Supported Living Recommission
‘Supported Living’ is where people have the benefit of living in their community, in ordinary houses or flats with staff available to help them to live more independently.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) defines supported living as “schemes that provide personal care to people as part of the support that they need to live in their own homes. The personal care is provided under separate contractual arrangements to those for the person’s housing”.
We are currently looking at how we can improve supported living services, for people aged 18 and over with disabilities – including people with a learning disability, with neurodivergences such as autism, with a physical disability, with sensory needs, with mental health conditions and people with an acquired brain injury.
We expect to recommission our supported living services during 2024. To help us improve the services, we will ask care and support providers to work in different ways.
We asked people who use services, their families and carers to tell us what was important to them. We will include these things in our new arrangements.
Our vision for the future of supported living in Staffordshire is for:
“A high quality engaged supported living care services market which has the ability to meet needs through flexible and efficient delivery of care, and enable independence through the use of local assets, assistive aids and technology, and strengths-based practice to achieve co-produced, and person-centred outcomes.”
When the new arrangements are in place, individuals looking for supported living can expect:
- Good quality care that is monitored by the Council as well as by CQC.
- Care and support providers who work together with individuals to build support plans based on their strengths, own aspirations, wellbeing, skills, and capabilities to help them achieve their goals.
- Care and support providers who make better use of assistive technology, aids, adaptations, and the facilities and resources available in the local community to enable people to have fulfilled lives, promoting their wellbeing and independence.
- More choice and control over where they live, with the security that having a tenancy brings.
Key questions
- Answer:
- People in supported living typically have a tenancy agreement, with their landlord, which gives them security over their home; we do not anticipate people will need to move as a result of the recommission.
- Answer:
- Once we know which providers have been awarded to the new contract, we will contact people directly and work with them and their family to understand any changes, and the support available to them.
- Answer:
- No, the new arrangements only affect supported living within Staffordshire, therefore areas outside such as Stoke on Trent, are not included. However, we are planning to work with care and support providers outside the County to make improvements over the coming years.