Your Local Budget: Norfolk

Tom Gaskin

13.05.11

Meet Jo*

*Not her real name

Participatory budgeting

• Norfolk County Council is part of the national Your Local Budget pilot (& HACT).

• Exploring different models of using mainstream funding for participatory budgeting.

• Participatory budgeting involves local people making decisions on the spending and priorities of a public budget.

Personal Budgets for Participatory Budgeting

• Delivering a participatory budgeting exercise at Crossroads Day Centre, Kings Lynn.

• Working with 20 services that attend every Tuesday.

• Ages range from early 70s – early 90s, many service users are deaf or visually impaired and some suffer from symptoms of dementia.

Model

• Modelled the personal budgets process (loosely).

• Gave each service user £50 to spend on activities over a 10 week period.

• Supported to identify desired activities.

• Presented options and costs in Activity Brochure*

• Supported to plan budget and programme.

*Available here: http://tinyurl.com/pbbrochure

Initial outcomes

• Service users excited about process and choice of activities / trips.

• Generating discussion about personalisation and Personal Budgets.

• Insight into varied needs (activities Vs trips).• Different amounts spent (potential to

generate savings).• Service users offering to pay extra.

Key learning

• Providers need to break down cost of services.

• Providers need to be creative and adaptable – find new ways to meet service users’ needs.

• Services users struggle to understand true cost of service – involve in decision making.

• Need easy access to up to date information on activities and trips out with costs.

Key learning (2)

• Providers need to promote services direct to service users – help inform development of support plan.

• Need a range of payment models – allow service users to personalise their experience.

• Build in an amount for pooling into support plan.

Next steps

• Implement programme and evaluate.• Develop toolkit – promote different models for

increasing service user involvement e.g. pooling, participatory budgeting, committees.

• Report back to Government.

See you at the seaside!

Thanks for listening

Tom Gaskin

Consultation and Involvement Officer

Tel. 01603 495107

E-mail. tom.gaskin@norfolk.gov.uk

Twitter. @tomgaskin