Ben Graham's Page

Love your blog but do not agree with your damming view of personal budgets. Clearly, not an approach which works for everyone but there is evidence that trusting people with disabilities that THEY know what is best for them is much better than professionals assuming that they know what is best for people in need of support. I recently met with a young person who had switched to personal budgets in Camden - previously, he spent all day in a care home with people hanging about. Much worse, he did not get on with the carer who had been allocated to him. Now he employs his own carer of his choice which also enabled him to move out of his Mom's ... To cut a long story short, personal budgets enabled a previously depressed isolated person to turn into a self-confident active person who is now bonding with his age group, taking part in working life and even engaging in volunteering activities. So personal budgets may be an important stepping stone towards co-production. If we deny people the right to decide what kind of support and services are best for them I cannot see an asset-based approach going very far.