Life is better with individual budgets, says report

By Sunil Peck

Disabled people prefer the independence they gain by using individual budgets to choose and pay for their own support, an evaluation of a pilot scheme has concluded.

The Department of Health-funded report looked at the 13 local authorities which piloted the scheme, in which disabled people are given a pot of money to spend on services such as equipment, access to work and housing adaptations.

Mental health service-users on individual budgets were able to access more appropriate services, leading to a better quality of life, said the report.

Younger disabled people were more likely to report a better quality of care, and were more satisfied with the support available to them and the choice and control they experienced. They also felt that individual budgets enabled them to build better support networks.

People with learning difficulties felt that individual budgets gave them more control over their daily lives, said the report.

There were also “indications” that individual budgets could save money.

But the report found that older people did not find the system as easy to use as the other groups, and did not appear to like the idea of managing their own support.

Care services minister Phil Hope said: "This report is invaluable in helping us understand the benefits of individual budgets, as well as the action we need to take so that everyone can benefit from them."

Sue Bott (pictured), director of the National Centre for Independent Living, said the results of the report were "no surprise".

She added: "I noticed that in the Department of Health response to the report they highlight the importance of user-led organisations in providing support for individual budgets, and I would echo that."

She said the report builds on previous research which showed that direct payments work best where people receive support from user-led organisations.

And she said that it would be wrong to conclude that individual budgets are not appropriate for older disabled people, who she said would benefit from more information and support.

The results of the research will feed into work to introduce pilots of personal budgets for healthcare from 2009.

23 October, 2008