Your own front door, and help on your terms
- The home
- A tenancy in your name
- Reply
- Within one working day
Not a placement. This is the shape of moving into your own home, so you know what you would be signing and what stays yours if anything changes.
Who comes, and how often
The question that decides whether this works, so it gets a band of its own rather than a line in a list.
The same small team
Wherever the rota allows it. Continuity matters more here than almost anywhere: support in your own home only works if you are not explaining yourself to a stranger every week.What we check before anyone starts
Before anyone starts we will run the checks the regulations require for their role: identity, right to work, full employment history with any gap explained, references taken up directly, and an enhanced DBS check with the adults’ barred list where the role is eligible for one. We have not recruited yet. The standard is set by regulation, not by us — the detail is in our safeguarding policy.Trained, and supervised after that
Training before anyone works unsupervised, and regular supervision so practice is seen rather than assumed. TBD — Bluebell has not yet confirmed the training programme or the refresher interval, and we would rather leave that open than describe it vaguely.How much, and where
TBD — the hours available, whether waking nights or on-call are offered, and the areas covered have not been supplied. Ask us and you will get a straight answer for your address rather than a map that flatters the coverage.
What supported living actually is
You rent your own home, on a tenancy in your own name, and support comes to you there. The housing and the support are two separate agreements — a landlord for one, a care provider for the other — which is what makes it different from a care home in the way that matters: if the support changes, or you change who provides it, you keep your home. You choose how your day runs. Somebody is there for the parts you want help with, and not for the parts you do not.
What support looks like
Four kinds of help. Most people want some of each and nobody wants all of it, which is the point of agreeing it rather than being given it.
- Running the home
Bills, shopping, the washing machine
The admin of a life, which is the part nobody warns you about. Done with you rather than for you, so it gets easier rather than staying done.
- Health and medication
Appointments, prescriptions, prompting
From a reminder to full administration, recorded every time. Which of those you need is agreed with you and your GP, not assumed from a diagnosis.
- Work, study and money
The things that are not care
A job, a course, a budget that lasts the month. The parts of an adult life that a care plan usually forgets to mention.
- People and getting out
A life outside the flat
Seeing people, going places, keeping the relationships you already have. Support that only ever happens indoors is not support, it is supervision.
What moving in actually looks like
- Talking first
What you want your week to look like
Before anything about buildings or hours. What you want to be doing, what you want help with, and what you would rather do yourself even if it takes longer.
- The home
A tenancy in your name
You are the tenant. TBD — Bluebell has not confirmed which properties or areas are available, and we would rather say so than describe somewhere in general terms.
- The support
Agreed separately, and in writing
A second agreement, with the hours and who provides them written down. Separate on purpose: you can change it, or change us, without it touching your tenancy.
- Afterwards
Reviewed with you, and it can shrink
Support that never reduces was never really about you. The review is where it goes down as well as up, and it is your view that decides.
What it costs
No figure yet. Rent and support are two bills, and guessing either helps nobody.
- Rent is paid to the landlord and is usually met in full or in part by housing benefit.
- The support is funded separately, most often through a local authority care package.
- A Care Act assessment is what decides the support, and it is free. Worth starting either way.
- Anyone who quotes a figure before they know your package is guessing. Including us.
Regulation and registration
Supported living itself is not a registered setting — it is your home, not an institution. But support that includes personal care is a regulated activity in England: a provider cannot lawfully deliver it without being registered with the Care Quality Commission, and a registered provider must display its most recent CQC rating on its website.
TBD — Bluebell’s CQC registration and rating have not been supplied to this project, so neither is shown here. That is a gap in what we have been given rather than a statement about the service, and it is the first thing you should ask us for. You can also check any provider yourself on the CQC register before you speak to them, and we would rather you did.
Before you get in touch
The questions people ask us about supported living, answered as straight as we can while some of the detail is still open.
- Is it really my own home?
- Yes. You hold the tenancy, with the rights any tenant has. The support is a separate agreement, so changing it — or changing us — does not put your home at risk. That separation is the whole point of the model and it is worth checking any provider can explain it.
- What if I want less support later?
- Then you have less. Support that only ever goes up was never really about you, and reducing it is a good outcome rather than a lost contract. It is reviewed with you and your view is what decides.
- What if we do not get on with someone?
- Tell us and we change it. You do not need a reason and you will not be asked to justify it — a person you would rather was not in your home is not a small problem.
Not sure which service you need?
We will point you at the right service even if it is not one of ours.
Commissioners and professionals
Local authority enquiries
Framework, spot purchase and block contract enquiries go to the commissioning team, not the family inbox.
Partnership enquiries