In Control announces
shop4support’s new,
more cost-efficient
service for local
authorities
In Control is proud to be at the heart of
personalisation. Our shop4support website
is integral to our efforts. But what does
shop4support do that’s different to other
systems? And is it true that it’s expensive?
A number of factors have led to an increased
level of interest in social care online
marketplaces, customer access portals and
systems solutions:
✱✱ 2010 is the last year of the Social Care Reform
Grant and funds must be spent
✱✱ the announcement of an additional £30m of
Government funding for local authorities to
invest in systems
✱✱ local authorities are under pressure to hit the
approaching targets in the Department of
Health’s (DH) five personalisation milestones
– not to mention the increasing pace of
personalisation
IN CONTROL ANNOUNCES New shop4support Citizen Portal for Local Authorities 
This month shop4support has a brand new
look which is based on feedback from users.
We’ve also taken on board feedback from
the overall market and, in response to this
information and the DH milestones, we’ve
refined shop4support’s pricing structure and
developed the shop4support ‘Citizen Portal’
for local authorities. shop4support:
✱✱ is now simple to understand, with all costs
structured in one place
✱✱ is available at a much lower cost
✱✱ enables local authorities to achieve their
DH milestones and follow recent ADASS
guidance on managed budgets.
In an expanding market, we believe that
shop4support – with its unique functions and
new more cost-efficient pricing structure – is
the way forward.
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shop4support’s Citizen Portal – the pricing structure and product
you wanted
The Citizen Portal is a hub that enables
citizens (and their supporters) to have true
choice and control by being able to access
the market and get the most out of their
Personal Budget. The foundation stone of
the Portal is a basic resource directory, which
gives citizens details of services available in
their local area.
Service: Core Aspects
Providing citizens with:
✱✱ local online eMarketplace
✱✱ My Account – Budget
Manager
✱✱ My Life – Building Social
Capital
shop4support citizen
Engage with shop4support at your own pace
We recognise that each local authority has
different needs and that each will want to
engage with shop4support at its own pace.
So we’ve developed three different, flexible
packages which act as a framework for the
creation of the Citizen Portal.
This means that:
✱✱ there are substantially lower setup and
operating costs than previously
✱✱ there are no ongoing costs for providers
✱✱ the entry level for a local authority is only in
the region of £45,000 – for a package that has
significantly more functionality and usability
than that of other portals and resource
directories.
IN CONTROL ANNOUNCES New shop4support Citizen Portal for Local Authorities 
However, unlike other systems, the Citizen
Portal builds on this resource by providing a
fully functioning online Marketplace. Here,
citizens can find rich and detailed content and
are able to make more informed decisions
about the services available to them.
The Citizen Portal has three core aspects:
Benefits to Citizens
✱✱ a solution that can be tailor-
made to the needs of individuals
within a specific locality
✱✱ choice and control for all
individuals
✱✱ stimulates social interaction
✱✱ free to individuals
The numerous additional benefits include:
✱✱ rapid delivery – typically, the Citizen Portal
will be fully live on the internet just three
months from the start of the project
✱✱ provider engagement – the Citizen Portal
solution offers a no risk / no cost route for
a local authority’s nominated providers to
begin to enter the world of eCommerce
(online selling of their services and products)
✱✱ sustainability – the basic Citizen Portal will
be sustainable on a standalone basis if a local
authority doesn’t want to integrate it with
their existing software solutions or use the
additional functionality within shop4support.
If they do want to use these functions, the
Citizen Portal is a (fully-costed) platform
which they can expand on.
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shop4support’s Citizen Portal – hitting the Department of Health
Personalisation Milestones
A key driver behind the creation of the Citizen ✱✱ existing systems in a typical local authority
Portal has been the DH milestones. The table ✱✱ a basic online resource directory or portal
below compares how the following different ✱✱ the three different levels of the shop4support
personalisation solutions can contribute to Citizen Portal.
the achievement of these milestones:

How far do different personalisation solutions achieve the DH personalisation milestones?

shop4support Citizen Portal

Department of Existing Resource
1 2 3
Health Milestone systems directory
1 – Effective partnerships û û ü ü ü
2 – SDS & Personal Budgets û ü üü üüü üüüüü
3 – Prevention & cost-eff’cy ü ü ü üü üü
4 – Information & advice û ü üüü üüüüü üüüüü
5 – Local commissioning û ü üüü üüüüü üüüüü
Note: One tick signifies a basic contribution to achieving the milestone. Five ticks signifies a substantial contribution.

