A personal budget can increase flexibility and freedom of choice for people with disabilities
The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires that persons with disabilities receive help and support in a manner that they themselves want. In order to enable more individual support, a personal budget has been introduced in many countries. This refers to a model in which the persons themselves play a key role in the planning, selection and implementation of assistance, support and service provision.
However, the use of a personal budget requires that a person with a disability has sufficient information and knowledge – or a competent support network – to make choices.
"Personal budgeting can provide more flexibility and freedom of choice, but not everyone has information or networks to make informed choices. The need for guidance and support is particularly important for those with limited decision-making capacity,” says Stina Sjöblom, Senior Researcher at the National Institute for Health and Welfare.
The possibilities and problems of personal budgeting became clear when the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the Nordic Welfare Centre (NVC) examined whether individual support, such as the personal budget, could be used to strengthen the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The aim was especially to examine the right to independent life and participation in one's community.
Nordic experiences are utilised in the reform of services for disabled people
In the Nordic countries, support for independent living has primarily been organised as personal assistance, which is widely used. Within provision of assistive aids, devices and technologies, there are also examples of how systems such as the personal budget have been implemented in the Nordic countries.
"Over the past 30 years, welfare services in the Nordic countries have become increasingly individualised. The development has taken place both at the demand of people with disabilities and from above, when the aim has been to organise welfare services on market terms and in such a way that the individual as a consumer client chooses between different service providers,” explains Project Manager Lars Lindberg of the NVC.
The Nordic countries have chosen different ways to organise services based on the idea of personal budgeting.
"For example, there is a difference in how much of the services are provided by private companies or what kind of support an individual can receive for making their choices. The options available may vary depending on, for example, whether you live in a large city or a sparsely populated area,” says Lindberg.
Nordic experiences and information gathered from the systems are utilised in the renewal of services for the disabled in Finland.
"The report revealed that legislation to support the independent life of people with disabilities already exists to a great extent, but there are challenges in its implementation in the Nordic countries to which the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities obliges them to seek new solutions," says Sjöblom.
"In a well-arranged manner, a personal budget can provide an opportunity for individual choices in services where the possibility of choice has not previously existed. However, the organisation of adequate support must be taken into account in order to achieve the individual benefits of personal budgeting,” emphasises Sjöblom.
The report of the National Institute for Health and Welfare and the NVC was prepared as part of the Finnish Presidency of the Nordic Council of Ministers' 2021 programme and a pilot project for personal budgeting.
Further information
Individual support and services for persons with disabilities - models in the Nordic countries
Experimental project on personal budgeting of persons with disabilities
Reform of the legislation on disability services
Contact information
Stina Sjöblom
Senior Researcher
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tel. +358 29 524 7891
[email protected]
Päivi Nurmi-Koikkalainen
Chief Specialist
Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare
Tel. +358 29 524 7454
[email protected]
