Individual Budgets and Self Directed Support Homepage

'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 30th January, 2006.

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 different areas more flexibly. The person is at the centre of the planning process as they are best placed to understand their own needs.

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 and remain independent.

The pilot will be working with at least 130 people who have been assessed as being eligible to receive a social care service. These will be people from across all adult services, young people in transition and family carers.

Barnsleys’ pilot will be independently evaluated by the Social Policy Research Unit, based at York University, who initially carried out a 5 year research project and found that feedback given said that people felt this type of assessment and process seemed to work better for them.

Personal stories

A number of people that now have an Individual budget have recorded short films explaining how this has changed the way that they receive care. To view these videos please select:

Edith

Jackie

Marion

Shirley

Tony

You can download the following:

• A Guide to Individual Budgets and Self Directed Support
• Frequently asked questions
• Frequently asked question – accessible format
• In Control Newsletter - July/August 2007
• Newsletter
• Winter Newsletter
• Peoples Stories, Peoples Stories 2, Peoples Stories 3, Peoples Stories 4
• Your Guide to Making a Support Plan
• Individual Budgets Pilot Newsletter - July 2007

• www.individualbudgets.csip.org.uk
• Independent Living Fund website (ILF)
• Office for Disability
• In Control website
  provides advice and support about keeping in control of your individual Budget and the support you need.
• Social Policy Research Unit (SPRU)
  The research unit at York who have overseen the Individual Budgets Pilot
• Green Paper:  Independence, Well-being and Choice: Our Vision for the Future of Social Care for Adults in England
• White Paper: Our health, Our Care, Our Say: A New Direction for Community Services
• Department for Work & Pensions (DWP)
• Penderels Trust
• Department of Health

The Self Directed Support Team
Wellington House
36 Wellington Street
Barnsley S70 1WA
Tel 01226 772396
Email: Self Directed Support

Personalisation Event: "The Big Conversation"

Adult Social Services and partner organisations are hosting an event at Barnsley Football Ground on 5th June 2009 to provide service users, staff and community/voluntary groups with an opportunity to talk about 'Personalisation'.  If you are interested in sharing your experiences about Individual Budgets and Self Directed Support you can download and return the above flyer or email lindahutchinson@barnsley.gov.uk before 22nd May 2009.