'In Control' pilots

The 'In Control' pilots trialled a new approach to individual budgets and were targeted at adults with learning disabilities.

The scheme allowed service users to be involved in their care planning using their individual budgets to pay for services they wanted to meet their care needs. The intention was that this approach would drive up quality and stimulate the social care market to provide the services people wanted. Having individual budgets would also allow people to buy services from local authorities, which previously had not been possible with direct payments.

Evaluations showed that the majority of users during the pilot phases of In Control were happier with their care after participating in the scheme.