DfE hires charity to develop personal budget plans for disabled children
Joe Lepper
Monday, April 15, 2013
The government has drafted in the charity In Control to support the introduction of personal budgets and a single education, health and care plan for families with a disabled child.
The charity, which already supports personal budget schemes in adult social care, has received £150,000 from the Department for Education’s National Prospectus Grant programme to develop ways of evaluating their success and helping families make the best use of their budgets.
The two-year grant also covers support for councils that are piloting the measures.
In Control is working with the University of Lancaster on the project and aims to work closely with the Association of Directors of Children’s Services.
Nic Crosby, the charity’s director of children and young people, said the project aimed to “provide support to families to allow them to make their own judgments and provide local authorities and their partners with a clear report setting out what works and what does not work locally set against national data".
Previous work around personal budgets in care by In Control includes the development of its Personal Budgets Outcomes and Evaluation Tool in adult services, which is sponsored by the Department of Health.
The plans to introduce personal budgets and a single plan for families with disabled children is part of the Children and Families Bill, which is still being debated in Parliament.
