Advocacy Resource Exchange Information Sheet - February 2011

Where does advocacy fit in with Brokerage for self-directed support and personal budgets?

The Department of Health agenda ‘Putting People First’ sets a clear direction and statement of intent for self-directed support in England.

Many advocacy organisations have been asking questions about what their role is within this self-directed support agenda, and if they should look into the possibility of seeking funding opportunities and become brokers. 

We need to start with what Brokerage actually is and the following gives a definition.  This definition is taken from the Department of Health  ‘Putting People First – Transforming Adult Social Care’  publication  ‘Good Practice in Support Planning  and Brokerage’    

 A definition

Support brokerage, as a term, has been used in some social care services over the last twenty years or so. In the context of self directed support, it has become fairly commonly used to describe a range of help for people with a personal budget. Is a definition important? Yes it is; people need to have a common understanding when language is used. As self-directed support is still in its infancy, an understanding of the assistance that people need is continuing to emerge. A definition of brokerage needs to be seen in this context.

Features of brokerage

Support brokerage is best understood by a range of features:

• a clear value base that promotes self determination and social inclusion
• an aim to identify barriers to social inclusion and to put in place responses which tackle these barriers
• independent of making decisions about funding in the resource allocation process
• the person for whom brokerage is provided makes the decision (with assistance if necessary) about how resources are used
• provision of information about the range of brokerage options is a central part of enabling choices
•  information is in the format suited to the person concerned.

Functions of brokerage

Support brokerage has a number of functions which imply an array of activities or tasks. It is best seen and understood by this set of functions, rather than seeing brokerage encapsulated within a role of a support broker. Support brokerage needs to be understood as inherently community based.

 The key functions of brokerage include:

• to find out what is available
• to explore what is possible
• provide information (signposting)
•  give technical advice
• encourage and develop informal supports
• coordinate supports and resources

Support brokerage and advocacy

Support brokers are seen as independent guides to make sure that a person can live the life of their choice.  This is very much the language of advocacy and from the functions identified above these could also be seen as activities that an advocate would carry out.   Because of this description it is easy to see why there are similarities with an advocate’s role and where the two roles may cross over. For example:

• Help the person speak up for themselves or where necessary to speak up on their behalf.

When brokerage is seen as a range of tasks and activities, it is quite obvious there is not a clear and concise boundary between brokerage and advocacy.

Whilst it is important to understand this overlap, it is particularly important to understand the succinct role each one has to play. 

The following is not an exhaustive list but it does give an idea of the brokerage role:

• complete an individual assessment and receive an indicative resource allocation
• assist the person to manage their obligations and responsibilities in relation to their budget
• design and help with support planning and person centred planning that that represents the person and their chosen lifestyle which clearly identifies areas where support may be required
• develop a support plan, exploring how the person wants to design their supports and setting out how their funding will be used
• explore other potential funding and benefits – complete the necessary claim forms
• arrange and/or co-ordinate any housing options
• facilitation to enable things to happen
• explore the potential within local community resources and assist in making connections
• co-ordinate the support i.e. employing supporters, agreements with support providers etc
• negotiate how the funding will be used with potential providers
• help the person engage and work with the local council
• complete monitoring systems that are in line with any decision making agreements
• plan how the budget will be used
• help to maintain records
• assist with quality assurance processes that an individual wishes to use or a funder requires.

Once the core activities of brokerage begin to be broken down into more detail, it becomes clearer that they would probably no longer be the functions for an advocate.

The core principles of self-directed support would suggest that the development of any support brokerage should be led and directed by older or disabled people themselves.  However, whilst many people will need no help at all and will be able to do what it takes to receive and use their personal budget, it is probable that a significant number of people will need support.  A core role for every local council will be to plan to support the development of brokerage in their area.

Unless they have a clear vision of what advocacy is and what support brokerage is, there could be an expectancy that advocacy groups will automatically take up this brokerage role as a part of their funding agreements.

Primarily here we are thinking about personal budgets and brokerage functions within the context of self-directed support but we need to consider that advocacy rarely works within the confines of the funding model of social care.  The range of supports under the term brokerage would benefit many citizens who are not connected to support services at all, i.e. people who privately fund their own support, those from BME backgrounds with little or no engagement of formal services and those who do not meet eligibility criteria.    

In this difficult time when advocacy organisations need to identify secure future funding, they may be influenced to considering taking up a brokerage role because of funding streams that are attached to the service.  However, they need to be very clear in their own thinking about the differences in the roles and any conflicts of interest that could arise.  Equality of opportunity should also mean that they need to be considering these other groups mentioned previously who would benefit from the brokerage role  where there is likely to be no funding available.

What is clear in this very confusing area is that advocacy has a significant role to play to ensure that choice and control become a reality for those who may require support to enable them to live a life of value and quality.

For organisations considering Brokerage you may like to look at the National Brokerage Network website  This will give you links to all the paperwork you need to help you to make your decision including the NBN paper-set, costings menu and sharing agreement forms and many other useful pieces of information.

Additional information on personalisation

IBSEN - Evaluation Report on the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme  - Univ of York published Oct 2008