Personal budgets have had a really positive impact on our lives

The National Co-production Advisory Group's Sally Percival blogs for the Guardian Social Care Network. Sally says her mother and her son are much happier now that they choose and employ their own staff:

" Someone you don't know walks into your house, up your stairs and into your bedroom! Is it a burglar? Most people would be horrified, but for many this is exactly what happens in homes up and down the country every day.

It happens to people who need care and support. It happened to my mother when she came home from a care home following a broken leg and onset of dementia. Our local authority assessed my mother and then organised her care. The care she received was disjointed and inconsistent, the carers that came often didn't know my mother's name, and she was frequently forgotten with no explanation. So I asked my mother's social worker for a direct payment. A direct payment is money given to individuals by social services departments to buy care and support, following a needs assessment.

I have a son, Alexander, who has a diagnosis of autism and a learning disability who has a personal budget and employs his own staff. Prior to receiving a direct payment and having a personal budget he too was given a one-size-fits-all service. This support was also inconsistent and often meant that there would be a number of different and new people turning up at our house each week to support him.

Someone you don't know walks into your house, up your stairs and into your bedroom! Is it a burglar? Most people would be horrified, but for many this is exactly what happens in homes up and down the country every day.

It happens to people who need care and support. It happened to my mother when she came home from a care home following a broken leg and onset of dementia. Our local authority assessed my mother and then organised her care. The care she received was disjointed and inconsistent, the carers that came often didn't know my mother's name, and she was frequently forgotten with no explanation. So I asked my mother's social worker for a direct payment. A direct payment is money given to individuals by social services departments to buy care and support, following a needs assessment.

I have a son, Alexander, who has a diagnosis of autism and a learning disability who has a personal budget and employs his own staff. Prior to receiving a direct payment and having a personal budget he too was given a one-size-fits-all service. This support was also inconsistent and often meant that there would be a number of different and new people turning up at our house each week to support him."

Sally recently wrote a blog for TLAP on her experience of the Ministerial Personalisation Summit.