Melanie Henwood

Individual Budgets and Personalisation: A New Model for Integration?

The adult social care system will increasingly be characterised by ‘personalisation’. Maximising choice, control and power over the support services that people access is to be achieved principally by development of personal budgets. Already there are signs that the Government wants to extend the model from adult social care and to apply it to other areas of public service. The most obvious areas where the model could be transferred are health services (particularly in respect of long‐term conditions), and support for disabled children and their families. This article draws on findings from an in‐depth study on self‐directed support commissioned by the Department of Health. It highlights some of the challenges and opportunities which arise for authorities attempting to engage with personalisation and to develop more integrated responses to peoples support needs. It is clear that the ‘Total Transformation’ to which many aspire will not be achieved overnight, but equally this is an area of policy change which cannot simply be left to the enthusiasts.

Keeping it Personal: Supporting People with Complex and Multiple Needs

As the social care system ‐ and potentially the health care system and other public services ‐ move increasingly towards a model of personalised support, questions arise about whether and how it can work for people with multiple and complex needs. The evidence is that it is possible to achieve this, and that the outcomes and quality of life can be dramatically improved, but many councils and their partners have yet to move into this demanding activity, and face considerable obstacles in the form of conventional approaches to policy and practice if and when they do. This article draws on the findings of a special study undertaken for the Commission for Social Care Inspection. Alongside some of the difficulties of personalising support for people with multiple and complex needs are inspirational stories of innovative developments which have transformed the lives of people and their carers.

The Independent Living Funds — What does the Future Hold?

At a time when there is much debate about the nature of self‐directed support and the development of individual budgets, the role of the Independent Living Funds comes into question. This article reports on the findings of an independent review of the ILF undertaken for the Department for Work and Pensions. It is argued that, while in many ways ahead of its time at its creation in 1988, the ILF is no longer at the leading edge of policy and practice in supporting independent living such as have been promoted under the auspices of In Control.There is much that can be done to improve the operation of the ILF and the experience which people have of using it, and the report made multiple recommendations for change. However, in the longer term the case is made that the ILF should not have an ongoing and separate existence, and there is a presumption of full incorporation within individualised budgets.