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SiRD2021 Fund to increase the delivery of independent support now open.

Scottish Government’s Support in the Right Direction 2021 (SiRD2021) Fund aims to continue to embed Self-directed Support as the mainstream approach to social care.

Support in the Right Direction 2021 (SiRD2021) opens to applications today Monday 5 February 2018.

Aiming to increase the delivery of independent support for people who require social care, SiRD2021 has been developed by Scottish Government in partnership with Inspiring Scotland and Self-directed Support Scotland, and in consultation with the independent support sector.

Part of a £9m investment into third sector organisations over the next three years, funds in the region of £2.9 million per financial year will be available for not-for-profit organisations to provide independent support from October 2018 to March 2021.

Aileen Campbell, Minister for Public Health and Sport said: “Independent support plays an important part in helping people exercise choice and control over their social care support.  I am delighted that we are able to provide further support for independent support organisations over the next two and a half years as part of Support in the Right Direction 2021.

“Figures released at the end of last year showed that our Self-directed Support Act is empowering more people to have greater control and choice over how their care and support is delivered. Through initiatives like SiRD, we will continue working hard with local authorities and partners to fully realise the potential of that legislation, empower individuals, and ensure more flexible services that best meets their needs.”

Under the Social Care (Self-directed Support) (Scotland) Act 2013, people who are eligible for social care must be offered choice and control over how they receive their care and support. Since the Act came into force on 1 April 2014, anyone who receives social care should be asked what matters to them, leading to the development of their personal outcomes. Any social care support they then receive should be focussed on meeting these outcomes, and recipients of social care are to be involved in deciding how their support is delivered and by whom.

Independent support helps people and carers to make informed decisions and plans for their social care and to maximise their choice, control and flexibility over those arrangements. It provides information on Self-directed Support principles and options, helping people to develop personal outcomes and put in place social care plans to meet those outcomes. Independent support can help people to manage a social care budget should they choose to do so, and to consider how to make best use of this budget to meet their personal outcomes.

SiRD2021 will fund a portfolio of projects that complement existing services and enable a good geographic spread of independent support across Scotland for all potential users of social care.

SiRD2021 contributes to the Scottish Government’s 10-year national strategy for the implementation of Self-directed Support and responds to the August 2017 Audit Scotland progress report on Self-directed Support implementation, which recommends that: “People using social care services and their carers need better information and help to understand Self-directed Support and make their choices”.

Inspiring Scotland will manage the SiRD2021 application process and you can find out more about the programme and request an application form on the Inspiring Scotland website. The deadline for applications is 3 April 2018 and decisions will be made in June.

Celia Tennant, chief executive of Inspiring Scotland, said: “Working with the current Support in the Right Direction projects over the last three years we have seen the difference independent support makes to people accessing social care.

“Accessing independent support services is vital to ensuring people who use social care services get the information and help they need to understand Self-directed Support and have choice and control. We are delighted to support the next phase of Scottish Government investment to deliver this work and be open for applications to SiRD2021 today.”