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Simplifying businesses processes for SDS

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What we did

Sunderland City Council has taken steps to fundamentally review and streamline their SDS processes. The review was informed by staff groups and the Self-Directed Support Group (service users and carers) who came together to meet regularly to share their experience of receiving Direct Payments. Key elements of the process were:

  • Reviewing the existing guidance and documentation for Direct Payments, applying LEAN principles to challenge how much the paperwork could be reduced by and simplify the system. A small staff group reviewed the documentation and policy, drawing on the TLAP guidance Improving Direct Payment Delivery. The proposals for the simplified policy and guidance were presented to the Directorate Management Team to get senior buy-in.
  • Once the changes to the policy and guidance were approved the working group finalized the revised documentation and developed a training programme for staff in social work teams and communicated the changes to the support agency commissioned to help people manage their Direct Payments.
  • The design and content of the information for customers was refreshed with the help of the council communications team.
  • Key officers involved in redesigning the Direct Payments scheme maintain an overview with teams and are available to offer advice and answer questions.

Why we did it

The council had very strong evidence that staff and customers alike found the business processes overly bureaucratic, long-winded, unnecessarily complicated and confusing. The aims of the re-design were to reduce the time taken by staff on completing bureaucratic processes (especially on the IT system), to make it easier for them to explain and promote Direct Payments, and to simplify the procedures for people using services and their carers in order to speed up access to support, encourage use of Direct Payments and to maximize choice and control.

Outcome

The council has reduced the cost and time taken to complete the SDS processes. Prior to the changes the policy, guidance and documentation, including the DP Agreement formed a pack which was about one inch thick. This has been reduced to a single Direct Payments Agreement form and the guidance has been reduced to around eight pages, which captures all the essential information about the responsibilities of the person using the Direct Payment, where to get help, and key elements of their support plan. The changes have helped to free up social work time. As a further step, following LEAN principles, further work has been carried out to introduce reduced business processes along the whole length of the SDS customer journey.

Contact details

Claire Lowthian
Partnership Board Support Officer
Sunderland City Council
Claire.Lowthian@sunderland.gov.uk
0191 561 6148