Understanding UK supported living and supported accommodation

Small letters and numbers after a claim, such as R1 or G4, link to the source list.

No single count of adults in "supported living" was found. The nearest official measures are spending, and the 84,300 long-term supported housing units for working-age people in Great Britain. G4

R1M2

Social care contracts above £663,540 including VAT fall under the "light touch" rules of the Procurement Act 2023. N16 The mechanisms are from the original research. Not verified

• Housing associations and charities have cheap property and no shareholder to pay.
• Large groups have referral teams, 24-hour on-call cover and the capital to carry voids.
• Long-standing local providers have relationships with placement officers.

A small new entrant has none of these. It needs a manager commissioners already trust, a clearly defined specialism, or a partnership that supplies the property. Interpretation

• Councils spent £8.1bn on looked-after children in 2023-24, £1.5bn over budget; 73% of upper-tier councils named children's services and education as the main cause of their short-term financial pressure. Verified fact G1 The original research's figure of £9.5bn for 2025-26 could not be re-opened. M5
• Adult social care overspent by £715m in 2025-26; directors plan £869m of savings. M6
• Greater Manchester is building its own children's homes to "rebalance the market". P10

Ofsted says supported accommodation is "not right for all 16–17-year-olds": it is unsuitable where a child "has high or complex needs", "requires a high level of ongoing care and supervision", needs personal care or "has their liberty restricted". "Higher needs" as such is therefore not a lawful specialism. A service can specialise in a kind of help for young people who are already ready for semi-independence. R1R6

Estimate A working specification to agree with the registered manager, a specialist solicitor and Ofsted before any property is taken. R1R6

• The provider. Each director involved in running the home must be of integrity and good character, and the organisation must name a responsible individual with "the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home". A provider that is bankrupt or in an arrangement with creditors is not financially fit. Law G2
• The registered manager needs two years' work in the last five "in a position relevant to the residential care of children", one year supervising staff in a care role, and the Level 5 Diploma in Leadership and Management for Residential Childcare within three years of starting. Law G2
• Care staff must gain the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare within two years of starting. Law G2
• Independent scrutiny. An independent person must visit at least once a month, possibly unannounced, and report on whether children are effectively safeguarded. The report goes to Ofsted and the placing councils. Law G2
• The application. Ofsted "cannot accept your application unless you have provided all the documents": a statement of purpose unique to the home, planning evidence, insurance, policies, financial viability evidence and a location assessment showing the home is needed locally, after consulting the local authority. Official G3
• Interviews. Inspectors usually interview both the proposed manager and the responsible individual, who is asked about safeguarding, the law, "the business and management skills required to supervise the home" and "the financial skills and expertise required to ensure long-term financial viability". Official G3
• Planning. Children's homes generally fall in use class C2, and planning permission is commonly required. H16

• Four Quality Standards: leadership and management, protection, accommodation, support.
• Statement of purpose and workforce plan.
• Policies for safeguarding, missing children, behaviour management and contingencies; records.
• Duties to notify Ofsted of serious events, admissions and discharges; a regular quality-of-support review; notice of financial position.
• "No specific qualifications are mandatory for any staff". The original research said commissioners expect Level 5 for managers and Level 3 for staff; that was not verified and will vary by buyer. Official R6
• Missing information must be supplied within 12 weeks or the application can be closed with no refund. R2

Based on 210 providers with a published outcome at 31 March 2026: 17% of all providers, selected on risk, so not a picture of the whole market. Two working days' notice. Ofsted consulted in July 2026 on replacing this with a five-point scale from 2027-28. N8 R9M2

R12R13R14

• "There must be a real separation between the provision of personal care and the accommodation agreements." R15
• Directors must be "fit and proper": good character, competence, skills and experience. Law R17
• For learning disability and autism services, CQC "has never applied a six-bed limit" but refuses services that are not person-centred, and will not register new campus settings. R16
• All staff need learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role. R26
• The registered manager must have "the necessary qualifications, competence, skills and experience"; no qualification is named in law. Law G7
• Since 9 February 2026 CQC returns and rejects applications that are incomplete on receipt. Secondary G11
• Fees: £239 a year plus about £54 for each person supported, per location (read by one reviewer). N19 Waiting times: no current figures for new providers. Plan 6 to 12 months. Assumption

