Website of the Department of Health

What is an Individual Budget?

The idea behind individual budgets is to enable people needing social care and associated services to design that support and to give them the power to decide the nature of the services they need.  Key features are:

• A transparent allocation of resources, giving individuals a clear cash or notional sum for them to use on their care or support package
• A streamlined assessment process across agencies, meaning less time spent giving information
• Bringing together a variety of streams of support and/or funding, from more than one agency.
• Giving individuals the ability to use the budget in a way that best suits their own particular requirements
• Support from a broker or advocate, family or friends, as the individual desires.
  

DH, DCLG (formerly ODPM) and DWP have worked together to develop a starting model for individual budgets which will include some of the following income streams:

• Council-provided social care services
• Independent Living Fund
• Supporting People
• Disabled Facilities Grant
• Integrated Community Equipment Services
• Access To Work
  

13 local authorities are piloting Individual Budgets in order to develop an evidence base for potential national roll out. In particular, the project evaluation will explore whether and, if so, how individual budgets can improve outcomes for people and expand choice and control within existing resources. The piloting process will last for 2 years, with results expected in April 2008. Some people in all 13 of the pilot sites are now experiencing the use of Individual Budgets.

Of course until the evaluation is completed, decisions on the precise way forward cannot be taken. The government is clear, however, that expansion of choice and control is the direction of travel. Whatever the outcome of this evaluation, the participating pilot sites will benefit greatly from their involvement. Their exploration of system and practice developments will provide valuable experience that will be advantageous to them in the future. Very importantly, the piloting process will help to identify both real and imagined barriers to the successful implementation of the individual budgets concept.

The commitment to personalisation and the extension of choice and control is reflected in the commitment in the Our Health, Our Care, Our Say White Paper to establish a  national network to support these developments. This is currently being established by the Care Services Improvement Partnership. Many local authorities and their partners are already exploring similar approaches alongside people who use services and supports. This network will gather and share positive approaches to personalising support and driving the further expansion of choice and control, including learning from both the individual budget pilots and the In Control programme.