Glossary of Terms
Short explainers for frequently used terms and language.
Active Partnerships
Active Partnerships
Active Partnerships are locally based strategic organisations that recognise that activity levels are affected by a complex system of influences and no single organisation or programme create sustainable change at scale. By adopting a collaborative whole system approach, Active Partnerships seek to make active lifestyles the social norm for everyone and address the worrying levels of inactivity in society.
What do Active Partnerships do to get Disabled people involved in physical activity?
Your local Active Partnerships may have a dedicated Disability Officer whose job it is to develop better opportunities for Disabled people to get active, but all Active Partnerships should have someone working on getting more Disabled people active.
What services do Active Partnerships offer?
Each Active Partnerships has an online database of clubs, coaches and community groups providing physical activity. They also work with other sectors to make them aware of the opportunities available to individuals. For example, they may engage with adult social care staff in a local authority to make them aware of accessible opportunities for Disabled people.
How do I find my local Active Partnerships?
Visit the Your local area section of our website for information about how to find activities local to you.
Leisure Trusts
What is a Leisure Trust?
Leisure Trusts run sport, leisure and cultural facilities in partnership with local authorities, which provide the trusts with grant assistance. And while some run cultural facilities such as libraries, museums and theatres, the majority operate sports and leisure facilities. Leisure Trusts are usually social enterprises, often set up as charities and tend to be led by the needs of the local community.
National Governing Bodies of Sport
National Bodies of Sport (NGBs) are bodies which have responsibility for managing their specific sport. There are many different bodies representing many different sports and work locally with Active Partnerships to deliver their sessions to local communities. Sometimes NGBs may even work with local Disabled People’s User Led Organisations (DPULOs) to deliver sessions accessible to Disabled people.
Sport England holds a list of the recognised sports in the UK. You can do a club search on some NGB websites so it might be worth looking up the sport you are interested in and seeing what is available locally.
Disabled People's User Led Organisation
What is a Disabled People’s User Led Organisation?
A DPULO is an organisation run by Disabled people for Disabled people and primarily exists to provide peer support, challenge perceptions around disability and a collective voice. DPULOs can be different shapes and sizes, exist for a particular impairment group and work locally and nationally. They can be a large organisation providing a number of services or can be a small informal community based group. Disability Rights UK (DR UK), the lead partner for the Get Yourself Active project is a DPULO.
How do I find out who my closest DPULO is?
You can contact the Disability Rights UK General Enquiries office number or email address. These regional and local services may be able to offer you different types of support and advice, including support with personal budgets and support with direct payments.
Will they be able to help me or the person I support find opportunities for physical activity?
It very much depends on the services offered by your local DPULO and who they have partnerships with. You can find out if they can help by phoning or emailing to find out if they can signpost you to opportunities for physical activity.
If you live in one of our partner areas, you can contact our partners who are there to support Disabled people to find out what is available. You can also find out how the delivery partners have worked with the sport, health and social care sectors to develop better opportunities for Disabled people by going to Our Stories.
Personal Budgets
What are personal budgets?
One of the big changes in both health and social care has been a focus on ‘personalisation’ which puts you at the centre of the process identifying your needs and making choices about how you are supported. Self-directed support is a key part of personalisation. It increases your opportunity to choose the social care and health support that works best for you. Often this happens through a personal budget and direct payments – so you can decide on and buy the most appropriate support for you to meet your outcomes.
A personal budget for social care sets out the amount of money allocated to cover the costs of your social care and support needs. This amount is based on a support plan agreed between you and your local authority.
We believe that you should be able to use your personal budget in whatever way you wish if you can demonstrate it meets your outcomes. Physical activity is a very important part of many people’s lives and meets a number of outcomes including increased fitness, increased confidence, connections with the community and more importantly having fun and being happy. Some examples of using your personal budget for physical activity can be:
- Paying a physical activity or sports provider for sessions using direct payments
- Asking your Personal Assistant to support you to travel to and/or throughout physical activity or sports sessions
- Making sure that physical activity and sport is written into your support plan if it meets your outcomes, even if the funds from the personal budget cannot cover the session
For more information about personal budgets and self-directed support processes, take a look at these Disability Rights UK factsheets;
- Assessment, eligibility and support planning
- Assessment of carers under the Care Act
- Being in control: Getting Personal Assistants (PAs)
- Complaining about local authority decisions
- Independent Living
- Personal budgets: the right to social care support
- Pooling Personal Budgets
You can also visit Our Stories pages to find out how other have used their personal budgets for physical activity.
Personal Health Budgets
What are personal health budgets?
Personal health budgets are an amount of money to support your identified health and wellbeing needs, planned and agreed between you and your local National Health Service team. The aim is to give people with long-term conditions and disabilities greater choice and control over the healthcare and support they receive.
Personal health budgets are based on the same concept of personal budgets, it’s about the individual having a say in how their outcomes are met. Developments in personal health budgets are relatively new in comparison to personal budgets, so approaches across NHS teams and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) can vary.
Personal health budgets can be an excellent way to meet your physical and mental health outcomes including being active. You can find out more about personal health budgets by going to the Disability Rights UK factsheet.
Personalisation: Personal Health Budgets
To see how others are using their personal health budgets, you can visit People Hub, an organisation set up and run by users of personal health budgets. You can also visit the NHS England website for more information and stories about people using personal health budgets.
The Local Offer
What is the children and families Local Offer?
The Local Offer gives children and young people with special educational needs or disabilities and their families information about what support services the local authority think will be available in their local area. Every local authority is responsible for writing a Local Offer and making sure it is available for everyone to see.
Find out about the Local Offer at gov.uk
Visit SENDirect for information on services and activities available to Disabled children and their families.
