Some English councils have made a slow start to implementing personalisation reforms, a Department of Health official told a Community Care conference in London last week.
A snapshot DH survey on their readiness of 82 councils to transform adult care, through a system of personal budgets, self-assessment and universal access to information, found that many were yet to make changes.
Under the Putting People First concordat, signed by ministers and social care leaders last December, English councils should implement personalisation reforms from 2008-11.
But Janet Crampton, national lead for commissioning at the DH's Care Services Improvement Partnership, said councils had a tendency to hold on to traditional models of care, with a number still tied into block contracts.
She told the conference it was vital that commissioners began talking to providers about the reforms, while providers needed to take responsibility for finding out more about personalisation.
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