Abstract
This paper examines a selection of emerging lessons on the design and implementation of personal budget schemes from some of the international literature. It is not a report of an exhaustive systematic review covering all related issues (such as social care market development), but gives some key lessons for promoting personal budget uptake from recent research on user and carer responses, staff training and development, risk and safeguarding, and cost-effectiveness implications. The paper also compares some features of different approaches in other countries and offers a brief exploration of the policy contexts. In the UK, while personal budgets aim at giving individuals more choice and control over their care and support, and promote independent living, they need to be seen as part of the wider adult social care transformation agenda and are just one part of the picture. The provision of personal budgets needs to be consistent with the principles and values of personalisation — personal budgets should maximise choice and control for people using services, their carers, and families wherever possible. International research shows that, to achieve this, independent advice and support services (such as user-led organisations), and confident, well-informed and trained staff, capable of relationship-based working, are vital.
Acknowledgment
With many thanks to Hannah Cooper, Publications Officer, Social Care Institute for Excellence, for her help.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Sarah Carr
Sarah Carr FRSA is a Senior Research Analyst at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). She is the author of Personalisation: A Rough Guide (SCIE, 2008/2010) and is currently an Honorary Fellow, Faculty of Health, Staffordshire University, an Executive Committee member of the Social Perspectives Network (SPN), and a Board Member of the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi). She is a long-term user of mental health services and has written widely on the subject.