The system for how adult social care is delivered in Oxfordshire will change as of April next year, according to a story in The Oxford Times.

At present, voluntary and community groups receive funding grants from councils, which allows people to access their services for free. However, next year this will all change when the grants are no longer provided to groups.

Instead, those that receive adult social care will be entitled to a personal budget from councils, which they must then use to pay for the chosen services they access.

At the moment, service users can attend a day centre for free, because it is run by a charity which is either partly or wholly funded by the local council. However, from April, the charity will charge for their service giving people a choice as to whether or not they go to the centre. If the person does choose to attend, they must pay the centre for the experience, using the money given to them by their local authority.

This change to the way care is provided is known as personalisation, the idea is to give people a greater choice in the type of care they receive. Nevertheless, there are still concerns about how service users will adapt to the new way of accessing services.

Those in social care management jobs will be responsible for working out their costs, in order to charge an appropriate fee to service users. The voluntary and community groups will also be responsible for marketing what their services offer to potential users, their families and friends.