Joint Investment Plans (JIPs): the implications for education and training providers

JIPs may be a new acronym to many people, and they may be little understood by education and training providers. However they are likely to be increasingly important to any professionals who are working with people with learning difficulties or disabilities. This is a brief introduction to them and to what providers might do to ensure they are part of a 'joined up' opportunity.

Deborah Cooper, Milton Keynes Council

Health and local authorities were first asked to produce Joint Investment Plans for older people from April 1999, and for adult mental health services from April 2000. Over a rolling programme, Joint Investment Plans are designed to set out how shortfalls in services will be met by identifying the investment and reinvestment needed to reshape services. Health and local authorities, together with partner agencies are required to assess the service needs of local people and compare this with existing services. Lead agencies are either the health authority or the social services department of the local authority, though guidance emphasises the importance of liaison with other bodies.

From April 2001, Joint Investment Plans for learning disabilities and welfare to work for disabled people will be introduced. The welfare to work Joint Investment Plan is designed to maximise the independence of disabled people and improve their employment opportunities. The objective of the Joint Investment Plan for people with learning disabilities is to promote the provision of integrated services that will help adults with learning disabilities achieve and sustain maximum independence.

The basic elements of the JIP process are:

JIPs have to be set out as action plans, which include: the outcomes sought; how these will be measured; actions needed; resources (financial and "in kind"); and milestones for checking progress.

JIPs for older people and for people with mental health disabilities

The objective for the JIP for older people is to promote independence, thereby allowing older people to remain in their own homes. The JIP sets out how authorities plan to:

Health authorities lead the process for developing and reviewing the Plans.

The guidance on Joint Investment Plans for adult mental health reflects the Department of Health’s continuing priority towards adult mental health, and the desire for statutory agencies to work and plan together, with key partners, to meet local needs. The Joint Investment Plan for adult mental health is designed to facilitate greater understanding of overall local investment in adult mental health by the NHS, social care, housing and other key agencies. Health authorities lead the process for developing the Plans for Mental Health. The Department of Health guidance does not mention the role of education in meeting these objectives, though recent NIACE work such as the Impact of Learning on Health (2000) provides evidence of how important education can be in maintaining health, and the guidance talks about working with partners.

JIPs for people with learning disabilities

The objective of the JIP for learning disability services is to promote the provision of integrated services that help adults with learning disabilities achieve and sustain maximum independence in their lives. By April 2001 health and local authorities, together with their partner agencies are required to complete a Joint Investment Plan for adults with learning disabilities covering the years 2001/2002 to 2003/2004. The purpose of the preparatory period is to allow authorities and their partners the time necessary to develop relationships across agencies, to gather and share information and to reach strategic agreements about how services will be developed.

Earlier guidance on the development of health and social services for people with learning disabilities was issued in circulars in1992. These documents were supported by other commissioned reports including the Health of the Nation the Mansell and Reed reports, Planning for Life and Signposts for Success.

Department of Health guidance promotes the use of the service philosophy based upon the influential "Ordinary Life" initiative and O'Brien's "Five Accomplishments". The latter states that services should aim to promote people:- being present in the local community; developing relationships with non-disabled people; exercising choice and control over their own lives; being treated with dignity and respect and accorded full human rights; and developing skills.

Department of Health guidance also makes it clear that social services departments are the lead agency for planning and arranging services. They need to involve and work closely with service users; family carers; other local authority departments (such as housing, education and leisure); and other agencies including health, the independent sector, and employment. The Department of Health has said that early consultation on the national strategy has highlighted the following amongst key issues to help achieve this.

a. enabling people with learning disabilities to make maximum use of education, leisure and other resources available to the general public

b. increasing the number of people in supported employment

c. ensuring the effective planning and co-ordination of social, health, education and other services for individuals moving from child to adult services.

The guidance suggests that, in drawing up the learning disability JIP, local authorities and their partners will need to take into account a range of reports and government strategies including the Moser Report and the outcomes of the work from NIACE and the Learning and Skills Development Agency on basic skills for adults with learning difficulties or disabilities.

