Individual budgets ‘can provide better care’
Posted on 21 October 2008
The independent evaluation was conducted by a combined team of five university research units, including a team from the Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU) at the University of York. The other research units were the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the Universities of Kent, Manchester and LSE; and the Social Care Workforce Research Unit at Kings College London.
The individual budgets pilot projects potentially have far reaching implications for the whole of adult social care arrangements in England
Professor Caroline Glendinning
The study found that individual budgets had particular benefits for mental health service users and younger disabled people.
While there were no important differences in overall cost (individual budgets cost on average about £280 compared with £300 for standard mainstream services), there were indications that individual budgets have the potential to offer greater value for money.
Individual budgets can give people who have care needs the power to decide the nature of their own support and the report showed that most groups liked this. People can choose to use the money to fund the care that suits them best and fits in with their lifestyle – for example by having someone support them at home rather than going into residential care.
Mental health service users in the individual budget group reported a significantly higher quality of life. Younger physically disabled people were more likely to report higher quality of care, and were more satisfied with the help they received, the choice and control they experienced and felt they had the opportunity to build better quality support networks. People with learning disabilities were more likely to feel that they had control over their daily lives.
However, the report found that older people did not find the individual budget system used during the pilot as easy to use as the other groups, and they did not appear to like the idea of managing their own support.
SPRU’s Research Director and one of the study investigators, Professor Caroline Glendinning said "The individual budgets pilot projects potentially have far reaching implications for the whole of adult social care arrangements in England. The evaluation has generated invaluable information on the scale and scope of the changes that are needed to realise this potential. It also suggests how current barriers and difficulties can be overcome, so that people needing support can experience the choice and control that many of us take for granted in our daily lives."
The results of this research will feed into work to introduce pilots of personal budgets for healthcare from 2009, as announced in the NHS Next Stage Review.
As part of the Department of Health’s plan to transform social care, the Department announced in late 2007 it would empower people to shape their own lives and the services they receive through personal budgets.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
- The ‘Evaluation of the Individual Budget Pilot Projects’ report is independent, written by a combined team from The University of York’s Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU), Kings College London’s Social Care Workforce Research Unit and the Personal Social Services Research Unit of Manchester University, LSE and the University of Kent. They are collectively called The Individual Budgets Evaluation Network (IBSEN). The report can be found at the SPRU website.
- The report is an evaluation of the pilot scheme conducted over two years, 2006–2007. It involved a survey of 959 people including disabled groups, older people and young people in transition to adulthood.
- Further research on the impact of individual budgets on carers will be published in due course. Early findings from the research suggest that at least some carers of older people may experience considerable benefits from the flexibility offered by individual budgets.
- The aim of Individual Budgets is to give individuals the power to decide the nature of their own support. An individual budget brings together resources from different funding streams into a single sum that can be spent flexibly in accordance with their needs and preferences. They can either have the money paid to them directly and then make their own arrangements to meet their needs, or ask the Council to provide services, or a mixture of both.
- ‘Putting People First’ – a vision for the transformation of social care – was launched alongside a £520 million Social Care Reform grant in Dec 2007. It set out the need to empower citizens to shape their own lives and the services they receive. This included giving the vast majority of people who receive funded care their own personal budgets.
- High Quality Care for All, the final report of the NHS Next Stage Review led by Lord Darzi, announced that the Government would explore the potential of personal budgets in healthcare, to give NHS patients greater control over the services they receive. The Government will introduce a pilot programme in early 2009, learning from the experience of individual budgets in social care and from other health systems. The programme will be designed with NHS, local authority, care and patient group partners, with clear rules – for example to ensure that it fully supports the principles of the NHS as a comprehensive service, free at the point of use.
- For further information on the evaluation report, please contact the Department of Health newsdesk or Caroline Glendinning from the evaluation team on 01904 321 989.