Individual Budgets Pilot

The Department of Health (DH) is funding a two year pilot project across England to try out better ways of delivering social care support. Coventry is very pleased to be one of only thirteen local authorities chosen to take part in the pilot and the only authority from the West Midlands.

Introduction

'Individual Budgets' were first proposed in the Adult Social Care Green Paper , 'Independence, Well Being and Choice' last spring and were also a key element in the Health and Social Care White Paper , 'Our Health, Our Care Our Say; A New Direction for Community Service', published by the DH on 30 January, 2006.

What are 'Individual Budgets'?

They are designed to help people take control of their own social care budgets, manage their own support and choose the services that suit them best using the money from the different areas more flexibly.

How do they work?

They combine funding streams overseen by the DH, Department for Work and Pensions and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This means that people who use them will not have to keep repeating the same information to different agencies, as it will all be kept on one file.

The budgets will bring together support to help people stay in their own homes, for example, to adapt their homes to make life easier, and for other services such as home care. Care managers will help those who receive an 'Individual Budget' plan so that they know how to use it.

The pilot will build on the learning which came from a project called 'In Control'. This project pioneered new ways of working, primarily with people with who have a learning disability.

How will it work in Coventry?

The pilot will be working with people who are assessed as being eligible to receive a social care service, who may be going through a major life change, for example, moving into adulthood, setting up their own home or leaving hospital or residential care to move back into the community, which may include those who had to take up care out of the city and wish to move back in.

Coventry’s pilot will be independently evaluated by the Social Policy Research Unit, based at York University, who initially carried out a five year research project and found that feedback given said that people felt this type of assessment and process seemed to work better for them.

To see a copy of our Project Initiation Document, which details our plan for delivering the pilot, please see the downloadable document at the bottom of the page.

To find out about our local evaluation and the event we are holding on 10th March, please see Local Evaluation in Coventry, for more details contact Barbara Ashby via the contact details below.

Useful links

In Control site: provides advice and support about keeping in control of your individual budget and the support you receive.
Link to Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU): The research unit at York who have overseen the 'Individual Budgets' Pilot.
Link to Green Paper: 'Independence, Well-being and Choice: Our Vision for the Future of Social Care for Adults in England'.
Link to White Paper: 'Our health, our care, our say: a new direction for community services'.
Being an Individual Budget User - a personal perspective: this is a personal blog diary carried out by an IB user from Coventry. He is recording all his own experiences, as per our local research strategy, and is happy for people to views its content.

Note: Please note that Coventry City Council is not responsible for views expressed via this link.