Policy Press
Personalisation – is there an alternative?
Abstract
By any measure, personalisation has not been a success. There is widespread confusion as to its purpose, a marked unevenness in its implementation and a veritable chasm between government rhetoric on the issue and the harsh reality of its practical application. Crucially, the context in which it is being imposed is making any future success increasingly unlikely – at least for most service providers and (often, would-be) users.
In April 2013, a series of major benefits cuts began, representing ‘the biggest contraction in Britain’s welfare state since its foundation in the 1940s’.1 As Sue Marsh has put it:
imagine what might happen if all of these cuts affect you at once. No carer to help at home, no ESA [Employment and Support Allowance] to replace your lost income, no car to get about and no support to stay in your own home. What might have been manageable becomes the most terrible, frightening scenario possible. Without these vital elements of your life, you are left with nothing; bedridden, housebound, isolated and living in crushing poverty. Add in cuts to housing benefit and the NHS, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see that the results could be devastating.2
The restrictions to Housing Benefit include the ‘bedroom tax’. Its first-known victim, Stephanie Bottrill, left a suicide note that simply said: ‘The only people to blame are the government’.3 The Independent Living Fund, which tops up council social care packages for those most severely disabled, has been closed to new clients, and will be scrapped completely from 2015 onwards.
Abstract
By any measure, personalisation has not been a success. There is widespread confusion as to its purpose, a marked unevenness in its implementation and a veritable chasm between government rhetoric on the issue and the harsh reality of its practical application. Crucially, the context in which it is being imposed is making any future success increasingly unlikely – at least for most service providers and (often, would-be) users.
In April 2013, a series of major benefits cuts began, representing ‘the biggest contraction in Britain’s welfare state since its foundation in the 1940s’.1 As Sue Marsh has put it:
imagine what might happen if all of these cuts affect you at once. No carer to help at home, no ESA [Employment and Support Allowance] to replace your lost income, no car to get about and no support to stay in your own home. What might have been manageable becomes the most terrible, frightening scenario possible. Without these vital elements of your life, you are left with nothing; bedridden, housebound, isolated and living in crushing poverty. Add in cuts to housing benefit and the NHS, and it doesn’t take much imagination to see that the results could be devastating.2
The restrictions to Housing Benefit include the ‘bedroom tax’. Its first-known victim, Stephanie Bottrill, left a suicide note that simply said: ‘The only people to blame are the government’.3 The Independent Living Fund, which tops up council social care packages for those most severely disabled, has been closed to new clients, and will be scrapped completely from 2015 onwards.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ introduction ix
-
Lead essay
- Personalisation: from solution to problem? 1
-
Responses
- Personalisation, participation and policy construction: a critique of influences and understandings 27
- Up close and personal in Glasgow: the harmful carer, service user and workforce consequences of personalisation 33
- Personalisation – plus ça change? 47
- The need for true person-centred support 51
- All in the name of personalisation 55
- Personalisation – is there an alternative? 61
- Personal budgets: the two-legged stool that doesn’t stand up 67
-
Concluding remarks
- Once more on personalisation 75
- References 81
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Notes on contributors vii
- Series editors’ introduction ix
-
Lead essay
- Personalisation: from solution to problem? 1
-
Responses
- Personalisation, participation and policy construction: a critique of influences and understandings 27
- Up close and personal in Glasgow: the harmful carer, service user and workforce consequences of personalisation 33
- Personalisation – plus ça change? 47
- The need for true person-centred support 51
- All in the name of personalisation 55
- Personalisation – is there an alternative? 61
- Personal budgets: the two-legged stool that doesn’t stand up 67
-
Concluding remarks
- Once more on personalisation 75
- References 81
