Harrow: Personal budgets and local markets

Person-centred planning

Lee, a lover of football and an ardent Chelsea supporter, is one of a number of day centre service users who had expressed an interest in playing football through the person-centred planning process in Harrow.

By gathering together Lee and the other interested service users, Harrow was able to approach a local football centre (The Hive) that had free periods of time during the day, and suggest that they develop a programme of football activity which could then be promoted through the Harrow eMarketplace, shop4support, to individuals with a personal budget.

Lee’s mother and carer Denise says: “I can always tell when Lee has had a good day, he thoroughly enjoys the football and comes back really happy.”

Making budget management simple

Lee and a number of other individuals with personal budgets, have used shop4support not only to book their place at The Hive, but to manage their personal budget.

Paul Najsarek, corporate director for Adults and Housing at Harrow says: “There is a danger that people associate the personalisation agenda with complexity. This shows how simple it can be to make it work in practice, by bringing together genuine person-centred planning, a creative approach from staff, coproduction from the wider community and a platform like shop4support

Names changed to protect individual’s privacy