Personal Budgets
In March 2011, Personal Budgets were introduced across England. Personal Budgets, sometimes known as Individual Budgets, have the chance to transform the lives of disabled people. Instead of simply receiving services like accommodation and personal care, for the first time disabled people will be able to spend their budget as they choose.
But how ready are we?
Livability has found that awareness of Personal Budgets among disabled people is woefully inadequate. 90% of disabled people in our survey have never even heard of them. If the Government are serious about giving disabled people choice and control of their lives it would be a good idea to let them know!
We interviewed 500 disabled people and contacted 103 local authorities to find out how much information is available.
We found that:
- 90% of disabled people have never heard of Personal Budgets
- Half of local authority websites have no information at all about Personal Budgets. And when sites do have information, 40% of it is poor or very poor
- When our mystery shoppers contacted local authorities by phone, their call was misdirected almost half of the time
- Only 3% of local authorities were able to suggest additional sources of information about these new budgets
- Local authorities are so bad at engaging with disabled people that out of 500 interviewees, 54% didn’t know the name of the local authority that provided their services.
Livability is demanding that:
- Central Government develop and deliver a nationally branded campaign to raise awareness of Individual Budgets among disabled people;
- Local authorities and PCTs consult and engage with disabled people in their area to establish the needs and preferences of the local population;
- Local authorities use that data to map out the services that will be needed by local disabled people when Individual Budgets are rolled out nationally in 2011
- Local Authorities and PCTs work closely with providers to ensure that the services needed are available so that disabled people have genuine choice.