Personal Assistance Budget

Acronym of the case:

PAB

Web address of the case:

http://www.corve.be

Country of the case:

Belgium

City/region:

Flanders Region - Belgian Federal

Posting Date:

20 March 2009

Last Edited Date:

14 April 2009

Author:

De Vrieze Bruno (CORVE - CoÃ¶rdinatiecel Vlaams E-Government - eGovernment Coordination Cell)

handicap | Tools for handicapped people | social-security

Type of initiative

Project or service

Case Abstract

The Personal Assistance Budget is a budget granted by the Flemish Agency for Disabled Persons or VAPH (http://www.vaph).

The VAPH aims to promote participation, integration and equal opportunities for the disabled in all areas of social life. ItsÂ ultimate goal is to help these people lead a better and more independent life. This by subsidising facilities and services toÂ people with disabilities:

Equipment and modifications: To better organise his or her daily life a disabled person is entitled to an allocation in orderÂ to cover the cost of a piece of equipment or modification to his or her home or car.

Services and facilities: The VAPH subsidises services and facilities which provide care for disabled persons through day care or guidance.

Personal assistance budget: Disabled persons who prefer to live at home can apply for a personal assistance budget. This budget can enable them to employ a home-helper.

When a disabled person is assigned a budget to employ a home-helper, he becomes an employer. Thus, he has to follow all rules of being an employer, like paying social security , getting an insurance etc.Â Moreover, he also hasÂ the legal duty to prove that a minimum of 95% of the assigned budget is used for the wage of the employee or the home-helper. He also has to declare the name and profile of the employee. In brief, the disabled person has to submit the same information to variousÂ institutions. The aim of the PAB project is to forwardÂ all the information that the disabled person has already submitted to another institution to the VAPH so there's no longer the need to submit the same information twice.

Description of the case

Domain

eGovernment

Topic

Sector

Healthcare | Social Security | Social Services

Start date - End date

June 2008 (Ongoing)

Date operational

October 2009

Target Users

Citizen

Target Users Description

At the end of 2008 there were more than 2 000 persons making use of this budget. Each year the group grows byÂ 250 to 300 persons.Â More than 5 000Â requests are still in review. There are also various non-profit organisations who help the disabled persons with their administration. This project will give them the ability to focus on the person.

Scope

National | Regional (sub-national)

Status

Implementation

Language(s)

Dutch

Policy Context and Legal Framework

Project Size and Implementation

Type of initiative

Inclusive services of general interest

Overall Implementation approach

Public administration

Technology choice

Not applicable/not available

Funding source

Public funding regional

Project size

Implementation: €49-299,000

Yearly cost:

€1-49,000

Implementation and Management Approach

The project is a close co-operation between the Coordination Cell E-government and its MAGDA-Platform, the Flemish Agency for Disabled Persons, the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Social Security and the National Social Security Office.

The aimÂ is that when the disabled personÂ has beenÂ assigned a budget and has the ability toÂ employ someone, he will be ableÂ to log on to a secure site where he gives the informationÂ regarding the person he (will) employ(s). From that moment on, by using services foreseen by the CBSS and the NSSO, transportedÂ through the MAGDA-platform, the VAPH will have the ability to regularly follow-up on the amounts spent on employment.

Impact, innovation and results

Economic effects

€15-49,000

Impact

The project has, next to the direct benefit to the disabled person, several other benefits. We've already mentioned that there were more than 5 000 requests pending. Before the project, the employees of VAPH had to enter the data from the forms sent by the disabled person manually, with all risks for possible errors. By transmitting the data application-to-application this risk is highly reduced. The employees of VAPH will have much more time to perform the follow-up on the pending files.

Whilst following the guidelines of the Flemish service for administrative simplification who set normesÂ for calculating the benefits for both administrations and citizen, it has beenÂ that the benefits for the administration will be 2 FTE's a year. The biggest impact though is the one forÂ the citizen ofÂ approx. 1,92 million euro per year. If the VAPH reaches 5 000 persons, this could add up to approximately 5 million euros per year!

Track record of sharing

This project has been chosen as a VIP-project for the flemish region.

Lessons learnt

Given the fact that the project is still ongoing there are still lessons to be learnt.

Nevertheless here is whatÂ has beenÂ learnt up to now:

Lesson 1:Â Actors must tryÂ to use the authentic data-source, as it isÂ the only legitimate reality. This way there isn't the minor kind of doubt.
Lesson 2: Actors must also make sure that available ICT components and information are re-used to a maximum. Also use already existing networks, means of electronic identification, authentication and authorisation, interoperability frameworks and their accompanying basic services, portal environments, and the electronic information that is accessible from validated databases inside and outside of government.
Lesson 3: With different partners along the road,Â one must makeÂ sure that clear agreements on budget, target, milestones etc. are made. This way the trust between the parties remains throughout the whole project.

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