Disabled People’s ‘Right To Control’ Care Support Will Not Be Rolled Out Nationally, Admits Minister

New tory Disability Minister, Mark Harper MP, has announced that disabled people's 'right to control' their care package will not be rolled out nationally.

The announcement comes after the scheme was piloted in seven areas of England between December 2010 and 12 December 2013.

An evaluation of the pilot schemes found that the 'right to control' "may not have resulted in any measurable" impact for disabled people. As a result the government will not be extending the pilot to further areas.

In a written ministerial statement released today (17 June 2014), the Minister for Disabled People Mark Harper said:

"The Right to Control pilot operated in seven areas of England between 12 December 2010 and 12 December 2013. The aims of the pilot were to bring together a number of different funding streams into a streamlined process that allowed disabled people choice and control over how funding for them was used to provide the care, support (including employment support) and equipment they needed; and to test the costs and benefits to public authorities.

"The Government remains committed to the principles of personalisation and of providing disabled people with greater choice and control over how the funding they are entitled to is used by them or on their behalf. Whilst the evaluation of this pilot may not have resulted in any measurable impact on outcomes, it was popular with those individuals who exercised their right to control and they valued the greater flexibilities it gave them. It also acted as a catalyst to developing local relationships and partnerships.

"Since the Right to Control pilot began in 2010, developments in Government policy have increasingly recognised the importance of personalisation in the delivery of services. The Care Act 2014 enables greater choice and control for the individual in adult social care and also provides co-operation duties to support partnership working and the flexibility needed to maintain Right to Control style approaches at local level. We are in the process of introducing personalisation within the context of the Disability and Health Employment Strategy, to develop a more personalised approach to delivering employment support for disabled people.

"Taking these changes into consideration together with the evaluation findings of the Right to Control pilot the Government has decided not to roll out the Right to Control nationally.

"As required by the Welfare Reform Act 2009, a report on the operation of the pilot has been prepared, and I will place