Direct payments are cash payments made in lieu of social service provision, to individuals who have been assessed as needing services.
The aim of a direct payment is to give more flexibility in how services are provided to individuals who are eligible for social services. This means greater choice and control, with clients able to make their own decisions about how their care is delivered.
Gone forever will be people being put to bed too early because it is convenient for the provider. Now, the client can make trade-offs about quality and cost which traditionally have been made for them by professionals.
Since June 2003, all local authorities have had a duty to offer direct payments to eligible people, as an alternative way of meeting their assessed community care needs. In 2003 Barking and Dagenham LBC only had a handful of people receiving direct payments, and was in 98th position, nationally, on the league table.
However, today we have more than 350 people in receipt of direct payments, which represents approximately £2.6m of annual spend, putting us among the best performers in the country.
A study of direct payments has found that the system works best where a supportive local authority infrastructure is combined with both an understanding of the principles of independent living and a commitment to partnership with users.
And with the publication of the White Paper Our health, our care, our say in January 2006, the Government is calling for an even greater shift towards individualisation of services, offering increased choice and control for people who receive public services. 
One option to extend choice for the service-user is the pilot for individual budgets. Building on the approach of direct payments, individual budgets are based on the concept of self-directed support, and enable people needing social care and associated services to design the support they require.
It gives them the power to decide the nature of services, as well as counter the disempowering effects of fragmented service deliver, which some people experience when their needs cross different budgets and services.
Features include:
l allocating resources transparently, giving individuals a clear cash or notional sum for them to use on their care or support package
l streamlining the assessment process across agencies, meaning less time spent giving/receiving information
l bringing together a variety of streams of support and/or funding
l giving individuals the ability to use the budget in a way which best suits their own particular requirements
l allowing support from a broker or advocate, family or friends, as the individual desires
l be delivered within local authorities' existing resource envelope.
Barking and Dagenham is pleased to have been chosen as one of 13 national pilot sites, and has started delivery of individual budgets over a two-year period to older people, people with learning disabilities, people with physical and sensory impairments, and people who use mental health services.
Since September 2006, 27 people have agreed to participate in the pilot – 16 people having completed a self-assessment questionnaire and received an indicative allocation, with four individuals going on to complete their own support plans.
Although it's still early days,we are committed as a borough to driving forward this initiative and putting people and their families in control by offering personalised services, and given them the freedom to choose the support they require.
We believe our strategic role is to ‘place shape' our area, and we would welcome new responsibilities inherent in Lyons and Leitch to achieve this.
But, this also places an onus on us to put public services in the hands of residents – and adult social care is at the forefront of the opportunities to achieve this. w
Rob Whiteman is chief executive at Barking and Dagenham LBC