On 30 November 2012, Minister of State for Care Services, Norman Lamb announced the national roll out of personal health budgets. This followed a three year pilot programme in the NHS, which ended in October 2012, and the publication of an independent evaluation report, led by the University of Kent. The final independent evaluation report, “Evaluation of the personal health budget pilot programme", found that personal health budgets improve people’s quality of life.

The Government's vision, therefore, is that, everyone in England who could benefit from one will have the option of a personal health budget.

Personal health budgets are available for adults eligable for NHS Continuing Healthcare and children in receipt of continuing care. Personal health budgets are being extended for people with long term conditions, learning disabilities and mental health conditios, where they could benefit from having even more control over their care.

More information, including patient stories, a personal health budgets toolkit and GP guide, can be found on NHS England's personal health budgets website.

Another source for more information is Peoplehub, offering information from direct experience of personal health budgets.