Member of National Co-production Advisory Group,
TLAP – Isaac is a Co-Chair of the Working Group of the APPG on Adult Social Care and is a committed community-minded individual working within the third sector for many years and working closely with local government and national charities, the Department of Health and Social Care, and TLAP. His primary focus is supporting a systematic approach to improve services for the people who need to access the services and that they meet the needs of the population by embedding communities’ voices at every level. Isaac’s achievements include:

Considerable influence and success in terms of reducing the barriers that people who have impairments, and other seldom heard groups, face, by ensuring that these barriers are explored in an open, honest, reflective way that supports people to retell their narratives in a way that makes them stronger.Sharing his own personal narrative and drawing on the narratives of others to support this life mission of ensuring that everyone has the same opportunities regardless of impairment, age and socio-economic backgrounds. Supporting a number of important social changes over the years from LGBT+ rights to choice and control and co-production. He is currently involved in numerous projects including research, lecturing, charity work, trusteeship, management and steering group leadership roles with a number of organisations.

All of this is achievable for Isaac as he receives support from a personal assistant through a direct payment, Isaac is passionate about self directing his own support and the role that PAs pay within the social care sector.

I live in Essex, have a condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and use a power chair. Having my personal budget has been life-changing.  Despite that the system can often be very complex and doesn’t always work the way it should.  As a result I became involved with trying to improve the system at a local level.  Being an employer can be very isolating, and so when I was then asked to join the ILG and connect with other employers across the UK I thought it would be an excellent opportunity to help get our voices heard.  I have had a lot of experience campaigning, lead a local access group and have worked for various charities. 

Brett has worked as a direct payments adviser for over 20 years and is a DP user himself.

He is a self-confessed employment law nerd with a keen interest in law and social policy. He helped set up the forerunner to direct payments in Wales in 1997.

In his spare time, he loves visiting friends and family across the country on a regular basis.

He is engaged to his fiancée Sian and their currently busy planning their wedding! He loves TV drama, soaps and cars.

Mostly, I feel completely out of my depth dealing with Health and Social Care issues as, prior to my partner’s health deteriorating in 2015 to the point where he required 24-hour care, this was an issue that I had not had to deal with. Once I finally overcame the various hurdles to being granted a Personal Health Budget on his behalf, we employed a team of PAs from 2017 through to his death in January 2021.

However, this was not without its difficulties and in March 2019 I submitted a complaint about the CCG to the Parliamentary Health Ombudsman. Their final report was not completed until October 2021.

For 40 years, in various roles, I have worked almost entirely in the charitable sector representing patient access to complementary medicines and therapies, which also involved lobbying both in the UK and Europe. I was a patient representative on the Parliamentary Group for Integrated Health from 1989 until 2017.

Although now retired, I continue to be involved in many aspects of this work on a voluntary basis.

When I needed support as an employer I was lucky enough to find it via my local DP support team but many are not so fortunate or simply do not have the energy to fight when they are let down by a public body.  I hope that bringing my experience to the ILG community steering group can help other individual employers who might one day find themselves in a position similar to mine.

Sally is also a co-chair of the working group which supports the All Party Parliamentary Group on Adult Social Care.

Besides caring for her son Alex, she started The South Lakeland Autism and Aspergers Syndrome Support Group in 1995, offering information, advice, training and advocacy, including a 24 hour telephone support line.