Gaining Independence: An Evaluation of Service Users' Accounts of the Individual Budgets Pilot

Abstract

This article presents the findings of an evaluation of the impact on service users of a local authority's individual budgets pilot. The local authority has pursued an outcomes‐focused approach to care planning. The research findings suggest that these service users and their families see individual budgets as a very positive development. Service users have been able to gain greater control over their lives, not least in that they are able to determine to a much greater extent how they have their needs met. This facilitates service users' general growth and development, such that they are able to engage more fully and on a more equal footing as part of their families and communities. However, there remain a number of challenges that need to be addressed if individual budgets, or personal budgets generally, are to be rolled out successfully across adult social and health care.

Citation

Daly, G., Roebuck, A., Dean, J., Goff, F., Bollard, M. and Taylor, C. (2008), "Gaining Independence: An Evaluation of Service Users' Accounts of the Individual Budgets Pilot", Journal of Integrated Care, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 17-25. https://doi.org/10.1108/14769018200800021