New council system gives people more control over their social care budgets

Herefordshire Council is piloting a new scheme that will radically improve the way people receive and manage their social care services.

Using a web site called Shop 4 Support - which will go live on Monday 8 September - people will be able to handle their own social care funding to view payments online, order services, such as homecare or equipment, and seek information and advice. This will be done in the user's own secure area.

There will also be a forum for exchanging tips and an area where users can rate service providers on quality of service and cost.

Gill Vickers, the council's head of transformation for adult social care, said: "We are really pleased to be taking part in the pilot, as it will offer a much wider range of choice for service users. At the moment, we have a number of people across a range of service user groups and carers who are receiving individual budgets and our aim in piloting a web based service through Shop 4 Support will be to enable even more people to take control of their lives in this way."

The portal will can be accessed at: http://www.shop4support.com/. The solution has been developed by an independent social enterprise called In Control.