Birmingham City Council is supporting the development of ULOs by working in partnership with Birmingham Voluntary Service Council and other local projects.
As part of the process of setting up ULOs, the council is looking at organisations that have the capacity to deliver a support brokerage service. Brokers help people with individual budgets develop their own support plans, and negotiate the best deals when purchasing support. The approach and methodology for procuring a brokerage service via a ULO is currently under consideration.
The council expects to have identified potential organisations by February 2010, and will seek expressions of interest to deliver services. The procurement process should be completed by April 2010 and arrangements in place to begin delivery of the brokerage service which will be extended city wide following a six month pilot scheme.
The council will explore how ULOs can further benefit service users by setting up two working groups – one with broad based representation, the other with governance responsibilities. They will advise on the potential for ULOs to deliver initiatives as part of the personalisation agenda.
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