The National Commission on Personalisation’s final report released today warns
that whilst personalisation presents the biggest opportunity in decades for a
revolution of our public services, unless charities and local authorities work
together and Government puts the necessary underpinnings in place, personalisation and ultimately Cameron’s plans for a ‘people power revolution’
will fail.

The Commission’s report argues that personalisation and devolving power over
public services could bring more tailored and responsive services which would
not only result in better outcomes for service users but also greater efficiency for
taxpayers.

However the Commission argues that we have reached a fork in the road and
that a devolution of power within the welfare state will remain rhetoric without a
boom in civil society and unless Government sees the promotion of civil society
as fundamental to the success of its ‘people power revolution’.

The Commission makes a series of recommendations that embody a new
mutualist approach to public services including:

Encouraging people to pool personal budgets and self-funded
contributions

Supporting a new bottom-up model of quality assurance

Funding independent information and advocacy

Encouraging providers to band together

A new form of Social Investment Relief to increase the sums invested in
civil society

Speaking at the launch of the report, Matthew Pike, chair of the National
Commission on Personalisation said: “We’ve reached a fork in the road. Ahead lies either merely a devolution of theoretical rights with a lack of practical underpinning which would result in wasted resources and worse outcomes for service users, or an ambitious revolution of rights accompanied by new structures which makes individuals’ lives better.

“The Commission are clear about the route we need to take and what needs to
be done. This is a golden opportunity. We must not let it go to waste.”

The final report of the National Commission on Personalisation was launched
alongside the findings of the Lambeth Commission on Personalisation.

The report was launched by Nick Hurd MP, minister for Civil Society at Coin Street Community Centre in Lambeth.

Hurd urged the sector to play its part in shaping the Government's agenda going forward. "We want the sector to engage in Government policy and White paper [set to be launched in January]. We want specifics."

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