Abstract

Personal budgets are a key policy priority in adult social care in England and are expected to become increasingly important in the care and support of adults with mental health problems. This paper systematically reviews evidence for the effectiveness of personal budgets for people with mental health problems across diverse outcomes. The review used the Eppi-Centre methodology for conducting a systematic review informed by Social Care Institute for Excellence guidelines. Data were extracted from studies and combined using meta-synthesis. 15 studies were included in the review which found mostly positive outcomes in terms of choice and control, quality of life, service use and cost-effectiveness. However, methodological limitations make these findings somewhat unreliable and insufficient to inform personal budgets policy and practice for mental health service users. Further high quality studies are required to inform policy and practice for mental health service users which lags behind other adult social care groups in the use of personal budgets.