Personal budget policy wins praise from service users

A big survey of a controversial social care policy has shown more than 80% of its users say it has improved the quality of their lives.

The poll of people who receive cash direct into their hands so they can decide how best to use it for their own home help and social care, instead of their local council organising it, revealed strong support for the idea of so-called, personal budgets.

The scheme for social care users was introduced by the last Labour government but they are also now being rolled out in the NHS by the coalition government, with people with continuing ill health now also having the right to have a personal health budget.

The aim is to give people control over their support rather than their local council or NHS deciding what is best.

Critics say personal budgets is a way for government to save money and hand over responsibility to users rather than the state.

The survey of 4,000 people in England by the charity In Control and Lancaster University, looked at whether personal budgets were making a difference.

More than 80% of people surveyed said that a personal budget had made things better or a lot better when it came to dignity in the support they received and their quality of life.

And at least two thirds, 66%, also said their personal budget had made things better or a lot better when it came to their independence and control over their life, arranging their care, mental health, relationships with family and people paid to support them, friendships and self-esteem.

Carers paid to look after people with personal budgets also praised the scheme, with 71% saying a personal budget rather than council arranged social care had improved quality of life for them and the person they cared for.

Around 370,000 people receive social care in England, for help with disability, illness or frailty in old age, ranging from meals on wheels, to daily support for people who need help just to get dressed.

But the survey also confirmed long-standing issues of a “postcode lottery” in the delivery of personal budgets from local authorities.

People’s experiences varied considerably depending on where they lived with some councils being reluctant to hand over control to the people with the budgets.

Red tape and bureaucracy were other concerns regularly raised by people with social care needs when dealing with their local council to set up their own personal budget.

Julie Stansfield, In Control’s chief executive said: “When used to their potential, personal budgets help people to get control and make a big difference to their lives as this survey shows.

“But it also very clearly shows that some councils and organisations are making things difficult for people who want to manage their own care and support through a personal budget.

“There are huge variations in how well a personal budget works for someone depending on where they live, how many layers of process and bureaucracy the council or NHS introduces and how much control they are willing to hand over to the individual.”

The survey was published by Think Local Act Personal (TLAP), a national organisation set up to transform health and care through personalised care such as personal budgets.

Sam Bennett, director of Think Local Act Personal, said: “TLAP welcomes these findings and will continue to work with our partners and others to address the challenges of uneven personal budget delivery and the continuing experience of frustrating and unhelpful process to ensure that more people can benefit from the potential of personal budgets.”

The survey can be viewed at www.in-control.org.uk/poet

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