• Safeguarding: a policy that staff follow and a designated lead.
• Vetting: enhanced DBS checks (£41 from 5 October 2026 F11) and safer recruitment. Eligibility for a barred-list check depends on the role. R24
• Insurance: employers' liability is a legal requirement. Public liability, professional indemnity and abuse cover are commissioners' requirements. No published premium for a small new provider was found.
• Employment law: right-to-work checks, the National Living Wage, working time rules, pension auto-enrolment.
• Data protection: registration with the Information Commissioner and UK GDPR compliance for highly sensitive records.
• Health, safety and fire: risk assessments for each premises.
• Tax: Ofsted-registered welfare services are ordinarily exempt from VAT, so VAT on purchases is generally not recoverable. N10

From the original research, except where a source is given. Not verified

Whatever the form, the regulator registers the legal entity and then tests the people who control and manage it, and a director's duty of care, skill and diligence stays with the directors. G8 In Wales no new for-profit provider of children's homes may register from April 2026. R20 Interpretation Take legal advice. H10

Ofsted's application asks you to declare that premises need no further planning permission, so get the council's view first. Official R2H5

• Manchester and Trafford: reported as city-wide and borough-wide; the current documents could not be opened Not verified
• Bolton: borough-wide, made 13 June 2025.
• Salford: parts of the city, with a further direction in force from 17 November 2024.
• Liverpool: 11 wards, plus five further directions with immediate effect from 5 November 2026 and one more proposed for November 2027 (one reviewer's reading; check the council page).
• Wirral, Oldham, Rochdale, Lancashire districts: Not verified

One council H6H7

• Five or more people in two or more households needs a mandatory licence. Only people living there as their main home count, so a rotating sleep-in worker does not automatically take a 4-bed house over the threshold. Law N21 H9
• The exemptions cover councils and registered social landlords. No verified exemption for a private Ofsted-registered provider was found. Get the council's written view. H9
• Manchester says it has no additional licensing scheme at present. Fees: Salford £970; Manchester and Liverpool about £1,320. One council H8F17
• Expect fire doors, linked detection, emergency lighting and a written fire risk assessment. H15

• "A comfortable and secure living environment."
• A private, physically secure bedroom with space for possessions and adequate phone or internet connection.
• Premises "accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained".
• The location of each premises reviewed for suitability.

Law H2

What a suitable property looks like Estimate

• 3 or 4 bedrooms for young people, a staff office that doubles as a sleep-in room, two bathrooms.
• Walking distance to transport, college and shops; away from known exploitation hot-spots; not next to other children's settings.
• Fit-out and furnishing: £8,000 to £15,000 per house.

• The landlord must be a housing association, registered charity, voluntary organisation or county council. The test is not-for-profit status and substance, not company form: a not-for-profit company can qualify, a profit-distributing one cannot assume it will. Official H10
• Support must be "more than minimal". A body that is really a managing agent for a profit-making owner does not qualify.
• Council licensing is coming, with housing benefit tied to holding a licence. Draft regulations are out for consultation until 10 December 2026, with implementation officially estimated for 2027-28. The draft exemption needs council commissioning, residents aged 25 or under and at least one supported accommodation bedspace. N13 R18R19
• The Regulator of Social Housing says very few lease-based providers meet its standards; Birmingham found five of its six largest exempt providers non-compliant. H12H13

Interpretation Viable for a well-governed not-for-profit with a real support offer. A poor choice for an investor seeking rental yield.

1. Signing a lease before registration, consents or planning are clear.
2. Naming a manager on paper who is not really running the service.
3. Buying a policy pack and not living by it.
4. Assuming referrals follow registration automatically.
5. Accepting every referral to fill beds.
6. Planning for three months to first income when twelve or more is realistic.
7. Opening several properties at once.
8. Relying on agency staff.
9. Ignoring the rule changes when a resident turns 18.
10. Choosing a location for cheap rent alone.

1. The registered service manager. Nothing proceeds without one.
2. Verified fee levels for the chosen model and area.
3. Capital: the maximum funding deficit plus 25%.
4. A consented, suitable property in a location the host council supports.
5. Framework timing: the regional round and the Greater Manchester reopening.

Weekly fee per bed needed to cover running costs, before owner's pay. Estimate Mixed-service averages of about £1,260 to £1,610 (perhaps £1,350 to £1,720 at 2027-28 prices) reach break-even only for single cover, at high occupancy, and mainly at three houses or more. The "higher-support" variant (design B) needs about £1,650 to £1,750 at 85% occupancy, which no source shows a North West council paying for a shared bed. Paying the owner £35,000 raises the one-house figure at 85% from £1,548 to £1,775.

