Sam Bennett appointed as Head of Integrated Personal Commissioning and Personal Health Budgets, NHS England

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Sam Bennett, Programme Director of Think Local Act Personal is to become the Head of Integrated Personal Commissioning Personal Health Budgets at NHS England.

Following the announcement of the appointment, Clenton Farquharson and Sally Percival, TLAP co-chairs and members of the National Coproduction Advisory Group, said:

"We congratulate Sam on his appointment to this important role. Sam's leadership has enabled the National Coproduction Advisory Group to flourish and he has been great guardian around personalisation and role of coproduction because he lives it with his behaviour. This is a great opportunity to further embed co-production and person-centred approaches into the NHS. On a personal level, Sam has been great in giving us both and other members of NCAG the time and space to get us involved at the heart of policy making. He has a real commitment to working with people who use services and carers. It's not a 'You and Me', it's an 'Us' and we've really appreciated that about Sam. We will miss him."

David Pearson, TLAP Programme Board Co-chair and Immediate Past President of ADASS, said:

"Sam has made an outstanding contribution to Think Local Act Personal's work and future development - from ensuring personalisation has been woven through the heart of the Care Act to transferring learning from social care on what it takes to embed a more person-centred approach in health. We will be sad to see Sam go, but proud he will be sharing his experience and that of the social care sector into the NHS in his new role. We will be working with him and the team to agree the arrangements for replacing his role and will share those details with you shortly. In the meantime, Sam will continue to lead the core team and partners in delivering the 2015/16 TLAP work programme as planned.

"This is a pivotal appointment and I know that Sam will bring exceptional skills, knowledge and energy to NHS England. On behalf of the Board, TLAP partners and the TLAP team, we congratulate Sam and wish him well - and we will, of course, continue to work closely with him in his new. "

Speaking about his appointment, Sam said:

"It has been a great pleasure and privilege to be the Director of TLAP these last three years. My association with the Partnership goes back to its beginnings and I have always been heartened and amazed by the time, energy and enthusiasm that Partners bring to our work. It is because of this that we have continued to punch above our weight and have carved out an increasingly important role maintaining the drive towards real personalisation, against a backdrop of huge change and financial strain. This is more important now than it ever was and I am certain TLAP will continue to demonstrate the importance of shared endeavour and the power of coproduction in meeting the challenges we face as a sector.

"I leave behind an exceptional team of dedicated and talented individuals who have been an inspiration and great support to me in my role. I am also indebted to the Chairs of the TLAP Partnership, to the many wonderful members of the National Coproduction Advisory Group and the whole Programme Board for their support, challenge and invaluable insight. It makes the parting of ways a little easier to know I will continue to work closely with the Partnership in my new role."

Sam Bennett joined TLAP in January 2013. He has been a Board member for Integrated Personal Commissioning (IPC) since the programme began and authored TLAP's policy position on IPC which was jointly published with NHS England, ADASS and the Local Government Association alongside the prospectus for the programme in 2014.

Sam joined the team from Groundswell Partnerships, where he worked with providers, central and local government and people with care and support needs, their carers and families to take forward personalisation and community based support. Sam worked on and then managed one of the original individual budgets pilots before becoming Programme Manager for Personalisation for his Local Authority. He joined the Care Services Improvement Partnership in 2007, where he authored key sections of the National Personalisation Toolkit, before joining the Department of Health in 2008 to support the implementation of Putting People First (PPF). As the programme's lead for commissioning and market development he worked alongside councils, regions and provider organisations to shape policy and practice and share learning about what works in delivering fully personalised care and support.

The TLAP Co-chairs and Programme Board will be working to recruit Sam's replacement and details will be shared shortly.

Enquiries about Sam's appointment should be directed in the first instance to the NHS England press office by telephone 0113 825 0958 or 0113 825 0959 or by email nhsengland.media@nhs.net