The Right to Control initiative is designed to give disabled people more choice and control over the support they receive. If you are eligible, you will have the legal right to combine the support you receive from six different sources and decide how best to spend the funding to meet your needs. You will be able to choose to:
- Continue receiving the same support
- Ask a public body to arrange new support
- Buy your own support using funding provided by a public body
- Combine elements of all three other options into a personal plan
Where you may be eligible for support from more than one agency, we will share the relevant information so you don’t need to keep telling people the same things.
Eligibility
If you are eligible for one or more of the following services, you will be able to choose and control how money is spent to support you.
- Access to work
- Adult social care
- Disabled facilities grant
- Independent living fund (ILF)
- Supporting people
- Work choice
Right to Control only applies in the Essex County Council area, and does not apply to residents of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock unitary authorities.
The Right to Control is being piloted in Essex from December 13 2010. Anyone who is new to any of the funding streams from December 2010 onwards will have the right to control.
How Right to Control works
You will have to work with a public body to agree and deliver your personal support plan. The public body could be a local authority, or a disabled people’s organisation, amongst others. You will have the right to decide what you want to achieve with the support you have applied for, and how you want this to work.
The aims and objectives you want to achieve must be:
- agreed with the public body responsible for your support
- included in your support plan
- based on the requirements of the funding stream that supports you
The Right to Control support plan
The public body you work with will be able to tell you where you can get help and advice to choose the support you want, and someone can work with you to create your support plan if you would like.
Your support plan must include the following information:
- The aims you have agreed with the public body
- The amount of money you have to spend in your support
- Information about the services and support you have chosen (including costs)
- Information about who will act as the purchaser of these services
- Details of any cash payments you have chosen, including recipients
- Information about other support (such as informal care contributions)
- How often you will review the support plan
Public body responsibilities
If you are eligible for support, the public body you are working with must tell you about:
- the Right to Control
- how much money you have to spend
- other support you can access through Right to Control
- how to make a complaint if you are unhappy with Right to Control
They must do this in a way that is accessible for you, such as audio, Braille or Easy Read.
Find out more
If you are eligible for the Right to Control initiative, you will be told about this when you are assessed or reviewed by one of the public bodies taking part. They will help provide any support you may need.
Further information can be found in the following documents:
Right to Control in Essex – A British Sign Language and subtitled short film:
For more information, contact the Right to Control team.