The future of Personal Budgets

Personal budgets have been finding their way into the press again lately as it is announced that Councils in England have been given new targets to give all eligible social care users a personal budget by 2013.

The Guardian (www.guardian.co.uk) reported that between half and three-quarters of budget-holders report a positive impact on most aspects of their daily lives and fewer than one in 10 finds any negative effects. It is also clear that 60% of carers thought their general quality of life had improved.

The number of people receiving Personal Budgets doubled to 338,000 in the year to 31 March, according to a survey by the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), and in 27 councils the practice extends to more than 50% of all users of services.

So what next for Personalisation? This feedback is encouraging but Rob Greenland from Social Business Brokers, says: “People are starting to publicly acknowledge that we are struggling to make personalisation work. I really think we need more openness about this. But it doesn’t come naturally to local authorities to admit that they don’t have the answers.”

He thinks the key is to bring more people and organisations from outside the social care system into the process. Social workers, he says, are under immense pressure and are accustomed to offering only what the system can offer. “It’s hardly surprising that the majority of people going through this process appear to be ending up with pretty much what they had before.”

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