The Use Of Personal Budgets For Employment Support

New research conducted by the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) has confirmed the limited use of social care Personal Budgets to support disabled people to gain or retain paid work and the reasons behind that: Research into the use of Personal Budgets for employment support

The research, jointly funded by Think Local Act Personal, Remploy, In Control, Wolverhampton City Council, Northamptonshire County Council and NDTi aimed to find out the extent to which people are using social care PBs to purchase support into paid work, and what factors encourage and discourage the use of PBs to help people gain or retain paid work.

A national survey of employment support providers found that only a third of employment support providers had received any income from PBs in the past 18 months and the average number of people using PBs in each organisation was just three people.

Through the survey and in depth fieldwork in five sites, four clear factors that prevent or discourage greater use of PBs for employment support were identified: low demand from individuals or families; professional attitudes towards employment; the Personal Budget process; and availability of good, evidence-based employment support.