Supported living: Independent living with a disability

Supported Living enables people to live independently while receiving additional support and security. 

The aim of Supported Living is to enable and empower people to live as they choose, make their own decisions about their day and their home and to include them as part of their supported living in their local communities.

Each Supported Living accommodation has support workers who help tenants to set up and maintain their home. They are also there to help tenants to challenge themselves, respecting them as individuals with their own strengths and goals in life, while still providing support and care where they need it.

Supported Living is not the same as residential care. In Supported Living, each person living in the accommodation has their own home and is a tenant, rather than a resident, and is responsible for paying their own bills. Any personal care is regulated by the CQC, Care Inspectorate or Social Services Inspectorate Wales. The accommodation is not.

Who is Supported Living for?

Supported Living is for people who want to be independent while receiving some support with day to day living due to:

• Mental health issues
• Learning disability
• Autism
• Complex needs
• Challenging behaviour
• Substance misuse
• Medical needs such as epilepsy or brain injuries

What accommodation is available with Supported Living?

In Supported Living, you will have your own accommodation. These can vary in size, from larger blocks of flats to a house shared by people with similar needs. The accommodation may have communal facilities such as a lounge, garden, games room, gym or sensory room.

Accommodation can include:

• Studio flats
• One or two bedroom flats
• Your own house
• Shared housing, with each tenant having their own bedroom and sometimes an en-suite bathroom
• A property that particularly meets your needs

Angela Dyson is Priory Adult Care’s ‘Supported Living’ Director

Angela Dyson has worked for more than 10 years as an integrated commissioner for mental health and disability. She has a wealth of experience in the social care industry, working with adults with complex needs, including 30 years as a social worker.

Ms Dyson says: “Our supported living services are located within communities, so people have easy access to amenities and transport links. By understanding each person’s needs and aspirations, we can agree together the type of accommodation and locations that might work best for them. We can provide help with tenancy agreements where needed, giving people the security of their own homes. If an individual wishes to live with others, we match them with people who have shared interests and lifestyles.

“Your home can be adapted to suit your needs, such as with any specialist equipment or accessibility. You may prefer certain colours or like to order your belongings in a certain way to ease anxiety. As it’s your home, you decide your furnishings, where you want to put things and your house rules.”

Ms Dyson adds: “Some tenants have pets – cats, dogs, and small animals like guinea pigs or rabbits. For all pets, the landlords need to give permission. We consider to whether the accommodation is shared. As long as the tenant can look after the pet, many landlords are accommodating. Pets play a hugely valuable role in people’s mental health and can help alleviate any feelings of isolation or sometimes depression.” 

How will I be supported with my needs and to be independent?

When you move into Supported Living, you will have a support plan written. The team will involve you in creating the support plan and choosing what you’d like support with and when, within your budget.

Ms Dysons says: “Each individual receives emotional and physical support from a specialist staff team who are trained to meet their specific needs. We carefully match our team members to each person. With support from people they feel comfortable and secure with, tenants quickly grow in confidence. Support is available from a few hours a week to 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, including 1:1 support. We provide help across a range of areas to enable individuals to lead more enriching and fulfilling lives. This includes:

• Community inclusion
• Domestic tasks such as cooking, cleaning and shopping
• Personal care
• Taking medication
• Managing finances and budgeting
• 24-hour on-call support service for the support team
• Supporting with finding day time activities and employment/voluntary work
• Helping with claiming and managing benefits
• Accessing leisure and social activities
• Maintaining links with family and friends, and establishing new relationships
• Supporting healthy lifestyles”

A multidisciplinary approach to living independently

Support can also help with your specific needs and with helping you work towards goals, such as greater independence or recovery from a mental health condition or substance misuse. Supported Living can be staffed by multidisciplinary teams that include support workers, occupational therapists, behavioural specialists, psychiatrists, counsellors and volunteers.

Further support you may receive in Supported Living can include:

• Skill development, teaching you skills to promote your independence, which could include day to day skills like cooking, handling money, housework and getting public transport.
• Positive Behaviour Support (PBS). For people with challenging behaviour, mental health issues or addiction, this can help you to recognise when and why negative behaviours happen and to develop techniques to help to prevent them and positive steps to take after the behaviours happen.
• Drug and alcohol misuse prevention programmes.