The one disclosure with a category split shows only 4 of 57 placements in ring-fenced shared houses, the type the original report recommended. Two reviewers disagreed on a central fee; the stronger review concluded none can be evidenced, and this dashboard follows it. Unresolved

• National Living Wage £12.71 from April 2026 and £13.21 from April 2027, up 3.9%. Employer National Insurance 15% above £5,000. Employment Allowance £10,500, once per employer. Verified fact N6F6
• The model pays £14.50 an hour, because first placements fall in 2027-28. A Manchester employer advertises £14.00 for residential practitioners and £15.00 for seniors. Estimate N22
• On-costs of 36%: leave, sickness and training cover (about 17%) multiplied by employer National Insurance and pension (about 16%). A further 3% covers agency and overtime. Estimate
• Guidance sets no minimum staffing ratio; staffing follows the assessed needs of the young people. Sleep-ins and single cover are used by providers. An Ofsted report has criticised lone working by inexperienced staff. Verified fact R6N18
• Sleep-in law settles pay, not whether a sleep-in is adequate cover. F20

The original report's £128,000 was approximately the same low-cover design at 2026 pay, using a 134-hour wage-equivalent with the sleep-in folded in. One reviewer added a flat £38,000 for "safer cover"; the stronger review rejected that as unevidenced, and the designs above replace it.

All Estimate or Assumption except the wage floor. Before the first pound of income the one-house plan spends about £140,000. A lease that starts on registration and a part-time manager until then could cut the favourable-case deficit to about £190,000. Fees for Ofsted-registered welfare services are VAT-exempt, so VAT on purchases cannot be reclaimed: budget gross. N10 A house occupied only by under-18s is exempt from council tax. N11 No insurance quotes exist; get three.

• Corporation tax and the cost of borrowing.
• Bad debts and disputed invoices.
• A house standing staffed with no referrals after registration.
• Annual wage rises that outrun fee uplifts.
• The owner's time and any salaried director-level lead, unless you enter a figure for director-level pay.

A three-place children's home Assumption

Every input is an assumption made for this guide; no rota, rent or fee for a children's home was verified. The fee is the national average council spend in 2023-24. G1 Select "Illustration: children's home" in the scenario list to change any input.

Inputs: night cover of one awake worker and a sleep-in; £15.00 an hour, 36% on-costs and a 5% agency premium; a manager and a deputy averaging £50,000; rent £2,200 a month; £200 a week per child; central overhead £45,000; twelve months to a first child. The price evidence sits above this cost base, which is consistent with the margins reported for the largest providers. But a three-place home swings from profit to loss on one empty place, the staffing a commissioner requires decides the result, and the average fee is two years older than the costs. Interpretation

Adult supported living, six three-person houses Not verified

Tenants hold their own tenancies, so the provider pays no rent. Income is 28 funded hours a person at about £23 an hour plus a shared sleep-in. Revenue about £788,000, profit about £18,000 (2.3%), break-even at 93% of funded hours delivered, maximum funding deficit about £221,000. These use 2026-27 pay and were not re-examined in the audit. F7

Support-only move-on service, 20 clients Estimate

Bills about £175,000 a year. Against Bury's proposed 2026-27 adult rate of £22.97 an hour (approval not checked), a delivered hour costs between about £20.50 and £27.90 depending on how much paid time is spent with clients, so the margin runs from about −£4.90 to +£2.43 an hour before travel and overhead. Two months of labour alone is about £28,000. F7

Single flats with visiting support

The most common supported accommodation premises type nationally, but no fee evidence was found. Test it by setting beds per property to 1 and waking hours to 10 to 20.

