National Resource Allocation Web Service goes live

FACE Recording & Measurement Systems has announced that the FACE Resource Allocation Web Service has gone live in 3 local authorities. Devon County Council, Gloucestershire County Council and Luton Borough Council are now accessing this service, with many others set to follow in the coming months. A single central computerised service is used to generate indicative budgets for people around the country with social care needs who wish to take up a personal budget as set out in the government’s reforms of social care. The system provides real time links with local IT systems thus allowing budgets to be generated in seconds. It has been developed in collaboration with 25 local authorities over a 3-year period.

Director of FACE, Paul Clifford stated: "Our goal is to help people needing social care to exercise maximum choice and control over their lives while enabling councils to manage their finances in a sustainable manner. We believe this is the world’s first fully automated resource allocation system and as such opens up new possibilities for efficient and equitable financial management. We believe that this marks a significant step forward in the development of personalised social care and are extremely grateful to everyone who has worked so hard on this collaborative development."

Roger Kirk, Business Redesign & Self Directed Support Managerfrom Luton Borough Council said: “We have undertaken extensive local testing of the FACE Resources Allocation System and the FACE Resource Allocation Web Service and are confident that this service offers a sustainable and scalable approach to resources allocation which means we can focus our attention on what really matters – the people of Luton and their care needs.”

The system is currently available to councils serving approximately 20% of the UK population. However, the intention is to make it available to all local authorities at the earliest opportunity.