By 2009, the government’s nascent three-year plan for the radical transformation of social care had been overshadowed by recession and inadequate funding. Brunel University and the Commission for Social Care Inspection facilitated a national consultation event to explore how the momentum for change to personalisation of support could be maintained, and what service users wanted that change to look like. Shaping Our Lives supported the involvement of service users; the event was also supported by 18 major social care organisations, bringing together key policymakers and a wide range of service users. Service users took the opportunity to identify a radical and coherent programme for reform that went far beyond the expansion of personal budgets.