Support plans

The team will regulalrly review your support plan so that you can make changes as your needs and goals change. They will also support you during the transition into living in Supported Living accommodation, as this can be scary time and many people feel homesick at first.

Ms Dyson explains: “Each resident we support has a “person-centred plan”. This is a way for us to help a person plan all aspects of their life, ensuring that they remain front and centre in any plan that affects them. Person-centred planning is not an ‘assessment’. It should be about helping an individual make the changes to their life that they need and want, and to plan for the future. In addition, a transition plan is usually agreed in partnership with their family. For some people, it means a gradual transition over a number of months to minimise any anxiety and ensure that they can look positively to the journey ahead. 

“We have some of our case studies here.”

How do I pay for Supported Living?

Supported Living often works out cheaper than residential care.

As you are a tenant, you are responsible for paying your rent, but this rent should be fully covered by Housing Benefit. You will not be required to pay any top up fees or need extra funding from your local authority to cover your rent. Some housing associations, such as Golden Lane Housing, even offer shared ownership schemes, enabling you to own a share of your new home.

If you are living in a shared house, you will pay your rent. You also share the cost of other bills, such as gas and electricity, between you and the other tenants. Utility bills and your support are paid for using your benefits, working within your budget. Additional costs of living, such as food and clothes, can be paid for using your benefits and any private income you have.

Ms Dyson explains: “If a person is assessed as have Continuing Health Care (CHC) needs, then funding is provided by the clinical commissioning group, and that person won’t have to contribute to their care or support fees. 

“Generally though, funding is provided by the local authority’s social care team first, which would include consideration of whether there are also eligible health needs. Social care funding will usually involve a financial assessment to determine the person’s contributions to their care and support (which would come from their benefits). Sometimes a person is allocated a personal budget from social care or a personal health budget (CHC) so they can manage their money themselves, or with the help of an appointee. Funding is dependent on the level of care and support a person needs. 

“There’s more information here and here and many charities are extremely helpful sources of advice.”

How to arrange to move into Supported Living

Moving into Supported Living can be a hugely positive change in your life. If you think you or a loved one would be interested in taking this step, Ms Dyson explains how the applications process works: “If the person has not already had an assessment for social or health care needs, they would usually contact their adult social care team, of which details can be found on the local authority website (or via their social worker if they have one). The social care team will ask some initial questions and then, if appropriate, arrange a social care assessment to determine their eligibility needs and level of funding available to them.

“Very often ‘supported living’ is considered as a first option before residential care, giving the person the opportunity to have their own tenancy and greater access to benefits. Usually the social worker or care manager will support them to look at supported living options and providers, but sometimes families will also look for providers themselves.”

Case study: Gary’s supported living experience

Gary and his seven friends gained more control over their lives when they moved into supported living in London. Golden Lane Housing leased four flats through its Great Tenants approach.

Catalina Ignat, scheme manager at Brandon Trust explains how their lives have transformed.

“Gary lived in registered care for 20 years. He shared a large house with seven others. The communal areas were quite small, and the only personal space they had was in their bedroom.

“The care home was no longer suitable and it was agreed Gary and his friends would move into the same block of modern flats. They have stayed good friends, regularly visiting each other. It feels much more homely and they can see it’s their home. There’s a concierge which gives an added security to the flats and they are very helpful.”

“Gary shares his flat with a housemate. It took him about two weeks to settle but after that he changed.

“The old place was ‘service run’ home but since the move he’s in control of his own life and the staff are flexible and work around what he wants to do. He’s now in charge and makes decisions about what he wants to do and when. He often says ‘That’s my flat, that’s my keys’, it’s wonderful. The freedom that Gary is experiencing has made a positive change. It feels like a different life altogether. He likes planning what he is going to do, whether it’s shopping to going out for dinner.

“With the help of assisted technology there is more privacy. The night bed occupancy and door sensor means we are alerted through a device. This is helping him to get undisturbed sleep as we’re no longer having to go into his room to see if he needs any support, which sometimes woke him up.

“The flats have a beautiful courtyard garden with lovely plants and water which he enjoys. The location is great, it easily accessible to Central London. It’s within the same borough so he knows the area, and can still go to activities. It’s close to the river bank where there are good places to eat and try new activities.

“I’m really enjoying seeing Gary and his friends happy in their own home. It’s their place, and now I have to arrange my visits around when they are available. It’s life-changing for them.”