'Personalisation through Participation'
User participation in creating personalised services.

Do Social Care Services in Scotland require reform?

Charles Leadbeater writes in "Personalisation through Participation" (a new script for public services Demos publication) that getting people involved in deciding the services they want and getting them to help develop these services, has the potential to create real change in the public sector. It promises to challenge and innovate current services.

He argues that if users become more involved in deciding the services that are needed to support them, and the way in which these services are provided, they will take more responsibility for ensuring that the support they receive is successful.

This doesn?t take away from the need for professionals to help service users find and create the right services, but allows professionals to apply their expertise in more flexible ways. And service users can become more empowered in the process.

Personalisation through Participation

Care 21 decided to explore the philosophy of 'personalisation' in more depth, and specifically how it relates to social care in Scotland. The overarching goal in undertaking such a project is to make services more user friendly. Demos, a leading think tank, was commissioned by Care 21 to conduct this study from December 2004 to November 2005.

Personalisation is an important concept for 21st century social care, and is having widespread impact. According to Charles Leadbeater,

"Personalisation is not a set of policies but a general approach to public services and social care that puts the person at the centre as a participant in shaping the services they get, managing risk and providing resources, whether financial or in terms of their own effort."

This philosophy has influenced thinking on the Kerr report, National Framework for Service Change in the NHS in Scotland. Moreover, Care 21's report on personalisation has fed into the report of the 21st Century Social Work Review, Changing Lives. The language of personalisation is becoming central to thinking about the future of social care in Scotland.

Read the report!

This report was published in November 2005. To read it, please click on the link below:

Personalisation through Participation