Summary of Progress 2022 to 2023
The Charter for Involvement was developed by the National Involvement Network, supported by ARC Scotland. The Charter establishes how disabled people who use support services want to be involved and to have a say about the services they receive, the organisations that provide their services and their wider communities.
ILF Scotland signed up to the Charter for Involvement in 2018. We spent a considerable time over several meetings with the Advisory and Stakeholder Groups to tailor the Charter Statements so that they were meaningful to our recipients. We co-produced the Charter and Action Plan and published this in April 2021.
This report provides an update to the Board on the progress made during 2022 and 2023. We will update the Action Plan following the Board meeting.
The focus of work to progress the Charter Actions during 2022 to 2023 has been in the three key areas of SDS, Communication and Engagement and Corporate Governance.
Group members have been involved in discussions around improving information, communication, and processes at all stages of reviews. Specifically, exploring ways of ensuring that recipient choice and control continues to be central to review discussions and outcomes. Members have provided feedback on the role of the Award Manager and gaps in advice for example, employer commitment, PA recruitment and advocacy. They have provided suggestions for further staff training on specific areas integral to independent living.
Group members attended staff training, development days and engagement events and Assessors attended / were involved in group meetings. Members were fully consulted in the review and publication of external communications e.g., the new website, revised policies, newsletters and other letters to recipients with a focus on both content and accessibility. They contributed to our review of our complaints procedure and were jointly involved in all external consultations that ILF Scotland responded to in 2023 and 2024. Members will be involved in the co-design of the revised Customer Feedback Strategy and in PR / Marketing campaigns by sharing their stories and raising the profile of disabled people and promoting independent living.
Facilitated greater involvement of Stakeholder and Advisory Group members through attendance of both Chairs at a Board meeting in 2022. Board members are invited to attend any of the scheduled Group meetings. Key information / decisions from Board meetings and Senior Management Team meetings are shared at Group meetings and key issues from these meetings are discussed as a standard agenda item at Senior Management Team (SMT) meetings.
We have made significant progress against the Action Plan during 2022 to 2023. However, this improvement work is ongoing and will continue throughout 2023 and 2024. The Charter has offered us a valuable opportunity to bring recipients, via the Advisory and Stakeholder Groups, closer together and has facilitated greater collaboration in service improvement and involvement in the organisation’s strategy, planning and delivery of services.
