Evaluation of the made to measure pilot: pooling personal budgets first interim report

Made to Measure is a pilot programme to trial a new approach, offering parents of disabled children the opportunity to share information and jointly commission activities by pooling personal budgets. One of the key aims of Made to Measure is to support policy objectives to improve choice and control for families of disabled children (Department for Education, 2011). It is anticipated that the pooling of direct budgets will stimulate the local short breaks market and achieve value for money for families. Two projects have been established in Trafford and Plymouth. These projects will be working alongside parents of disabled children, to develop relationships between parents with similar interests and needs, and to support these parents to pool their personal budgets in order to directly commission the services they would like to use. The Centre for Child and Family Research (CCFR), at Loughborough University has been commissioned to undertake an evaluation of Made to Measure. This is the first interim report of the evaluation of the Made to Measure pilot programme. The report will present the emerging findings of data collected between August 2013 and January 2014, approximately nine months into the pilot.