Craig Gibson
Martha Gibson – mum and full-time carer

“Craig is fragile, his X-chromosome was faulty and that leads to a lot of behavioural and learning difficulties. His behaviour can be impulsive, one minute he can be quite calm and the next he just flares up.

Craig likes to go for walks, likes dog-walking, it’s his chance to meet folk on the road. He likes going to the shops and buying his own lunch, buying sweeties. Going to the local pub for the banter, the meals. He’s happy just pottering around.

I wasn’t too happy with the system that the day centre was providing and their life isn’t from 8am until 4 o’clock and I wasn’t able to do the personal care, I didn’t feel comfortable. So when I heard about Direct Payments I thought, right let’s try it. It’s brilliant, it’s got everything; personal, social support a lot more than what the day centre’s got and I’ve got the free way to choose who I want to provide that support.

Direct Payments means that I become an employer and I can employ people to look after Craig, to support Craig so that he can do some of the things he likes. But I’ve got the choice of who I employ and I’ve got brilliant people through that. I don’t think I would have had them so good had I have went through another system.

I use Direct Payments, basically to give my son an everyday life, we started with personal care which he receives everyday, we have a wee bit of learning, maybe sums or learning to write, we have support for him to go and do the shopping, give him a bit of independence. Without Direct Payments, he wouldn’t have been able to achieve any of that.

For me, I’ve got freedom, a lot less pressure, I don’t have to worry about Craig being washed and clean because Direct Payments have allowed me to put somebody in that can do that and Craig feels comfortable with that person and I have no worry and Direct Payments take care of the payments as well. They just tell me how much I have to pay and they do all the paper work, so it is really hassle-free.

My workers, they just have to fill in a time sheet once a month. I then send the time sheet to Direct Payments and roughly about 2-3 days later, I get the wage slips, the time sheets back with a note of what each person is to get paid. It is so simple. And it costs very little to have that service. That covers the taxman, as well they tell me how much I have to pay the taxman. So the person that’s employing, it really is hassle-free. Anybody would benefit from Direct Payments that needed help and support in the community. Direct Payments is the way forward for a lot of people, I tell everybody.”