STEPHEN LEWIS meets two York men enjoying the freedom of living on their own for the first time - thanks to a new way of paying for social care

Shaun Lavery went out nightclubbing a few weeks ago. It was, he says with a big grin, absolutely fabulous. You can tell from the expression on his face he really means it.

To most of us it may not seem a big deal. But for 40-year-old Shaun, it was only the second time in his life he had been out clubbing.

Blind and suffering as a child from brittle bones, he was put into residential care at three - and spent the next 38 years in one home or another.

The last 20-or-so years he lived at the Wilberforce Home for the Blind in York. And while he has nothing against the home, he says, as a lively adult he inevitably began to feel stifled.

"I just could not be who I wanted to be, and couldn't go where I wanted to go," he says. "Whatever I did, I always had to have support. I felt trapped. I just wanted to be a normal, ordinary human being."

What he wanted, in fact, was what any adult would take for granted: to be able to move out and set up home on his own.

After years in care, it seemed impossible. But then, through York People First, a self-advocacy group for those with learning difficulties of which he is chairperson, he learned about Direct Payments.

It changed his life. Direct Payments is a system whereby people with a range of disabilities can receive cash from their local authority to employ their own carers, instead of being provided with care by their local social services.

What it meant for Shaun was that, after being assessed by a care manager, he was able to employ a personal assistant to look after him - which in turn meant he could move out of the Wilberforce Home and, for the first time in his life, start to live independently.

He employed Ben Chamberlain, a friend he had met while studying at York Technical College a few years before, as his PA, and moved into a one-bed council flat in Cherry Street at the beginning of March.

Ben helps him 24 hours a week with the shopping, cooking, cleaning and other household chores. Shaun has a further 12 hours help at weekends from another PA.

He loves every moment of his new-found independence. "It's fantastic," he says. "Everything I've ever dreamed of, to be honest. Just to be able to do what you want, when you want; to be myself and live the life I should have been living since I was 18, basically."

He's not the only person in York enjoying new-found freedom as a result of Direct Payments or their earlier counterpart, Third Party payments.

Anne Badger of York Centre for Voluntary Services reckons between 30 and 40 people in the York area receive all or part of their social services care in the form of Direct or Third Party payments which allow them to employ who they want to look after them.

The Direct Payments scheme was initially introduced nationwide in 1997: but because it was not widely promoted, there was little take-up.

That all changed last month, when the Government brought in new regulations requiring councils to offer the payments to people who had been assessed as able to manage.

Partly as a result of that, York CVS today appointed a City of York Council-funded part-time support worker, Kim Whiting, whose job will be to advise and support people with learning difficulties who want to take up Direct Payments.

Almost anyone over 18 who needs care - whether they have a physical disability, learning difficulty, mental health problems or are simply old and vulnerable - may be able to claim the payments, says Anne. It will mean they can decide how much care they want, and when - and even who they want to employ to provide that care.

It won't be appropriate for everybody, says Anne, and anyone who applies will need a care assessment first.

But for the right people, it could mean having a degree of control over their lives that is almost unthinkable with traditional residential or home care.

Andy Pollin is another York man who has found out for himself how liberating it can be to live independently, thanks to Direct Payments.

Andy, who is 28 and has cerebral palsy, moved from a council-run residential home into a warden-controlled flat in New Earswick on December 31, after seven years in care.

"It is the first time I've lived on my own," the York People First committee-member says.

"I wanted to have more independence, and it's been really good. I really enjoy the quiet atmosphere. It was always a bit noisy in the home!"

- There will be a special information day at the Salvation Army Citadel in Gillygate, York, on May 21 where you can find out more about Direct Payments. Alternatively, call Anne Badger at York CVS on 01904 621133, York People First on 01904 431313, or Kate Brown at City of York Council on 554188.

Updated: 11:26 Thursday, May 01, 2003