Useful partners and services

Graphic Design and Print Community Interest Company have linked up with a diverse range of local, regional and national organisations. Links below for further information on each service.

‘Valuing People’ White Paper

'Valuing People' sets out how the Government will provide new opportunities for children and adults with learning disabilities and their families to live full and independent lives as part of their local communities. Follow this link for more information.

Direct Payments

Direct payments are cash payments given to service users in lieu of community care services they have been assessed as needing, and are intended to give users greater choice in their care. The payment must be sufficient to enable the service user to purchase services to meet their needs, and must be spent on services that users need.

Like commissioned care, they are means-tested so assume that, in many cases, people will contribute to the cost of their care.

Direct payments confer responsibilities on recipients to employ people or commission services for themselves. They take on all the responsibilities of an employer, such as payroll, meeting minimum wage and other legislative requirements and establishing contracts of employment.

Some of these services can be contracted out and many councils have commissioned support organisations to help service users handle these responsibilities.

link to Direct Payments and Individual Budgets

Individual Budgets

Individual budgets differ in two respects from direct payments. Firstly, they go beyond social care, to cover Supporting People, Disabled Facilities Grant, Independent Living Fund, Access to Work and community equipment services. And secondly they set an overall budget for all of these services, which users can choose to take as cash payments, services or a mixture of both.

As a result, they provide a potentially good option for people who do not want to take on the responsibilities of a direct payment.

Person Centred Plan

Person centred planning is a process of life planning for individuals, based around the principles of inclusion and the social model of disability. Derived mainly from the early work in building circles of support, these tools should be available for us all. Person centred planning tools are alive and active, always ensuring the focus person is central and in control. They are flexible, setting no limits to the person’s wants, needs and dreams for their life.

Transition Planning

Transition in Education refers to the move from secondary school to further or higher continuing education, employment and preparation and planning for adulthood. From the time when the pupil is in Year 9, they are encouraged to plan for transition with their parents or carers. When a young person reaches Year 9, the Annual Review of their Statement of Special Educational Needs should include a Transition Plan. The Head teacher must ensure that a Transition Plan is drawn up and this should be done with the involvement of the Connexion Services.

Working Group

The Working Group is drawn from people with a learning disability, local authorities, the voluntary sector and including some managers of supported employment schemes.

Access to work

Provides advice and practical support to help people with disabilities and their employers to overcome difficulties in the workplace caused by disability. This might include specialist equipment, fares to work for people unable to use public transport, adaptations to employer premises, communication aids and support workers. Information is available from job centres.

The Adult Learning Inspectorate

A Government-funded body responsible for raising the standards for education and training for young people and adults in England, by inspecting and reporting on the quality of learning provision they receive.

ASDAN

Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network programmes and qualifications blend activity-based curriculum enrichment with a framework for the development, assessment and accreditation of key skills and lifer skills, with a strong emphasis on negotiation, cooperation and rewarding achievement. ASDAN courses are recognised by DfES.

The Commission for Social Care Inspection

The single, independent inspectorate for social care in England. The commission was created by the Health and Social Care (community Health and Standards) Act 2003. CSCI incorporates the work formerly done by: The Social Services Inspectorate (SSI), SSI/Audit Commission Joint Review Team and the National Care Standards Commission (NCSC).

Connexions Personal Advisers

Work with young people in Connexions Partnerships. They can give information, advice and practical help on issues that affect young people at school, college, work or in their personal or family life. They can also refer young people to specialist advisers.

Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)

Provides its services through the following businesses

• Jobcentre Plus ­ helping people of working age to find work and get any benefits they are entitled to, and offering a dedicated service to employers to fill their vacancies quickly and effectively;
• The Pension Service ­ providing services and support for pensioners and people looking into pensions and retirement;
• The Child Support Agency ­ administering the Child Support Scheme;
• The Disability and Carers Service - providing an independent tribunal body for hearing appeals;
• The Appeals Service ­ providing an independent tribunal body for hearing appeals;
• Debt Management ­ delivering debt management and recovery systems.

Disability Employment Advisers (DEAs)

Provide specialist support to disabled people in finding and keeping a job. They can also provide advice and support to people already in work who are concerned about losing their job for a reason associated with a health condition or disability. They can be contacted through jobcentres.

