Terminology for SCIE's integrating personal budgets for people with mental health problems

• Brokerage. A brokerage service helps people to choose and access the support they need to be independent. A broker can work alongside the person who uses services (referred to in the rest of this guide as a ‘user’) to ensure that they get the best possible support plan and make the best use of their personal budget.
• Co-production. When an individual is involved as an equal partner in designing the support and services that they receive. Co-production recognises that people who use social care services (and their families) have knowledge and experience that can be used to help make services better, not only for themselves but also for other people who need social care. [1]
• Direct payment. Money paid directly to a user so that they can pay for services and requirements that are part of their support plan.
• Integrated personal budget. A way in which someone with both health and social care support needs can bring together into a single personal budget the resources spent by the NHS and the local authority to get the best outcome for their wellbeing.
• Integration. Joined-up, coordinated health and social care that is planned and organised around the needs and preferences of the individual, their carer and family. This may also involve integration with other services, for example housing.
• Personal budget. Money that is allocated to an individual by their local council to pay for care or budget support to meet their assessed care and support needs. They can take their personal budget as a direct payment, or choose to leave the council to arrange services (sometimes known as a managed budget) – or there can be a combination of the two.
• Personal health budget. An amount of money from the NHS to finance an individual’s health and wellbeing needs, supported by personal care and support planning.
• Personalisation. A way of thinking about care and support services that puts the individual at the centre of the process of working out what their needs are, choosing what support they need and having control over their life. It is about them as an individual, not about groups of people whose needs are assumed to be similar, or about the needs of organisations.
• Recovery. In mental health, ‘recovery’ has come to mean the belief that it is possible for someone to regain a meaningful life, despite ongoing mental health problems. It is often described as a personal journey of discovery, and involves the core principles of hope, control and opportunity (see www.imroc.org/what-is-recovery/).
• Self-directed support. An approach to social care that gives people optimum choice and control over their support arrangements. Individuals are enabled to direct and manage their personal support plan.