The continued drive to transform social care through personalisation and the ongoing focus of Government on personal budgets for everyone who is eligible by 2013 presents a huge challenge to the sector. Making a reality of transformation of this scale in a way that really changes lives at a time of continued pressure on public finances places great demands on councils and providers alike.
The paper explores what individual service funds (ISFs) are; how they have evolved; the key features of good ISF use; who is using them and how they are working; how to do them; and the opportunities there might be for their further development in the future.