Right to control

Giving adult service users their own personal budget for care and support improves their quality of care and their outcomes, creates stronger communities and can mean, in these cash-strapped times, that money is spent more cost-effectively. But this transformation requires a sustained cultural change. That can only be achieved by committed professionals and the wider community – including carers and family – working together to give service users the entitlement to cash and information they need to be really in control.