Indvidual Service Funds in Residential Care

Author: Sarah Holmes

Affinity Trust and the City of Wolverhampton Council share their findings following the introduction of individual service funds (ISFs) in residential care settings in the borough.

In the Executive Summary of the Evaluation, Leo Sowerby, CEO of Affinity Trust, writes:

“At Affinity Trust, our mission is to enable people with learning disabilities to pursue active and fulfilling lives, gain increased independence and achieve equal rights as citizens. For the past three years, we have been working towards greater choice and control for the people we support through offering self directed support options as part of the fulfilment of our mission.

“As an organisation we have invested in this by employing a dedicated ISF Implementation Manager who has been working alongside our development and operational teams to pilot and embed the Individual Service Fund model as an approach which can be offered to the people we support.

“We are pleased to have had the opportunity to work alongside City of Wolverhampton Council to test and implement the foundations of an approach which offers greater choice and control to the people we support in one of our residential care services. Our intention is to gather and share our learning; building it into future pilots to improve the approach so that we can see more people with learning disabilities taking a lead in choosing how they are supported and strengthening their involvement and contribution in community life through the use of Individual Service Funds.

“We hope that in sharing our learning we can inspire more organisations to take up the approach and create greater opportunities for people with learning disabilities in the UK.”

Read and download the free pdf in your browser, link below.

The publisher is Affinity Trust. Introducing Individual Service Funds in an Adult Residential Care Setting © Sarah Holmes 2022.