Personal care and supported living

Supported living is often described as housing plus support, arranged so someone can live in their own home. CQC does not register “supported living” as a single label. CQC registers regulated activities. Personal care is one of them. If your staff wash, dress, prompt or otherwise provide personal care, you are likely to need registration. If they provide housing-related support and no personal care, you may be outside CQC. Edge cases exist. CQC’s view, not a consultant’s hunch, settles them.

The paperwork has to tell the same story. A tenancy or licence with the landlord, and a separate care or support agreement, is the usual way of showing that the person has a home and also, where it applies, a care service. A single contract that looks like a care-home placement will be read that way. We are not your solicitor, and the tenancy itself needs legal advice.

Children’s homes are a different system. They are registered with Ofsted. Supported accommodation for 16 and 17 year olds is another Ofsted regime again. Calling an adult service “supported living” does not move it into Ofsted, and calling a children’s home “supported living” does not take it out.

If you are designing the model now, write a week in the life of the person, task by task, before you choose a regulator to apply to. Bring that page to a conversation about CQC and supported living. We would rather tell you registration is not indicated than help you apply for the wrong thing.