Is personalisation the right plan at the wrong time?: Re-thinking cash-for-care in an age of austerity

Abstract

As personalisation has dominated the policy agenda for reform in social care, its roll out as a mainstream option has coincided with global programmes of austerity which have targeted services for disabled people. Was this simply bad timing or was its implementation always part of the agenda for reform? Whilst the principle of cash-for-care schemes drew strongly on promoting the independence and autonomy of disabled people, early incarnations of direct payments policy in the UK were initially at least in part rolled out in light of potential cost savings to social care budgets. This article explores these and other issues in light of evaluations of the Scottish Government’s self-directed support test sites (2009-2011) and implementation of subsequent legislation enforcing models of self-directed support in Scotland from April 2014. Discussion draws on the authors’ recent book (Pearson, Ridley and Hunter, 2014) to reflect on what the evidence can tell us about radically transforming social care at a time of global austerity.