How does the Citizen Portal compare with other solutions?

A recent publication by ADASS / DH London
Region used the five personalisation
milestones as a template for identifying
‘What Good Looks Like in London’. It
identified Harrow Council’s shop4support
portal and the partnership between Harrow
and shop4support as an example of best
practice across a number of these milestones.
the sector rather than setting something up
just to ‘tick the boxes’. Paying for a solution
that is the equivalent of cutting out the care
agency section from the local yellow pages
and posting it online is a wasted opportunity,
especially given the golden opportunity that
is available through the DH’s additional £30m
grant for investment in systems.

Nevertheless, at In Control we think it’s shop4support is recognised as being both

more important to create a solution that innovative and unique. But what does it do in
actually makes things better for everyone in comparison with other systems?

IN CONTROL ANNOUNCES New shop4support Citizen Portal for Local Authorities  3 of 5

 System Comparison
Other solutions
The majority of items listed
are traditional care homes
and care agencies.
The majority of the listings
are simply copied / pasted
from the CQC website.
Citizens can only search via
category.
There is no vendor rating.
There is no area dedicated
to building social capital.
There is no menu of
services.
There is no ability to see
prices.
There is no ability to buy
services.
There is no way to manage
your budget.
No spend information
provided to LAs for
market management and
commissioning purposes.
No national linkage (i.e. it is
‘just’ for localised areas).
Everything you look at
pushes you towards a third
party / external website.
IN CONTROL ANNOUNCES New shop4support Citizen Portal for Local Authorities 
shop4support’s Citizen Portal
A greater variety of items are listed, enabling citizens to access more
traditional services plus services and activities that are not solely social
care-related. These new opportunities help citizens enrich their lifestyles
and engage in a wider community rather than simply doing what they
have always done.
Listings are sourced by the local authority in partnership with
shop4support. This approach builds social capital and stronger links
between local community services and citizens, while the local authority
retains some control over services listed.
Citizens can search via category, provider and keyword, making products
and services much easier to find.
Citizens are able to rate services. Ratings are shown online, giving other
citizens useful feedback when they come to make their own choices.
shop4support’s My Life section is an online area dedicated to building
social capital and offering help and advice (with safeguards built in). Local
authorities can have their own bespoke forums.
Just a name and address is useless. shop4support features well-defined
catalogues (or menus) of services.
Prices of products and services are clearly displayed.
Citizens can buy products and services via the shop4support website.
Level 2 of the Citizen Portal enables individuals to use shop4support to
manage their cash budget online (to see transactions, pay bills, reconcile
to bank statements, print Personal Budget statements).
Level 3 of the Citizen Portal enables individuals to view their managed
budget as well as managing the cash budget element, directly addressing
the requirements of ‘mixed’ or ‘dual’ budgets.
Both Level 2 and 3 will enable all transactional information to be stored
and reproduced wherever and for whomever required (i.e. audit, reporting
and interfaces with case management systems).
A rich suite of reports for the local authority including, for example, spend
and search trends.
shop4support is a national website with localised areas, giving citizens
more choice in terms of products and price, local or national.
All content is contained within shop4support, ensuring quality of content
and allowing local authorities, citizens and providers control and easy
browsing and shopping.
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Together we can make
personalisation happen!
Julie Stansfield, In Control

Join with us! Why wait?

In Control is not Harrow has led the way and has a successful
alone in thinking shop4support site. Authoritative reports
that shop4support approve of shop4support. So why wait?
is the outstanding Contact us for more information today.
online marketplace.
‘Putting People first in
London – What Good Contacts
Looks Like’ (the recent
report by London Email
ADASS and London
info@shop4support.com
Joint Improvement
Partnership) admin@in-control.org.uk
highlighted
david.bowes@valueworks.co.uk
shop4support’s partnership with Harrow
as an example of best practice in London’s
Transformation Programme for Social Care. Telephone
shop4support: 01942 614 088
shop4support was also featured
in the recent Government White
Building the National Care Service

In Control support centre: 0156 482 1650

Paper, ‘Building a National
Care Service’. It described Fax
shop4support’s work with shop4support: 01942 237 968
Harrow (supported by the
Department of Health) as ‘a unique shopping In Control: 0156 482 4260
experience’.
WEB
To view Harrow Council’s shop4support pages
www.in-control.org.uk/shop4support
visit www.shop4support.com/harrow.

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