Individual Budgets are designed to bring about independence and choice for people receiving care or support. It gives them a full understanding of the finance that is available, in order to empower them to take control and make decisions about the care that they receive.
The Individual Budgets pilot programme was a cross-government initiative led by the Department of Health working closely with the Department for Work and Pensions, and Communities and Local Government. The pilot was conducted over two years 2006-2007 involving 13 local authorities. The full independent evaluation reports were published on 21 October 2008.
The Department of Health’s commitment to pilot individual budgets was made in the following documents