The guidance invites those producing JIPS to consider a whole range of questions including:

Education providers should have a contribution to make in all these areas.

Meeting Needs Together : JIPs for Welfare to Work for Disabled People

The objective of the JIP is to ensure that health and local authorities contribute to an effective and co-ordinated pattern of service provision to enable those disabled people of working age who want to do so, to move closer to the world of work, or take up or remain in employment.

The guidance from the Department of Health on JIPs for welfare to work for disabled people is very similar to that for people with learning disabilities. The guidance makes it clear that JIPs are jointly owned documents and the Department expects the NHS and local authorities to work closely together and with their partners to prepare (or review) and implement their Plans. Local authorities are the lead agency for the process for developing the plans. The Department of Health recognises that a JIP on welfare to work for disabled people will require the NHS and local authorities and their partners to develop new, or stronger, links with other agencies, for example, with education, employment, careers services and the Benefits Agency.

The Joint Investment Plan is intended to cover all disabled people of working age who wish to maximise their employment chances. It includes those who:

The guidance calls for links to be made between the JIP for welfare to work for disabled people and other JIPs relevant to the client group, e.g. the JIPs for adult mental health and people with learning disabilities. The Government believes that work is the best route out of poverty for disabled people, as well as for others of working age, wherever it is practical. Around 2 million disabled people already work, and one million more say they want to. The Government's strategy for helping disabled people who want to work is based around four strands:

The White Paper ‘Modernising Social Services’ set as a new national objective for social services "to ensure that people of working age who have been assessed as requiring community care services are provided with these services in ways which take account of and as far as possible maximise their and their carers' capacity to take up, remain in or return to employment." The NHS also has important responsibilities in this area, and new approaches to discharging them are being tested in some Health Action Zones.

It is acknowledged in the guidance that health, social services, education and the employment services sometimes mean different things when speaking of "disabled people". The guidance says that the needs analysis for JIPs on Welfare to Work for disabled people needs to include information about relevant activity and spending by the education, employment services and other relevant services in addition to relevant NHS and local authority spending. It also says that planned investment/reinvestment should be similarly detailed and should promote a shared understanding about the investment intent of respective agencies and how these complement each other.

In preparing the JIP, health and social services are asked to work with:

The implications of JIPs to education and training providers

If colleges, adult and community education services, training providers and voluntary organisations wish to ensure that they are represented among those who are involved in drawing up JIPs then they may need to be proactive.

JIPs have the potential to change patterns of provision and could release funds to buy services from providers. Equally if you are offering provision that the local authority social services department or health authority are funding or part funding, the new plan could result in funding being withdrawn if the people involved do not think it is necessary. Here are some steps that might be taken:

Resources for Joint Investment Plans

Department of Health circular HSC 1999/244: LAC(99)39
Sets out the programme for Joint Investment Plans (JIPs) for April 2000 and April 2001.
Web site: www.doh.gov.uk/planning/index.htm 

Improving literacy and numeracy : a fresh start
Sir Claus Moser (Chairman), DfEE, 1999. ISBN 1841850055.

The impact of learning on health
Fiona Aldridge and Peter Lavender. NIACE, 2000. ISBN 1 86201 101 X. £6.00

Basic skills for inclusive learning
NIACE and Learning and Skills Development Agency project working with a consortium of key partners to deliver a major programme of work for people with learning difficulties or disabilities.
Web site: www.ctad.co.uk/basil/ 

Department of Health publications
PO Box 777, London SE1 6XH, Fax: 01623 724 524 Email: doh@prologistics.co.uk

Web site: www.doh.gov.uk/publications 

Joint Investment Plans - Department of Health
Describes the JIP "process" and includes links to other key documents.
Web site: www.doh.gov.uk/jointunit/jip.htm 

Modernising social services
Department of Health, Stationery Office, 1998
Cm. 4169. ISBN 01041692X. £14.50
Web site: www.doh.gov.uk/scg/wpaper.htm 

____________________________________

< Back to Briefing Sheets Contents Page

Top of page