The Learning and Skills Council (LSC)

Responsible for funding and planning education and training for over 16-year-olds in England.

The Learning Skills Development Agency

Its mission is to improve the quality of post-16 education and training in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It carries out research to inform policy and practice, helping to shape and communicate education policy and provides improvement and support programmes for organisations that deliver post-16 education and training.

Local Strategic Partnerships (LSP)

A single non-statutory, multi-agency body, which matches local authority boundaries, and aims to bring together, at a local level, the different parts of the public, private, community and voluntary sectors. LSPs are key to tackling deep-seated, multi-faceted problems, requiring a range of responses from different bodies. Local partners working through an LSP will be expected to take many of the major decisions about priorities and funding for their local area. In North Norfolk this partnership is called the North Norfolk Community Partnership.

New Deal For Disabled People

For people getting a disability-, or health-related benefit who want to work, but need some help and support along the way. They are supported into work by a network of Job Brokers.

Permitted Work

There are a number of different Permitted Work categories under the rules introduced in April 2002:

• Clients on incapacity benefits can work up to 16 hours per week and earn a set amount each week (currently £86 ­ 16 times the National Minimum Wage (NMW)), but for a limited period of time only (a maximum of 52 weeks). This is called the ‘Permitted Work higher limit’.
• Some clients work up to 16 hours but are supported by someone from a local authority or voluntary organisation in doing so. This group is allowed to work up to 16 hours a week and earn £86 for however long they remain on Incapacity Benefit (IB). This is called ‘supported Permitted Work’.
• Both these categories apply to IB and Income Support (IS) clients but the latter have their benefit reduced for any amount over the earnings disregard of £20.
• People only wanting to work very limited amounts (earning up to £20 whether on IB or IS) form a further category called the ‘Permitted Work Lower Limit’ group. It also includes people who have switched from the Permitted Work Higher Limit because they have not entered full-time work after 52 weeks.

Work Preparation

A work-focused programme available through jobcentres, which helps disabled people to deal with barriers associated with their disability and prepare for work by giving them the confidence needed to achieve their job goals.

WORKSTEP

Provides individually tailored support for disabled people who have more complicated barriers to getting and keeping a job. It provides a wide range of supported job opportunities with mainstream employers, or in supported factories and businesses. Information is available from jobcentres.

Monitoring & Evaluation

Good monitoring systems will be in place, used as a reporting mechanism to demonstrate the achievement of aims. They will provide extra intelligence and incentives for performance improvement not just relating to service delivery but within the organisation as a whole.

Monitoring forms will be completed by trainees to follow their progress and advise on relevancy of course material.

Financial monitoring on a monthly basis to register any deviancy from the business plan allowing for corrective action.

Supervision will be offered on a monthly basis with performance appraisals as a part of ongoing support and supervision for a member of staff. An appraisal is a review of work carried out in the preceding year (or three or six months during the probationary period) and provides an opportunity to plan work for the forthcoming year. An appraisal form is based on objectives and should be used to assess performance and provide the staff member with an opportunity to comment on their work. The appraisal should be an open and constructive process and all written material should be shared with the person being appraised.

Registrations

Graphic Design & Print CIC is registered with the UK Register for Learning Providers. Our UK Provider Reference Number is: 10019969.

Police Checks by Criminal Records Bureau and Vulnerable Adults Courses.

These are for posts that involve a degree of contact with vulnerable people. Enhanced CRB checks will be carried out on all employees. The protection of vulnerable adults POVA will be a priority for the company as an additional layer of training for all staff to undertake prior to employment. The course is run by Steve Morphew Associates in conjunction with The Guild.

British Printing Industry Federation

We have the support with regards to offering people with learning disabilities certificates in graphic design and print from the BPIF and we are working with them to develop a bespoke modern apprenticeship training programme. For further discussion contact is Ruth Exelby 07801 977 908.

The UK Register of Learning Providers

The UK Register of Learning Providers is a DfES 'one-stop' portal to be used by government departments, agencies, learners, and employers to share key information about learning providers. The UKRLP allows providers to update their information in only one place and share this across agencies such as, the Learning and Skills Council, the National Learning Directory, the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) and UCAS.