Surrey Independent Living Charity
Surrey Independent Living Council is evolving! Following on from an independent external review the
trustees agreed to change the name of the organisation to Surrey Independent Living Charity. (SILC)
They believe that the change in name from Surrey Independent Living Council to Surrey Independent
Living Charity better reflects the charitable objectives of the organization and avoids confusion with
Surrey County Council.
SILC is a User Led Organisation that has been active in Surrey for almost 25 years and was formed as
Surrey Independent Living Council in 1998 by a group of disabled people. SILC’s primary purpose was
to provide support to disabled people who wanted to use local authority funded Direct Payments to
employ Personal Assistants to provide the care and support they needed.
Between 1999 and 2017 SILC continued to provide support services in Surrey and their growth
reflected the increasing number of people using Direct Payment in Surrey. During that time, the
charity expanded to provide one off Direct Payments to Carers and Personal Health Budget support
to individuals funded by the NHS.
Chief Executive, Richard Davy, said to Epsom and Ewell Times: “The change in our name to Surrey Independent Living Charity honours the history of the charity and the work that has been undertaken over the last 25 years,
whilst looking ahead to the future and focusing on our charitable objectives and our vision, mission
and values.”
SILC believes that everyone can live independently with the right support. At the heart of everything
they do is the social model of disability and the concept of full human rights. They believe that these
give a basis for treating everyone with respect, understanding and fairness. They also believe that disabled adults, children, older people and carers can learn from and support each other.
Surrey Independent Living Charity (SILC) will continue to provide its existing range of services, details
of which can be found on www.surreyilc.org.uk.
In addition to this, the charity intends to put a greater focus on its role as a champion and facilitator
of independent living for people in Surrey who require support to live in the community. SILC will
also be further developing peer and volunteer led information, advice and support for residents who
need it.
Chief Executive, Richard Davy, “We at SILC are very proud to have been supporting people in
Surrey to live independently for almost 25 years. We’re on a mission to extend the awareness of the
support we can provide to families and individuals living with disabilities as well as older people with
care needs, and to raise additional funding to widen the range of services we can offer to the people
of Surrey”.
To find out more about SILC and how you can support them or access their services, please visit the SILC
website www.surreyilc.org.uk.
