Published on
9 April 2026
Gregg's story: Living life to the full
With the right support, anything is possible
Social Care Future is built on five core principles about the lives we all want to live. For Gregg, one resonates most strongly: being part of communities where we belong. And if anyone knows about Social Care Future, it's Gregg - he's a key member of the Social Care Future Core Group, where people across the community with different insights into social care come together to shape the future of support in Wokingham Borough.
But knowing the principles and living them are two different things. Gregg does both.
Gregg's story
Gregg is a trustee for two charities, co-chairs Wokingham Borough Council’s Inclusive Design Group, and has recently applied to become a magistrate. He also loves live music and over the past couple of years has seen artists including Faithless, Florence and the Machine, and Paul Weller.
"My body is knackered, let's face it," Gregg says. "However, my brain is exceptionally active. I like being engaged."
Gregg has MS and uses an electric wheelchair. He needs support with the basics - getting out of bed, getting dressed, the fundamentals of daily life. But as he points out: "There's more to life than that."
The lightbulb moment
A couple of years ago, Gregg posed a question to a room full of councillors and social care workers. "What did you do this weekend?" he asked. The answers varied - went to the garden centre, saw family, went to the cinema. "Well, so why would my life be any different?" Gregg said. "Just because you're disabled doesn't mean you want to live a different life. It simply means you need more support."
Gregg’s involvement, and that of others with lived experience in the Social Care Future Core Group, is part of ongoing conversations about what good support looks like - not just basic care, but as support that enables the life someone wants to live.
Building the team
Gregg receives support through direct payments - a budget he manages himself rather than having care arranged for him. It’s the same amount of funding whether delivered by agencies or self-managed, but it gives Gregg choice over who supports him, how and when. It also means he takes on the responsibility of recruiting, organising, and managing his own team of personal assistants.
His team includes a serving police officer who lives locally, a former builder who became one of the most naturally gifted support workers Gregg has ever met, a veteran carer who's been in the role for 44 years, and a television producer who has just joined to help with the admin side of his life.
Gregg finds his team through Indeed and Gumtree, but his adverts don't mention the word "care."
“Being a personal assistant is far more than care," Gregg explains. "It's concerts, comedy, new experiences."
One recent advert, run for just a week, received 54 responses.
The team works because Gregg chooses who, when, and how. Once a month, he emails his team asking them when they're available to work the following month. He lists his commitments, everyday tasks, events, meetings, trustee work - and his team responds with what they can do.
Some share his interests. Others are willing to learn - like the PA who went to the opera with Gregg for the first time. What they all share is compassion, empathy, and an understanding that everyone's situation is different.
"You've got to understand how the condition affects me as an individual," he says. "This is my MS, not anyone else's."
Freedom of choice
For Gregg, having the right support means freedom - freedom to say yes to celebrations and events, to take advantage of opportunities, to live what he calls "a more normal or regular life."
"It means the world," he says. "It means I can get out and live, see friends, family, engage socially, get the stimulation that I require and crave."
An agency fills the gaps when his team isn't available, but it's his core team that makes the full life possible.
Giving back
Gregg's involvement doesn't stop at living his own life. He's helping shape what's possible for others.
"You can't expect change to come from the outside," he says. "If you want to influence and make adjustments and educate people, you've got to do it from the inside."
Through the Social Care Future Core Group and his role co-chairing the Inclusive Design Group, Gregg uses his experience to improve services and spaces for everyone. His magistrate application, if successful, would be another way to stay engaged and contribute - something he could do until he's 75.
What it means
Gregg’s philosophy on support is simple: "Never in front of you, never behind you, always beside you."
Good support, he believes, is about understanding the individual, recognising that everyone wants different things from life, and giving people the freedom to choose.
"We're all different and we all want different things from life," Gregg says. "So it's understanding the individual before you set about saying this isn't right for you."
For Gregg, a good life is "having the right support when you need it and the level of understanding from people that can at least empathise and recognise that life isn't always easy. But we all have the opportunity to smile through it."
Even with MS and the daily challenges he faces, Gregg uses humour to cope with life's challenges and frustrations. "I can always find time and space to laugh. And even when I'm in pain, I'll be cracking the joke."
Supporting the vision in your community
Gregg's story shows what becomes possible when someone has the freedom to design support around their life, rather than fitting their life around support. Gregg is living the life he wants - engaged, active, and part of communities where he belongs.
Social Care Future is about bringing everyone together to work towards this vision across Wokingham Borough. The more organisations, groups and individuals who embrace these principles, the stronger our community becomes. If your organisation supports people in our borough and you'd like to be part of this movement, we'd welcome your involvement.
If you’d like to find out more about direct payments and how they can give people more choice and control, visit our direct payments information page.
Interested in becoming a personal assistant? Learn more about the role or drop us a note at getinvolved@wokingham.gov.uk if you're curious and would like to talk to someone. You can also find opportunities through Curam Home Care and Assured Care and Support.