• The 35.5% figure is the 2020 margin for the unregulated accommodation segment of five large providers, down from 39.9% in 2018. It is measured before rent and management charges, so it is not comparable with this model. Verified fact M4N14
• The 17.1% figure is for 17 large groups with usable figures out of a sample of 20, broadly for 2024. It says nothing about small supported accommodation providers. Verified fact N9
• 32% of supported accommodation providers had an Ofsted regulatory case in 2025-26. Verified fact F14
• Interpretation The original "5% to 15% once established" had no evidence behind it. The audited model gives about 3% for one house and 11% for three, and only at about £1,600 a week and 85% occupancy.
• For children's homes, the Competition and Markets Authority estimated that the 15 largest private providers averaged profit rates of 22.6% from 2016 to 2020. Verified fact G1

1. What councils pay for a ring-fenced shared bed with stated staffing. Freedom of Information responses by category; Placements North West indicative prices.
2. How long new providers wait for referrals and what occupancy they reach. Council data on placements with providers registered under 12 months; two recent entrants.
3. What staffing commissioners will accept for the defined cohort. A commissioner's specification and a rota signed by the manager.
4. How long registration really takes. A request to Ofsted for submission-to-decision times.
5. What insurance with abuse cover costs. Three broker quotes.
6. Whether the 2026 demand figures differ. DfE's release, due November 2026 and not yet published on 13 November.
7. The live Greater Manchester deadline and reopening date. The opportunity on The Chest.
8. Whether support-only work can pay its way. One real care-leaver support contract.
9. Whether an owner without a care background can satisfy Ofsted as nominated individual. A pre-application conversation with Ofsted; a solicitor with registration experience.
10. What an experienced accountable director costs in the North West. Three advertised roles or recruiter quotes.
11. What councils pay for children's home places by level of need, and the staffing they require. Freedom of Information requests; a commissioner's specification.
12. What hourly rates and hours councils commission for adult supported living. Council fee schedules for 2026-27 and 2027-28.
13. What an existing registered provider sells for. A business broker's listings and one indicative valuation.

• It is desk research. No commissioner, provider, broker or regulator was contacted.
• Children's homes, adult supported living and supported housing were researched from national sources by one reader; none has an audited model or local price evidence.
• Tenders outside young people's supported accommodation in the North West were not surveyed.
• Scotland and Northern Ireland were not re-checked.
• The Care Quality Commission's own pages, Find a Tender and some council servers block automated access.

• Approve the statement of purpose and admission criteria, and see that the service stays inside them.
• Receive and question monthly reports on safeguarding incidents, notifications, staffing, occupancy and cash.
• Read every independent visit or quality review and track the actions.
• Be available to the regulator and to commissioners, and attend inspection feedback.
• Hold the registered manager to account, and have a plan for the day that person leaves.
• Keep the provider financially viable, and tell the regulator when that is at risk.

Interpretation A director-led structure is workable and is how larger providers are organised. It is not a hands-off structure, and the regulators' fitness tests are designed to prevent it becoming one.

• Criminal liability for operating outside registration. Carrying on an unregistered children's home or supported accommodation service is an offence. R11
• The provider's registration. Ofsted can restrict, suspend or cancel it; the business then has no income.
• Directors' duties to the company, including solvency. G8
• Personal guarantees commonly required on leases and loans for a company with no accounts. Interpretation
• Reputation with commissioners, which is personal to the people who lead the provider.

The raw output of every reviewer is kept unedited in the audit folder beside this file.

• Central fee: Luna proposed £1,450; Sol found none can be evidenced. Settled for Sol: the £1,450 was chosen because it was near break-even.
• Staffing: Luna judged single cover unsafe and added £38,000; Sol found it depends on the cohort. Settled for Sol, with two designs priced.
• Oversupply: not proven as a vacancy measure, yet Wigan's own strategy describes regional oversupply. Partly settled by the wording under Market and demand.
• Funding: Luna's ranges had no build-up and were rejected; replaced by model runs.
• Liverpool planning: Luna's fuller reading (five immediate directions plus one proposed) adopted over Sol's.
• Support-only work and the Greater Manchester deadline: not settled.

• It is desk research. No commissioner, provider, broker or regulator was contacted.
• Find a Tender, some council servers and CQC block automated access, so several procurement and fee facts rest on commercial copies or on the original research.
• The adult supported living comparison, the Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland summaries and the council finance figures were not re-examined.
• The audited cost base contains estimates and assumptions. It shows what the real numbers must beat; it is not a forecast.
• The material added for this guide (sources G1 to G12) was read by one reader and not second-checked.
• The children's home illustration and the director-led overlay use assumptions that no reviewer has tested.

• The care or support boundary, mixed-age buildings and legal form: a solicitor with Ofsted experience.
• Planning use class and HMO licensing for each property: a planning consultant and the council.
• Insurance: a specialist broker.
• Tax, VAT and financing: an accountant with care-sector clients.