Personal budgets for care are ‘not just about saving money’

"People say, and the NACC have said, that personalisation must be used to offer people choice and not used as a cost-cutting measure. "My answer is it's not just about saving money, but we did set out to make it effective and affordable; this is especially true as local authorities face the need to cut budgets." Lloyd's remarks came in an address to the National Association of Care Catering's recent training and development forum in Blackpool when he outlined the approach to the issue he took in Cheshire East. "Think local, act personal – that's the task for all of us in social care. And prevention is the priority because people want to remain independent." In Cheshire East we invested money in 're-ablement' schemes to help those in the social care system get out of it again or at least regain a measure of independence. "There was money needed up front, but our experience was that we saved £2 for every £1 we spent." He said the ideal was to help people before they needed social care. The new systems coming in would be technology-driven, such as remote monitoring that can help provide privacy with the ability to offer help quickly when needed, and increasing use of electronic records. "The modernised market means that all providers get involved in social care. For example, we helped a local pub run programmes offering meals for the elderly which then extended the service to delivering them as well." He said health budgets were likely to follow social care personal budgets and this trend will blur the boundaries between the two services. The ultimate goal that local authorities are working towards is that 100% of social care will be managed through personal budgets.