Personal budgets for social care have been generally welcomed by users of services because they offer more opportunity for choice and control over their support arrangements compared to conventional methods of service provision. Our research primarily shaped and contributed to the implementation of personal budgets policy at local and national levels in England. In 2012-13 1.3 million people received these services, the official target is for 70% of these people to have a personal budget.
Our research:
Instead of being offered a limited choice of existing services run by the authorities, people with health and social care needs can now be given an amount of money to buy the services that suit them best as individuals. Our innovative research tested whether this was cost effective for services, as well as the best way to handle the large organisational changes required to implement personal budgets. We also looked at different categories of social care users and carers. We tested whether PBs worked for each of them and provided guidance on the issues and differences between them. This information was then used by services to ensure that everyone benefitted from the best route into services for them.
The IBSEN study was the first robust UK evaluation of the implementation of personalised approaches to social care and the impact on users, support processes, workforce, commissioning and providers. The study generated extensive data on the challenges for central and local government and the social care workforce in implementing Individual Budgets (IBs - the original name for what is now known as personal budgets - PBs).
IBSEN included a Randomised Control Trial (RCT) - rare in English social care research - that compared outcomes for (IB) users against conventional methods of allocating and using social care and other resources. This was complemented by the more detailed qualitative investigation of the processes and perspectives of this wide range of users and stakeholders. The study included:
Read more about the National Evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Projects here.
SPRU researched the effect of PBs on older people and those with mental health problems as these two groups were shown to have more difficulties with the system than other users.
Read more about the Personal Budgets: learning from experiences of older people and people with mental health problems here.
SPRU also designed and led a linked study of the impact of IBs on carers. Receipt of IBs was significantly associated with positive impacts on carers’ reported quality of life and also, when other factors were taken into account, with carers’ social care outcomes.
Read more about the Individual Budgets: impact and outcomes for carers project here.
The Individual Budget approach was made Government policy and rolled out in England and Wales as ‘personal budgets’ (PB).
The detailed IBSEN findings and the linked carers study primarily shaped and contributed to the future implementation of the PB policy at local and national levels in England. The findings revealed which systems were most effective for implementing IBs and what to look out for as problems with changes in funding streams.
There has also been considerable international interest from countries and regions interested in adopting the IB approach.
This impact case study received the highest grade in the recent Research Excellence Framework assessment exercise.
The full case study submitted to the REF 2014 panel is available here. REF-case-study-individual-budgets (PDF , 172kb)
How to keep people safe while also enabling them to choose their own care from friends and relatives, or in an unregulated care market.