Self-Directed Support: How Does the RAS Work?
Version 3.0 2016
PLEASE NOTE: THE PERSONAL BUDGET PROCESS IS BEING
REVIEWED. THIS INFORMATION IS CURRENT AS AT 28/06/2016 AND
WILL BE UPDATED.
How does the RAS work?
This guide tells you how the RAS works. It explains the calculations used to work out the
Planning Amount and the Carer Support Allocation.
This information might be useful to you when you complete the Support Needs
Questionnaire, as it will help you understand where the amounts come from. It might
also be useful for the people you work with, but be careful not to confuse people and
only discuss it with them if you feel confident yourself in what you’re saying.
2.1 What is the RAS?
The Resource Allocation System (RAS) underpins the whole Self Directed Support
process. It’s the method by which we are able to determine the Indicative Amount, the
Carer Support Allocation and the final Personal Budget.
It isn’t a single ‘thing’ that you can point at and say “that’s the RAS”. It is not:
 A computer programme; although computer-based RAS do exist, ours isn’t one of
them
 A person; there’s no-one in the Civic Centre making all the decisions about
allocations
 A complex spreadsheet formula or algorithm; there is some arithmetic involved,
but it’s pretty straightforward.
The RAS is made up of:
 The Support Needs Questionnaire; which you and the person you’re working with
use to identify the level of need and the amount of informal support the person
has
 A set of ‘prices’ which are used to calculate the Planning Amount;
 A set of allocations which are used to calculate the Carer Support Allocation;
 The Support Plan;
 The Moderation process.
So in some ways the RAS isn’t one single thing. It’s everything.
We developed the RAS over a long period of time and many social work staff were
involved in this process. We developed our Support Needs Questionnaire based on
national guidance and practice. We further refined this based on an initial soft launch
with the Older People Teams in the West of the City. Using this refined version of the
SNQ, we used information on 250 people who already receive services to complete
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SNQs as part of a Desktop Exercise. The results of this were analysed and compared
with the budget available for Social Care in order to come up with the allocation for
Personal Budgets and Carer Support.
So how does the RAS actually calculate the amounts of money allocated? This guide
tells you what calculations are done at each step in the process. It doesn’t cover the
Support Plan and Moderation process, because these are covered in detail in other
guidance.
The Planning Amount
The basic calculation for the Planning Amount is:
SNQ score on each domain
- % reduction to reflect need that x
is met by informal carers on
each domain
price per
point
The first step is to work out the SNQ score on each domain.
The maximum score on the Support Needs Questionnaire is 100 points. These 100
points are distributed between the four domains. It isn’t an even split of 25 points per
domain. The distribution reflects the priority or relative costs of meeting different types of
need.
Within each domain, each level of need attracts a certain proportion of the points –
ranging from no points for “no support need” to all of the points for the highest level of
support needs.
The points on the SNQ are distributed like this:
Personal Care
A
B
C
D
0
11
25
35
Being part of
your community
A
0
B
10
C
14
D
20
E
14
F
20
Staying Safe
A
B
C
D
0
4
14
20
Dealing with risky
behaviour
A
0
B
5
C
17
D
25
Here’s an example of how a person might score on the SNQ:
Domain
Personal Care
Being part of your
community
Staying Safe
Risky Behaviour
Total
Level of need
D
C
Points
35
14
D
B
20
5
74
This person’s total level of need is represented by 74 points. Because this doesn’t take
in to account any informal support, this is a ‘gross’ score.
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However, it is our responsibility to satisfy unmet support needs. Unmet need is that
proportion of a person’s total support needs which informal carers are either unable or
unwilling to provide.
We work out the level of unmet need by reducing the total level of need based on the
amount of informal support the person will receive ‘from now on’, as identified in the
Support Needs Questionnaire. This is sometimes called an informal support deflator.
Each of the levels of informal support (None, Some, Most and All) represents a
percentage reduction. So that if a person has a level of informal support on a domain,
the score on that domain is reduced by a corresponding percentage. This reduced score
represents the person’s unmet support needs, and is sometimes referred to as the net
score. The percentages are:
Level of informal support
from now on
None
Some
Most
All
Percentage reduction
Remaining percentage
0%
40%
60%
80%
100%
60%
40%
20%
In the example above, the person has informal support so the net level of need is
worked out like this:
Domain
Gross level
of need
(points)
%
reduction
Number
of points
reduced
Level of
unmet need
(Points)
35
14
Informal
Support
From Now
on
None
Most
Personal Care
Being part of
your
community
Staying Safe
Risky
Behaviour
Total
None
60
0
8.4
35
5.6
20
5
All
Some
80
40
16
2
4
3
26.4
47.6
74
So the level of unmet need is represented by 47.6 points. This is the score we use to
calculate the Planning Amount. Because this takes in to account the level of informal
support provided, this is a ‘net’ score.
In preparing for the roll out, we assigned an amount of money to 1 point on the Support
Needs Questionnaire. This is called the price per point and there is one for each
domain. These are:
Group
Personal Care
Being part of your
community
Staying Safe
Risky Behaviour
Price per point
£161.68
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£98.50
£125.84
£139.19
3
The annual Planning Amount is calculated by multiplying the net score (level of unmet
need) by the price per point. So in our example, the Planning Amount would be:
Indicative Amount
Annual
Weekly
£7131.33
£137.14
Carer Support Allocation
The Carer Support Allocation is calculated using the same information from the Support
Needs Questionnaire, but it does a different calculation.
The Carer Support Allocation is based on the total level of need the person has and the
amount of informal support being provided on each domain. So a carer providing large
amounts of support to someone with high levels of need will get a higher Carer Support
Allocation than someone providing some support to someone with a low level of need.
An annual amount is allocated for each domain and added together. Not every
combination of need and informal support leads to an allocation. Carer Support
Allocation is allocated like this:
Domain 1 – Personal care
Need
Score None
D
C
B
A
Level of Informal Support Provided
Some
Most
All
400
525
400
Domain 2 – Community access
Need
Score None
D
C
B
A
Level of Informal Support Provided
Some
Most
All
400
525
400
Domain 3 – Looking after yourself and staying safe
Need
Score None
D
C
B
A
Level of Informal Support Provided
Some
Most
All
400
525
400
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Domain 4 – Dealing with risky behaviour
Need
Score None
D
C
B
A
Level of Informal Support Provided
Some
Most
All
400
525
400
So in our example, the Carer Support Allocation would be:
Domain
Level of Need
Informal Support
Personal Care
Community
Staying Safe
Risky Behaviour
Total
D
D
D
B
None
Most
All
Some
Carer support
Allocation
£0.00
£400.00
£525.00
£0.00
£525.00
In this example, the total Carer Support Allocation for the year would be £925.00
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