Personalised budgets

Personalised budgets involve users being allocated a budget to be used for ongoing care needs. They are based on the idea that individuals will be able to develop their own packages of relevant support, often involving things like paying a friend to take them out which would not be a part of a standard council service. The term covers self-directed support where the budget is held and spent by the individual user, and personal budgets which councils administer according to the individual’s wishes. One of the best examples is In Control, a UK based charity which helps local authorities establish systems that give users this type of financial autonomy over their own care. Currently 70,000 people in the UK receive direct payments, and another 14,000 have personal budgets. 80% of public care authorities are now members of In Control (see also method 352).