Personalised Budgets for people with mental health issues: Do they work?

[littlebonjuk 10]

It's been a while now since people requiring social care for mental health issues were given a personalised budget that they can use to pay for that care.

 

I know some people are really happy with the new system as it allows people to use the budget to pay for things that they wouldn't have previously been able to access without dipping into their own pockets.

 

But I also understand that as well as having your needs assessed, everyone is subject to a financial assesment and in some cases people on low incomes (ie DLA) are being expected to contribute a significant amount to their own care. I've heard of cases of people refusing care because they simply can't afford the top ups.

 

If you've had either a positive or negative experience of personalised budgets or SDS for mental health I'd be interested in talking to you.

 

I work at BBC Radio Sheffield and my email address is [email protected]

[jimmymcnulty 10]

Hi

 

From your post it seems you haven't quite got a full grasp of what DLA is- if I were you I'd start by researching that.

 

good luck with the piece

[littlebonjuk 10]

Hi Jimmy,

 

The information I have had comes from people working within social services. They tell me that although they were initially very excited about their clients getting personalised budgets since then they've noticed some serious issues especially the amount of time it takes to process applications and the fact hat some people on low incomes are expected to contribute what to them is a large amount towards their care.

 

I would however welcome any information anyone can give me. If you think I am totally barking up the wrong tree then please get in touch.

[kidley 48]

K.C "ive done my homework"

 

It may be a good idea to tell people who you are and why you want to know.

 

David

[kidley 48]

posted two times, deleted

Edited August 15, 2011 by kidley

[littlebonjuk 10]

Hi David,

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear enough in my first post.

 

I'm a reporter at BBC Radio Sheffield. I've been told that there might be issues with the system of personalised budgets by people who work within it, and so obviously they can't go on the record.

 

I want to know if anyone on who's been through the system themselves recognises the problems I've mentioned (or any others).

 

If they have and they'd be willing to talk about it on the record that'd be great but at the moment I've just looking for more information.

 

Of course it might not be a story at all!

[Lisalashes 10]

Hi

 

From my experience of personalised budgets, the assessment process is slow because social workers are losing there posts and the social workers left are not able to cope with the volume of referals received. For someone on benefits they would be expected to contribute a minimal amount towards care. I have seen people's lives transformed using creative ways to meet outcomes, providing people with choice and control of the services they receive.

[littlebonjuk 10]

Hi Lisalashes,

 

Thanks for your post. I definitely want to explore the positive aspects of personalised budgets. The people I've spoken to say like you have, that many people benefit from the different ways they can use their budgets. They do say though that the system creates extra work for social workers with already extremely heavy workloads. And of course that's only compounded if posts go.

 

My understanding of the situation for people on benefits is this: That there are some people on DLA who understandably view it as part of their income. Because DLA is supposed to be used in part to pay for care etc when someone on DLA goes through a financial assessment for a personal budget the DLA is taken into account and so people who previously wouldn't have had to pay for a service find themselves having to pay a significant portion of their DLA. It's not necessarily a huge amount but it can come as a shock to people who've got used to living on very little and then who are asked to part with some of that in order to get care they used to get for free.

 

Of course there are people who will pay very little and people who've subject to a section 3 order who don't pay anything. That's what I've been told anyway. Please do though get in touch if what I've been told isn't wrong!

 

[email protected]