How to write a Support Plan

How to write a Support Plan

Writing your Support Plan

What is a Support Plan?
A support plan tells us about what you want to change in your life, what you want to stay the same and how you would spend your individual budget to support you to live independently. It describes:

• Your hopes, goals and the steps you will take to improve your quality of life
• How you will meet the needs that you identified in your assessment
• The support you think you will need
• Who you wish to provide the support
• How much it will cost
• How it will be arranged and managed
• How your plan will be reviewed with you

Your support plan will need to be agreed by your assessor or care manager as safe, show how you will meet your needs and to be within the amount of money allocated to you.

Who can help me with writing my support plan?
You may wish to plan your support on your own or with your family and friends who you trust. We will give you some guidance in the form of a support planning pack, which will help you think about all the things that you need to consider when writing your support plan.

You will also be given between 2-14 support planning hours, for you to spend on different types of support to help to write your plan. These hours will be related to your assessed needs and the amount you have been allocated for your individual budget. You will be assigned a support planner who will be able to offer assistance with support planning. The hours allocated include the time for help in writing up your plan. Some of the different ways support planning may be offered are described below. Your planner will not necessarily be able to offer the full range of these and you should discuss and agree the type of support planning that they would be able to offer you before you start to plan. Depending on what your planner can offer, you can use one type of help or a combination of these up to your agreed support planning hours.

Your support planning time does not include any help you need from the support planner to arrange your services once your plan is agreed. During the planning process your support planner will be able to advise and assist you with ways of arranging your support. Any help you will need to buy your services after your plan is signed off, (whether paid help or unpaid), should be detailed in your plan. 

What might I be able to spend my support planning hours on?
One to one support planning – up to 14 hours
A support planner can come and meet with you to help you write your plan. You will be told how many hours you have available to plan. Support planners are trained in helping you to think creatively and will help you look at lots of different tools and options to help you produce your support plan. They will also help you to understand the practicalities of putting your plan into action so that your choices are achievable.

Supporting Your Choice telephone advice – up to 2 hours
The Supporting Your Choice support planners can give you advice over the phone to help you with queries you may have about filling in your form. When you have decided with your support planner the support you will need for completing your support plan and what type of planning they are able to offer you, you will be able to obtain details about this service direct from your planner.

Support planning in a group – up to 14 hours
These groups may be run by a support planner depending on whether there is a group of people with similar allocations who wish to plan together. Not only would you be able to benefit from the support planner’s expertise, but you will also be able to share ideas with the other people in your group. You can arrange to go along with family and friends or with people you know who are also writing their support plans. These groups can also give you the opportunity to get to know other people in your local community better and share your experiences.

Information sessions – as arranged (3 hours each – up to 4 sessions)
These information sessions will be run by the Supporting Your Choice support planners and will present a range of information to help you with your support plan. The sessions will cover topics such asinformation about local service providers; ongoing brokerage support available to help with managing your plan; finance advice on benefits and funding from other sources that might be available to you in the future; costing up your support plan; employing and managing personal assistants; etc. It may be possible to tailor these meetings if many of you have similar concerns and would like information on a specific topic. You can let your planner know about any issues you think you would like more information on that you feel others may like to know about too.

A combination of these
Depending on what your support planner is able to offer, you may wish to combine some of these types of support such as telephone assistance and information sessions up to the amount of hours of support you are entitled to.

What happens if I do not use all my support planning hours?
You do not have to use all the support planning hours allocated to you. Any support planning hours that you do not use but think you may need can be saved for you to use at a later time..You may wish to save the remaining support planning hours to use before your next review or by 6 months. This could be because you know that you will be getting other funding (such as Disability Living Grant) and will need help to change your plan. You will need to agree this with your assessor or care manager. We may not be able to guarantee that you will be able to access the same support planner in the future; this will depend on their availability, You will only be given additional support planning hours if your needs significantly change.

What happens next?
Now that you have completed your assessment it is important for you to think about which type of support you would like to use your support planning hours on. You can also talk to your friends and family about which support is best for you and how much help they may be able to give to you. Your support plan will need to be agreed as safe, show how you will meet your needs and stay within the amount of money allocated to you.

Once you have received the letter telling you what your individual budget is likely to be and how many support plan hours you have been allocated, we will contact you to discuss how you would like to use them.

At the same time we will also check what support is available from your friends and family and that the people whom you have chosen to help you with writing your plan are able to ensure you are at the centre of planning your support.

If you have queries about the support available, you can discuss them with us when we contact you.

When you have confirmed how you would like to use your support planning hours, your support planner will contact you to make the arrangements for you to start writing your plan. You should complete your support plan within 20 working days of being contacted.