17/05/10

Personal Care Budgets

Direct payments, personal budgets and, to a lesser extent, individual budgets are at the core of the government's aim of personalising adult social care services around the needs of users.

Through the Putting People First initiative, councils will be expected to significantly increase the number of people receiving direct payments and roll out a system of personal budgets for all users of adult social care, from 2008-11.

In the long-term all users should have a personal budget from which to pay for their social care services, apart from in emergencies.

At a seminar in Sheffield, this issue was discussed in relation to community farming and gardening groups being paid for care provision. A report summary of that seminar, including the experiences of Heeley and Acorn city farms in relation to being paid for care provision, is now available to download using the link below:

Personal Care Budgets Seminar Summary