UNIC

The UNIC (towards User-centred funding models for long term Care) project aims to develop, test and validate a set of innovative tools to help key stakeholders to implement Personal Budgets funding model. These tools, together with a set of policy recommendations & capacity building activities, will result in a comprehensive preparatory reform mechanism to support public authorities in the deployment of a user-centred funding model – based on the concept of personal budgets – for Long Term Care. Tools developed by UNIC will be tested for 12 months in Belgium by VAPH and will then be transferred to the Austrian, Czech, Finnish and Spanish contexts.

Objectives

UNIC will support the transition to user-centred funding models in Long-Term Care by developing innovative instruments to support the take-up and scale-up of personal budgets and by achieving the following six objectives:

To map existing LTC funding models (with a particular focus on personal budgets) across the EU and identify drivers/barriers for the development of personal budgets in LTC
To develop challenges-responsive guidelines for the design, implementation and evaluation of a user-centred funding model for LTC focused on personal budgets. The guidelines will cover the LTC challenges identified in the call:
1. Access and affordability: financing, provision and personal income
2. Sustainability: cost, investment and impact of informal care
3. Employment: workforce professionalisation, skills development, recruitment & retention
4. Quality: high quality care, integration of services, quality standards
To develop a set of innovative tools to support the design, implementation and evaluation of personal budgets
To build the capacity of key actors involved and set up multi-level partnerships to support the design, implementation and evaluation of personal budgets, with a particular focus on the better integration of LTC with other community-based services
To develop a planning, evaluation and validation model to test the impact of an innovative funding model – personal budgets- for LTC (outcomes-based measurement)
To design a transferability model with a view to potential upscaling using EU funds & financial instruments (particularly ESIF & EFSI)

Deliverables

Framework Setting:
- Models of Good Practices report on Personal Budgets
- Challenges-responsive guidelines Roadmap
UNIC Toolbox:
- Quality Monitoring Tool
- Service Delivery Tool
- Compliance Assurance Tool
Piloting and Evaluation
- Pilot of the UNIC toolbox in Belgium
Scaling up
- Transferability Guidelines
- Transferability Workshops in ES, CZ, FI and AT
- UNIC Transferability Study
Dissemination
- National and European Conferences