3.9 The Government's objective is for all those eligible for ongoing community based social care to be provided with a personal budget by April 2013, to give publicly funded users of social care services greater choice and control over their own care. With personal budgets, eligible recipients requiring community based care services can purchase services from public, private or third sector providers. With access to the right information, it can be expected that care users, or those choosing providers on their behalf, can make better use of the discretion inherent in personal budgets. This is particularly important, given recent reports raising concerns about some users' experiences of care.19
3.10 Many adult social care users do not currently have all the necessary information to make informed choices about care providers. This includes:
• Basic information about care providers. This data is currently provided by local authorities and the Care Quality Commission.
• Comparable information about the quality of providers. The Care Quality Commission registers and inspects social care providers based on 16 minimum essential standards of quality and safety. The Commission publishes results for all providers on its website. However, the standard information does not differentiate on the basis of quality, beyond the minimum standards.
• User feedback on providers. Some local authorities are providing, or are planning to provide, websites that capture and share users' experiences of care. However, not all authorities provide this information and it is not standardised.
• Information about the price of care services. It can be difficult to provide price information, because prices differ across the country and vary according to the specific, and often complex, care needs of the individual user, as well as the service offered by the care provider. One local authority we visited is planning to provide information on price ranges on their website. Another will ask users of their web tool to first self-assess their needs and care budget and then suggest providers that provide services within these budgets.
3.11 Information supporting choice of community based care services is very varied across local authorities. There is currently no standard information on the relative quality of registered providers. If expanding user choice is to result in more cost-effective service provision, users will need a broader range of comparable information to inform their choice.