Commissioning for personalisation involves empowering users is to give them direct involvement in the commissioning of the services they receive. The White Paper "Our health, our care our say" makes personalised care a priority. Key mechanisms to support personalisation include direct payments and individual budgets and the likely take-up of these should be considered when developing commissioning strategies.

• Commissioning for personalisation: A framework for local authority commissioners (Department of Health 2008)
  This framework explores an approach that shapes capacity within communities and markets as well as individual lives, empowering individuals to direct their own care in a transparently priced market for personalisation, with information available to make choices.
• Personalisation: A rough guide (Social Care Institute for Excellence 2008)
  This outlines what is meant by personalisation, direct payments, individual budgets and personal budgets and the implications for different providers of adult social care services.
• Individual budgets and the interface with health (CSIP 2008)
  This paper identifies barriers to an integrated approach to personal budgets that incorporates health and social care, including an underdeveloped healthcare market, little diversity in supply, limited knowledge of service costs and risk-averse services.
• The personalisation of adult social care in rural areas (Commission for Rural Communities 2008)
  This looks at the viability and cost implications of delivering personalised services in rural areas, covering emergency care management, travel time and costs, market development and workforce issues, and the role of voluntary and community groups.
• Evaluation of the individual budgets pilot programme: Final report (Individual Budgets Evaluation Network 2008)
  This looks at service user outcomes from individual budgets piloted by local authorities, costs compared with conventional social care support, legislative and funding issues, and implications for commissioners, providers and partnerships.
• Individual patient budgets: Background and frequently asked questions (University of Birmingham 2008)
  This is based on guidance commissioned to inform individual budget pilot schemes and covers practical concerns including legal issues, risk, governance, health and safety, contract management and how to minimise bureaucracy.
• A report on in Control's second phase: Evaluation and learning 2005-2007 (in Control 2008)
  This looks at how offering individuals budgets for self-directed support works in practice, and factors that contribute to positive outcomes, such as what help people get in planning how to spend their budget and the variety of provision to choose from.
• The state of social care in England 2006-07 (Commission for Social Care Inspection 2008)
  This report highlights issues around eligibility and self-funding and a growing divide between those who are and those who are not supported by the system, and the need for people to get expert, timely advice and a proper assessment of their care needs.
• Making it personal (Demos 2008)
  This study looks at self-directed services and the impact of this more participative approach, such as more active engagement, greater innovation and responsiveness. It addresses the challenges of implementing the approach across health and social care.
• Putting people first: A shared vision and commitment to the transformation of adult social care (HM Government 2007)
  This protocol outlines transformation required to support personalisation, encompassing joint strategic needs assessment, commissioning that stimulates quality provision, and locally agreed approaches using community resources.
• Putting people first personalisation toolkit
  This is an online resource to help councils plan and deliver the transformation of their social care systems as set out in Putting people first. Its main focus is on learning from the individual budget pilot programme and includes a self-assessment tool.
• Building on progress: Public services (Cabinet Office 2007)
  This outlines steps to tailor services to individual needs and directly involving people in commissioning services they receive. It explores the need for greater contestability and opening up supply, workforce implications and breaking down professional demarcation.
• Older people's services and individual budgets (CSIP 2007)
  This guide suggests ways to implement individual budgets for older people's services, such as embedding them within normal care management processes and providing clear and comprehensive information to help older people understand the options.
• Relentless optimism: Creative commissioning for personalised care (Commission for Social Care Inspection 2006)
  This report looks at barriers to commissioning for personalised care, including rigid processes and interest groups that are wary of service reconfiguration, and lessons that can be learned from the commercial sector about customer-focused culture.
• Direct payments and social care commissioning: The challenges for local authorities (Commissioning eBook 2006)
  This paper looks at the challenges direct payments may present to local authority commissioners, such as planning for the whole community and balancing financial flexibility with market stability.