The question posed by the the case of KM v Cambridgeshire is not "can Councils take their resources into account" when allocating resources. Of course they can and of course they have to when working within a cash limited environment. The question is how they do it - are they doing it in a way that is a) lawful and b). fair and c) makes best use of public money. I would expect the Supreme Court to find that the original High Court decision was none of these things - in fact it was quite irrational. That is because it allowed the Council to arrive at a base size of the Personal Budget using the arithmetic RAS process, and then added on top an element for special needs. But what it failed to do was understand that the original RAS allocation bears no relation to the real cost of meeting needs. It was like putting a slate roof on a mud hut. It will be a great service to the future of Social Care if the Supreme Court jusgement exposes the irrationality of the RAS process.
Colin Slasberg
Oh dear .... Are the Judges under the impression that the RAS is a scientific calculation? If only they knew the reality.
I have to go to court to explain why a SU cannot have supported living, I ran my reasons through an Advanced Practitioner and they said yes and just add that the RAS does come anywhere near the cost of supported living, I said well it doesn't anyway - even for those who need it!!!!!
The RAS is a complete farce, it works for middle class families that know how to get the best out of it, interestigly they have changed my SRQ in my LA and the points are reduced if you have informal networks of support - so you therefore have less budget to work with (instead of giving more to those who have no informal support they give less to those with informal support).
To me its just another paper exercise that confuses a lot of service users, I agree with the principles of the personalisation agenda, and for some people, they can say give me the money and I'll show you how I can (and do) utilise it better than you can, for others it doesn't make a blind bit of difference.
A1ext:interestigly they have changed my SRQ in my LA and the points are reduced if you have informal networks of support - so you therefore have less budget to work with
Sounds like you are between a RAQ and a hard place....
Hmmmmmm.......
I need to work on my subtlety
Hatgirl: I need to work on my subtlety
made me laugh anyway