The IBSEN project - National evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Projects
Researchers:
Professor Caroline Glendinning, Nicola Moran, Parvaneh Rabiee
Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU):
Professor David Challis,
Sally Jacobs & Mark Wilberforce (University of Manchester); Professor Martin Knapp
& Jose-Luis Fernandez (London School of Economics);
Professor Ann Netten & Karen Jones (University of Kent)
Social Care Workforce Research Unit, Kings College London:
Professor Jill Manthorpe; Martin Stevens
Funder: Department of Health
Duration: April 2006 – March 2008
Final report now availableEvaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme: Final Report Further publications available at the bottom of this web page: summary report, research findings etc. Presentations from the Conference held on Friday 14th November 2008: Evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme Do Individual Budgets work and at what price? Processes and experiences: user and practice perspectives What next for Individual Budgets?
Please note that the IBSEN website has now closed and been replaced by this web page - hosted by the Social Policy Research Unit. Questions or comments are always welcome. Don't hesitate to contact Dr. Martin Stevens at: martin.stevens@kcl.ac.uk |
Why evaluate individual budgets?
Individual budgets sit at the heart of government policy for improving choice and control for people needing social care support. Individual budgets bring together a number of different funding streams and offer a transparent way of allocating resources to individuals. Knowing the level of resources at their disposal can help individuals plan and control how their support needs are met.
Individual budgets are being piloted in 13 local authorities across England. The implementation is being supported by a team from the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP).
Evaluating these pilot projects is fundamental to a future decision by government about whether this approach will be rolled out more widely. The IBSEN project aims to identify whether individual budgets offer a better way of supporting disabled adults and older people than conventional methods of resource allocation and service delivery and, if so, which models work best for which groups of people.
Elements of the evaluation
The evaluation has five main dimensions:
- Experiences and outcomes for users and carers
- The cost-effectiveness of individual budgets in comparison with standard approaches
- Implications for social care and other agencies (such as health) and the impact on service providers
- How services purchased through individual budgets are commissioned, managed and coordinated
- The implications for social services and the social care workforce, including workload, training, legal and professional issues.
Each of the research partners involved in the evaluation is responsible for specific aspects of the evaluation.
Publications
2008Evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme: Final Report, 2008
Glendinning, C., Challis, D., Fernandez, J., Jacobs, S., Jones, K., Knapp, M., Manthorpe, J., Moran, N., Netten, A., Stevens, M., Wilberforce, M..
Evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme: Summary report, 2008
Glendinning, C., Challis, D., Fernandez, J., Jacobs, S., Jones, K., Knapp, M., Manthorpe, J., Moran, N., Netten, A., Stevens, M., Wilberforce, M., 51 pages.
The national evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme, 2008
Glendinning, C., Challis, D., Fernandez, J., Jacobs, S., Jones, K., Knapp, M., Manthorpe, J., Moran, N., Netten, A., Stevens, M., Wilberforce, M., Research Findings, Social Policy Research Unit.
The national evaluation of the Individual Budgets Pilot Programme: Experiences and implications for care coordinators and managers, 2008
Glendinning, C., Challis, D., Fernandez, J., Jacobs, S., Jones, K., Knapp, M., Manthorpe, J., Moran, N., Netten, A., Stevens, M., Wilberforce, M., Research Findings, Social Policy Research Unit.
Training for change: early days of Individual Budgets and the implications for social work and care management practice: a qualitative study of the views of trainers, (in press)
Manthorpe, J., Jacobs, S., Rapaport, J., Challis, D., Netten, A., Glendinning, C., Stevens, M., Wilberforce, M., Knapp, M. and Harris, J., British Journal of Social Work.
Safeguarding and system change: early perceptions of the implications for adult protection services of the English Individual Budgets Pilots: a qualitative study, (in press)
Manthorpe, J., Stevens, M., Rapaport, J., Harris, J., Jacobs, S., Challis, D., Netten, A., Knapp, M., Wilberforce, M. and Glendinning, C., British Journal of Social Work.
Individual Budgets: lessons from early users' experiences, (in press)
Rabiee, P. , Moran, N. and Glendinning, C., British Journal of Social Work.
2007
Individual Budgets Evaluation: A summary of early findings, 2007
Challis, D., [et al.] inc. Glendinning, C., and Wilberforce, M., Social Policy Research Unit.
Evaluating the individual budget pilot projects, 2007
Glendinning, C., Challis, D., Fernandez, J.-L., Jones, K., Knapp, M., Manthorpe, J., Netten, A., Stevens, M. and Wilberforce, M., Journal of Care Services Management, 1, 2, 123-8.
2006
Individual budgets: on the launch pad, 2006
Stevens, M. and Glendinning, C., Journal of Integrated Care, 14, 6, 23-31.
Extension study - impact and outcomes for carers
The changes in budgets and care arrangements for service users will have a correspondingly large effect on the care provided by their friends, family and other informal carers. Choices may be made to: pay informal carers for their care; to use the IB to relieve informal carers of some caring duties; or the IB could be assigned to the carer and not the service user. Carers may also become heavily involved in the organisation and processing of the budget and new care arrangements. In order to fully asses the impact of IBs on everyone concerned the views and experiences of carers must be evaluated. A project to do this is underway as part of the Department of Health Research Programme within SPRU, please follow this link to find further details of this project:
Individual budgets: impact and outcomes for carers
For further details about SPRU's role in the evaluation, contact Caroline Glendinning 