Self-directed support is about people being in control of the
support they need to live the life they choose.
You may have heard it being referred to as 'personalisation' or
'personal budgets'. There are different ways to describe it,
but whatever name's given to it - it's about giving people real
power and control over their lives.
To help people get control of their support we have developed
the 'Seven steps to being in
control of your support'
People are now able to self-direct their care or support in a
number of different ways:
A personal budget
A personal budget is money that is available to someone who
needs support. The money comes from their local authority
services.
The person controlling the budget (or their representative)
must:
- know how much money that they have for their support
- be able to spend the money in ways and at times that make sense
to them
- know what outcomes must be achieved with the money.
An individual budget
An individual budget is money for support that could come from
several places - including social services, the Independent Living
Fund and Supporting People.
A direct payment
A direct payment is money that is paid directly to you so you
can arrange your own support.
A personal health budget
Personal health budgets are relatively new and the Department of
Health is still in the process of piloting them.
A personal health budget is an allocation of resources made to a
person with an established health need (or their immediate
representative).
See the
glossary for more definitions relating to
self-directed support.
Last Updated : 24 January 2011. Page Author: Paul Ferguson.
