A new costing tool has been launched to ensure England’s 150,000 people with learning disabilities and autism can continue to live in supported living.
At least 150,000 people in England live in homes in the community with support also provided. Supported living is a middle ground between living alone without support and residential or domiciliary care.
Until now there has been no independently verified way of establishing the cost of this support. Unlike the NHS, there is no recognised national fee for high quality, Care Quality Commission compliant supported living that offers value for money from public funds.
The Sustainable Supported Living Costing Tool addresses this gap by proposing national fee parameters which are unique to supported living.
Developed with PPL
The Sustainable Supported Living Costing Tool has been developed by the More than a Provider collaborative, made up of five not-for-profit providers of support for 13,000 people to deliver care and support worth over £650million each year. People with learning disabilities and autism has worked with management consultant PPL to complete the research and calculations.
The rationale for the costing tool is explained in the report: A ‘gloriously ordinary life’. Securing the sustainability of supported living for people with learning disabilities and autistic people.
The tool is customisable to enable local authority and ICB commissioners to provider a shared, transparent benchmark for fees:
- Rates can be tailored to allow for local labour market conditions.
- It encourages a person-centred approach to commissioning which focuses on quality, experience, outcomes, and social value.
What is supported living?
Supported living is a ‘home first’ approach which builds independence through flexible support at home. It moves care into the community and out of costlier institutional and restrictive settings, harnessing progressive technology to support independence. It supports the government’s policy shift from hospital to community.
If supported living is not on a stable financial footing, there is a risk of moving back to an over-dependency on institutional models of care which do not deliver the best outcomes for people and cost the taxpayer substantially more.
‘Every calculation is clear’
Helen England, one of the Chief Executives in the More than a Provider collaborative said: “The tool puts commissioners and providers on the same page, using a shared set of inputs.
“Every input is visible. Every calculation is clear. Commissioners can see how the fee changes if, for example, the National Living Wage or employer national insurance rises or if recruitment challenges in a local labour market require a higher starting rate. Commissioners can save agreed local templates so there is a consistent reference point for future reviews. Providers can use the same template to prepare proposals. Families can see the logic behind the final figure.”
Making supported living sustainable
Helen added: “To ensure the sustainability of personalised, community-based support that promotes independence and participation in work or education, providers need to recruit and retain skilled colleagues, invest in training and maintain strong supervision and quality systems.
“When fees are set below the cost of these essentials, the result is instability that affects everyone – councils, providers, staff, families and, most importantly, people who draw on support.”
Making support consistent
People deserve consistent, trusted relationships with support workers who are skilled and valued. Fair fees are the foundation for this. The model includes realistic assessments for pay progression and differentials, so roles are attractive, and career pathways are clear.
The costing tool reflects mandatory training and supervision time, which are essential to safety and quality. By making these inputs explicit, the tool helps commissioners and providers invest where it matters most, to the people who deliver great support every day.