The change to personal budgets was triggered by the Department of Health’s social care Green Paper, Independence, Well-being and Choice (2005) and reinforced in the White Paper, Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services in 2006. This has been the signal for the transformation of services offered by the local authority in the provision of Adult Social Care.

The new buzz word is ‘Personalisation’ which means individuals will have choice and control over how support is delivered. It will mean that people are able to live their own lives as they wish, confident that services are of high quality, are safe and promote their own individual requirements for independence, well-being and dignity.

Up to now, agency care has been provided by Social Services who determine which company will provide agency carers. The only alternative to this was Direct Payments which provided the same level of agency care, the difference being that the individual choose the care company, paid for the service, and were subsequently refunded by Social Services. The drawback to both systems is the scope of work that agency carers are allowed to provide.

Personalisation

What does it mean? 
With self-directed support, people are able to design the support of care arrangements that best suit their specific needs. It puts people in the centre of the planning process, and recognises that they are best placed to understand their own needs and how to meet them. They will be able to control or direct the flexible use of resources (where they wish to), building on the support of technology (eg telecare, automatic doors), aids and minor adaption’s, (eg grab handles) family, friends and the wider community to enable them to enjoy their position as individuals within their communities.

Personal Budgets

The process starts by completing a Personal Budget Questionnaire. 
The personal budget questionnaire is designed to help you think about the support you need to lead an independent life. There are 12 questions. Each question will look at the different areas of your life.  The completed form is used to provide you with an estimate of the amount of money that you will need to get the support identified in the questionnaire. This is called your personal budget. Once you have received an indication of the amount of money that will be available to you, you will then need to complete a support plan.
Your personal budget is to be spent on the needs identified in your support plan and the personal budget questionnaire.

Personal Assistants

Formerly referred to as agency ‘Carers’, a ‘Personal Assistant’ can provide a far greater range of help tailored to suit your needs.  You can write the job specification, which could include the following:

• Ability to drive
• Willing to accompany on social events
• Assist with paperwork (e.g. letter writing, paying bills, completing forms)
• Domestic arrangements

With a personal assistant you can get away from the “I’m not allowed to do that” situation.  You choose personal assistants best suited to your needs and have the opportunity to interview them if necessary.  You can also incorporate family or friends as personal assistants as they already have the knowledge of your needs and requirements.