From April next year the system for how adult social care is delivered in Oxfordshire is going to be revolutionised.

At the moment, voluntary and community groups are given funding grants from councils to provide their services for people to access free.

However, this will all change when these grants will stop being provided to groups. Instead, most people who receive adult social care will be entitled to a personal budget from councils, which they will then use to pay for the services they want to access.

For example, someone can visit a day centre for free, as this is run by a charity funded at least in part by councils.

However, after April, this charity will instead charge for its services and so the person can choose whether or not to visit the centre and pay for the experience using the money given to them. This massive change in care provision is called personalisation.

The idea behind this new system is to give people greater choice in the care that they receive. However, it is still not entirely clear what this means for local voluntary and community sector organisations. There are also concerns for how service users will adapt to a new way of accessing services.

It is vital that voluntary and community groups wishing to provide services look at how they work out their costs so that they can charge an appropriate fee to service users. They will also need to be able to market what they can offer to the potential users, their family and friends.

This is especially important for groups because their income from grants will come to an abrupt halt, and without being able to market and sell their services they may struggle to stay open.

OCVA are holding a training session to offer support to local groups, and so they can better understand the new agenda and prepare for the changes this will bring. The training session, called Marketing and Personalisation, is taking place on Monday, June 28.

The training costs £20 for OCVA members and £25 for non-members. To book your place, or to find out more about how the changes may affect you or your group, please contact Kate Hill, Strategic Partnerships Manager at OCVA on 01865 251946 or email kate.hill@ocva.org.uk

OCVA is the main umbrella charity for Oxfordshire voluntary and community sector. It provides advice, information and training, helps voluntary groups get their voice heard and builds partnerships. OCVA also has a volunteer centre helping individuals get voluntary positions and groups find the right volunteer.

For more information about accessing these services visit www.ocva.org.uk or call Marketing and Communications Officer, John Gardiner, on 01865 251946.