Personalisation in Practice

Personalisation is an approach that has developed in adults’ services with its foundations in the disability, mental health survivor and service user movements of the 1970s. It recognises the strengths and abilities of individuals and puts them at the centre of planning and decision making about their own care and support.

Personalisation, in the context of social care, consists of several elements:

1. Participation, involvement and co-production with disabled children, young people and their families in: 
   • assessment and planning
   • service design, delivery and evaluation.
2. ​Empowerment - choice and control passing to the individual (child and family, young person or adult) receiving support.
3. Personal budgets.

It is important not to limit personalisation to the provision of a personal budget or direct payment, although these have played an important role in developing choice and control for adults with care and support needs and for children, young people and their families.

Part 3 of the Children and Families Act 2014 and the Care Act 2014 have an aligned vision of personalisation, participation and choice and control where the views, wishes and feelings of individuals are central to the assessment, planning and decision-making processes. The aligning of policy across children’s and adults’ services creates an opportunity to implement a lifespan approach to personalisation, improving outcomes for disabled children and young people, individuals and families, whilst reducing duplication and bureaucracy for the professionals working with them.

Our work on personalisation?

We are committed to working with partners across the sector to consider the challenges and examine the impact of personalisation on disabled young people. Through various projects we continue to build on key learning and develop good practice in person-centred planning and integrated services.

In 2010 CDC members came together to develop papers on personalisation, including a Review of the Evidence on Personalisation.

The Early Support programme, funded by the Department for Education and delivered by CDC, was a key driver and innucabator of effective practice. Personalisation was firmly embedded in the 10 guiding principles and even though the Early Support programme ended last year it's effects and successful practices can be seen in many aspects of the Children and Families Act.

As part of our work we have created a bank of resources focusing on the topic of  personalisation which you can access by visiting our Resources Hub.