Testimonials
Mrs C
“I first heard about direct payments summer 2014, This came just in time for me! As someone who has a degenerative neurological illness, as I depend on others to take me out which tended to be family and as I have so many hospital appointments it tended to be these [and] nothing fun! Before my illness had taken hold, I had worked and been very socially [active], as time went on I was getting more and more withdrawn.
Then I met [my adviser] from Suffolk Independent Living. She explained what they could do from the initial advert, holding interviews, employing someone working out my employees wages and supplying a wage slip. Throughout this process I was consulted and every decision was mine.
I started employing [in] January of this year, I get to do fun things again! Shopping, going for coffee, cinema, we even spent the day at the Suffolk Show and as I have a bit of equipment that stands me up (I need help getting in to this) sometimes when I'm in then [my PA] will make a coffee and we just talk, our children are the same age we are never short on something to talk about!
You may think it was luck getting [my PA] but I believe no it was the help and advice I received from Suffolk Independent Living from the advert to the interviews and employment of [her]!
I can not stress enough how much this has improved my life! I can actually talk about my day and it hasn't involved a member of my family...”
Miss G
"I have used [SIL] for a number of years. I live alone and without the help of my PA's life for me would be very difficult and I would lose my independence.
If I need to talk to anyone there is always someone at the end of the phone to advise me if needed with pay enquiries or employees hours.
I would find life very difficult without this service.”
Miss B
“I used SIL for all my needs; I used to have an agency for my care, but after a bad experience I have switched to employing a PA, I also have a daughter in receipt of directs payments. The support SIL offer is consistently excellent, I tend to ask for the person who set it all up for me - they remove any worries and doubts as they really do know their stuff. Things are explained in a clear and concise way, everything is backed up with emails and letters and more often than not things are resolved straight away. Recently, I had to contact Customer First as my Direct Payment needed a slight change, what followed was how not to do it, but SIL helped tremendously, they contacted [my assessor] to [advise] them, they provided a table of facts and figures and reassured me things would be sorted - 4 months later it was, but without SIL I'm not convinced we would [have] had the same outcome.”
Miss CH
“The support for writing a job description and personal spec to begin the process was invaluable. I was as such a low in my life and do not think I would have been able to sort out employing any staff without all your help and support. Having someone available to discuss any issues with is extremely important. The help you gave my with interviewing was incredible. Again I do not think I could have completed this successfully on my own. I also use the service for any help and support with employment problems, which everyone has been so helpful. The payroll team sort out how much to pay everyone so that there is no worry about calculating taxes or anything else. They even help work out how much holiday my employers are allowed.I can not thank you all enough for the help and support you have given me.”
