The first part of this policy paper provides a very brief overview of the development of adult social care in order to place the advent of personal budgets in their historical and policy context.
The second section introduces the potentially new concept of personal budgets as a form of 'Conditional Resource Entitlement', suggesting this as a possible framework with which to consider future options for welfare reform. In taking this approach, the aim was not to debate the strengths and limitations of personal budgets per se, but to explore the concept of the Conditional Resource Entitlement in more detail.