suggested that newcomers to the social care system tended not to have any preconceived ideas of service provision, which allowed them to think more innovatively about what provision might be needed. Pilot sites will explore how an IB package is used by this group and how it compares to existing service users.

Pilot Site	Focus for Pilot
Coventry	Young people in transition
Derbyshire	Young people in transition
Essex	Young people in transition
Gateshead	Age range 5–16
Gloucestershire	Newcomers to the social care system
Newcastle	Young people in transition

The IB pilots will run from April 2009 until March 2011, with a possible extension to March 2012, subject to available funding. Piloting LAs will receive between £200,000 and £280,000 in grant funding over the two years to deliver the pilots.

Each pilot site will feed into the national pilot programme, which has been set up to establish if an IB:

enables disabled children and their families to have more choice and control over the delivery of their support package
improves outcomes for some, or all, disabled children and their families.

The pilots will also:

establish whether or not the IB pilots result in some, or all, disabled children and their families reporting increased levels of satisfaction with the experience of gaining service provision through an IB
identify any unintended consequences and critical barriers experienced by the pilot LAs and PCTs to the successful implementation of IBs, and record successful approaches to addressing those barriers
assess the relative importance of the 10 factors making up the common delivery model to the successful implementation of IBs
provide a comparison of the costs to the LAs and PCT of implementing IBs for disabled children and the costs of providing services through current arrangements.

This pilot programme is relatively small scale and we acknowledge the speed and expertise that is currently developing in and outside of the pilot sites. It is our intention to maximise the opportunity to share learning from the pilot sites and learn from the non-pilot sites. We are currently exploring options for how this can best be achieved.

Good practice and feedback from the pilot sites will be published in quarterly updates, starting in late June, on the AHDC homepage.

For further information on the pilots and IBs under Aiming High, please access the full AHDC pilot specification and application pack, which provides details on:

the purpose of the IB pilots
the framework for the pilots
the selection process
the policy context for IBs
the legal basis for the pilots.

Evaluation and support to the pilots

The SQW Consulting consortia has been appointed to evaluate and support the pilots. The team includes Ipsos MORI, iMPOWER and Helen Sanderson Associates (HSA).

SQW and Ipsos MORI have been commissioned to evaluate the pilots and ensure that robust lessons are learned to inform future policy. iMPOWER and HSA will provide dedicated support to pilot areas.

If you would like to know more about the AHDC IB Pilot Programme, please contact the AHDC Implementation Team.

Community equipment and wheelchair services

There is a need to make improvements to the provision of disabled children's equipment across social care, health and education and understanding the unmet need. The Department for Health in partnership with the DCSF have commenced a six-month project to develop a national procurement strategy for the complete community equipment needs of children.

As well as understanding the demand and the supply for children's equipment, the key outcomes of the project are to transform the marketplace for children's equipment and introduce competition and choice for children, young people and their families.

The project will collect information on the range of equipment provided by statutory bodies and charitable organisations. This will inform strategic sourcing opportunities in the marketplace.

Therapy services

The Government wants all disabled children to be able to access the therapy services that they need. Improving therapy services is essential to the delivery of Standard 8 of the National Service Framework for Children.

The Government has published Better communication: An action plan to improve services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs in response to the Bercow review of services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs (SLCN).

The action plan provides details of a range of initiatives across Government to improve services for children and young people with SLCN culminating in that National Year of Speech, Language and Communication in 2011–12. This includes:

up to 20 local-area Pathfinders will be used to develop good practice guidance and a supplemental joint commissioning framework on SLCN
up to £1.5m will be invested in grants to the alternative and augmentative communication sector
up to £1.5m will be invested in a research programme looking at SLCN over the next three years.

For more information, visit the SLCN web pages.

Key working

Families with disabled children with complex needs require a single point of contact to provide information, help obtain services and assist with advocacy. Studies of key workers consistently report positive effects on relationships with services, fewer unmet needs and greater family well-being.

Key worker services should be provided in line with guidance in Together from the start and the endorsed key worker standards developed by Care Co-ordination Network UK.

Direct payments

Direct payments are cash payments in lieu of social services. Following implementation of the Health and Social Care Act 2001, direct payments must be offered to parents of disabled children, giving them greater choice and flexibility in how they receive services.

Information, advice and guidance

Direct payments

The direct payments set of documents includes:

Direct payments guidance
Parents guide to direct payments
Direct payments FAQs.

Safeguarding disabled children

The available UK evidence suggests that disabled children are at an increased risk of abuse and neglect than non-disabled children. Safeguarding disabled children, a resource for local safeguarding children boards (LSCBs) and practitioners, sets out guidelines for understanding the particular needs of disabled children and considering how best to safeguard and promote their welfare.

Residential placements

There are around 13,300 disabled children in long-term residential placements, mainly in special schools, children's homes and hospitals. The r esidential placements set of documents includes a report providing the most comprehensive picture yet of disabled children in residential placements, drawing on education, health and social-care data.