As we now focus on the imminent consultation process which is enjoying such coverage in the Barnet Press, I feel it is timely for me to restate Your Choice Barnet’s aims.
The main reason Your Choice Barnet (YCB) was created by Barnet Council was to ensure that our customers could continue to purchase our services using their personal budget allowances. This is particularly important for those customers who choose to hold their budgets as direct payments, as people cannot purchase the in-house services of any council by direct payment.
The personalisation of adult social care means that customers will be buying our services using direct payments. Quite simply, if we are not competitive in the market we will lose customers and ultimately no longer be financially viable.
As we are a limited company we will have the flexibility to grow and promote our services, both to customers and to other local authorities. This will increase our ability to remain strong and financially viable, and continue to deliver high quality services and real choices to our customers, at value-for-money prices.
To have remained a council department would have had a detrimental affect on many of our customers, by taking away their choice and control which underlies the government’s personalisation agenda.
Yours sincerely
Tracey Lees
Chief Executive, The Barnet Group