What should good care and support planning look like? 

Think Local Act Personal and other groups put together some statements on what it looks like, directly from people with lived experience:

• I'm trusted to write my own care and support plan, with whatever help I need. 
• My care and support plan is about the whole of my life, not just about assessed needs or money. 
• I'm encouraged and supported to think creatively about ways to achieve my outcomes. 
• If I need help to plan, I can choose who supports me and who will help put the plan into practice. 
• People who support me to plan have a flexible, open, honest, positive, solution-focused attitude.
• I can involve friends and family in the process if I choose.
• I have all the information I need to plan, and I have it when I need it in an accessible way, including signposting to what's available locally.
• I'm supported to take risks, and know it's OK to make mistakes and change my mind.
• The process from assessment through to review is transparent and clear. I know what to expect and when to expect it. 
• People do what they say they'll do. 
• My review is person-centred, focused on me and my life, my outcomes and what's working and not working - not just the money. 
• Through my review I can contribute my views to improving the system as well. 

Find out more from the Think Local Act Personal website.

One-page profiles 

What are they?

• A summary of what matters to a person and how to support them 
• The starting point to build and develop the production of a person-centred plan 

When are they used? 

• At any time to support a person to ensure their voice is heard 
• Helping to build better relationships to truly understand what is important to the person in their life and the way they are supported to live it.  
• To provide a route for a person/advocate to share their knowledge/expertise on how best to support them 
• To inform person-centred planning and enable outcomes and targets to be more meaningful to person 
• To share information between staff and/or other professionals, a record that moves with the person 
• As the earliest opportunity for getting the person’s voice heard in the statutory process, and as a useful document to develop with the person throughout their journey to enable greater understanding among all adults who work with them 
• To be included in any requests for any Care Act assessments 

Find out more about one-page profiles and when they're used from our SEND local offer pages. 

Person-centred planning

A one-page profile is just one of the many ways we're looking to bring person-centred planning into our processes. Person-centred planning puts a person at the centre of the work being done. It focuses on both immediate and future needs, taking into account the thoughts, concerns and aspirations of the person, and those people in their life who are important to them (family, friends etc). It aims to give an accurate feel for who that person is, and therefore will enable appropriate person-centred outcomes to be identified for the individual.  

Person-centred planning relies on sharing and understanding the right information, so that the person can be supported to stay safe and healthy, and to have a positive life experience. 

Find out more from the information attached to this page.

Further advice/videos

• Mencap care and support planning 
• National Voices - a group of charities that stands for people being in control of their health and care. This is a long but useful guide about personal-centred care and support planning
• Mind care and support planning 
• Helen Sanderson Associates care and support planning 
• In Control factsheet