Care minister says councils must have 70% of service users on personal budgets by April 2013, ditching 100% ambition.

Pic Credit: Rex Features

The government has scrapped its target for councils to move all service users in the community on to personal budgets by April 2013, care minister Norman Lamb announced today.

Lamb said he had agreed a new target of having 70% of users on personal budgets by the same date, following talks with the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services.

Lamb said personal budgets were not suitable for everyone, but stressed that the 70% target was a staging post and should not be seen as a ceiling.

His announcement, at the National Children and Adult Services Conference, was strongly welcomed by Adass president Sarah Pickup.

She said that it would mean councils could stop “chasing a number” and focus on outcomes.

Lamb also issued a strong personal commitment to implementing the Dilnot commission’s proposals of a cap on the care costs faced by individuals.

“We must do Dilnot, and soon”, he said, but did not specify details on how the government would do so. Significant questions remain over the level of the cap, whether it would be universal or voluntary, and when it would be implemented.

Lamb also said he recognised the funding pressures local authorities were under in adult social care, without signalling how social care would fare in the next government spending review, due next year.

He said that in future much better use would have to be made of the combined resource of health and adult social care to manage funding pressures and improve care.

Lamb also lavished praise on the social care workforce, including social workers, in his speech.

He also appeared to encourage councils to take out corporate membership of the College of Social Work, welcoming the recent decision of family courts body Cafcass to do so.

Corporate membership provides all of an organisation’s social workers with membership of the College at reduced rates.

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