Support Planning

The most important thing about planning your own support with or without help is knowing at the very beginning how much money you have to spend on it. This new way of working is what makes it very exciting and allows people themselves to decide on how it should be spent rather than the local authority deciding.
The support planning stage is the process during which decisions are made by the person (with support if needed) about how the money will be spent to meet the needs they have and taking account of any risks.

If someone doesn't think they have received enough money as an 'indicative budget' during the resource allocation process, this is the time to take what is allocated, begin the process of planning spend against needs and outcomes to be met from using the money. By doing this it will become clear if there is enough money allocated and it could provide evidence of levels of risk which people might have different views on. All in all it is the most empowering part of the whole process for people.

Support Planning in the past this has tended to be about the number of hours of support a person buys but now the money can be used much more flexibly allowing people to find new and creative ways of being supported.
The support plan is the way in which this is expressed and can be in a written form, or in pictures or photographs or perhaps a video. The person themselves can decide how they want to express this information.

This new way of working recognises everyone is different and will have different preferences.

Fair Deal can help you put together your support plan in a way that makes sense for you!