Personalisation is a key government policy for public services, especially in social care and health, where ‘self directed support’ is being introduced in order to increase choice and control for people with support needs. As an ethos personalisation is informed by concepts of co-production and citizenship. A core element is the allocation of a ‘personal budget’, a cash sum that the person uses to purchase the help and care they need, and which can be taken as a ‘direct payment’. This paper summarises the findings of the Chaos or Empowerment? project, which focused on the introduction and impact of personalisation and personal budgets in the North East, especially from the perspective of the mental health voluntary and community sector (MH VCS), and its beneficiaries.