“…'Consumer directed care' -in which service users and carers control their own care budget and make choices about the services they access, including who will deliver the services and when -has arisen as part of the drive to give service users and carers more choice and flexibility in respite (Redmond and Richardson, 2003). However, despite parents' and carers' desire for, and supposed availability of, more flexible and personalised provision (Cotterill et al, 1997;Wilkie and Barr, 2008), service users staying overnight in a residential facility -'residential respite' -remains the most well-known and utilised form of respite in the UK (McConkey et al, 2011b). Given the ever greater survival rates of children born with intellectual impairments, the increasing lifespans of adults with intellectual impairments, and a decline in institutionalisation -not to mention recent austerity cuts to UK public services -an increasing demand is placed on such services (Caples and Sweeney, 2011;Nankervis et al, 2011).…”