How a Life Plan can be used as a service specification
A Life Plan sets out clearly any services that require commissioning e.g. housing or support provision and an action plan with timescales for making the plan happen.

The Life Plan will set out an action plan with timescales for making things happen and can be used to calculate a budget, consider funding options and consider the ways in which the funding will be managed e.g. Individual Service Funds.  

The Life Plan can either be used in its entirety, or sections used to input into the local area commissioning/brokerage system but the whole document should be provided to a chosen support provider prior to the supporting the person in order to ensure they have the contextual information they need to provide the right support.

The Housing specification can be used to giving to Housing brokers when looking at properties.

The Commissioners can use the Life Plan to form a contractual agreement with the support provider about the service required and review progress against it using the aims of the service.

The Life Plan sets out for potential support providers:
• The team specification including hours required, team make up, person specification, training requirements expected, and on call requirements
• The service aims that are being commissioned and will be monitored against
• The person’s support needs (including when things are not going well for them) in enough detail for the support provider to be able to demonstrate how they will be meet these needs and the cost
• The required involvement in the service, recruitment, training of staff etc. of the person and their family
• Who is paying for what, how the support is being paid for and what type of budget is being used e.g. individual service fund

The Life Plan sets out for potential housing providers:
• The housing specification including location, type of house, type of tenure/ownership required, adaptations and any capacity or deprivation of liberty issues

Support Plan
Once a support provider is selected by the person it should be expected by the commissioners that a support plan will be facilitated and written by the support provider detailing ‘how’ the person should be helped. The support planning process should be completed in a similarly facilitated process to the Life Planning.

The Support Plan will provide consistency and stability for the person by providing a ‘manual’ for all those helping them to follow, including not just their paid team, but professionals and family. The Support Plan is a ‘live’ document that should be reviewed and changed as the person’s life changes and people get to know them well.

Both documents should be read and understood by anyone helping the person.  You can find out more about how we can help with Support Planning here.