Choosing your support provider and challenging a change — Easy Read

Who is arranging your support?

A support provider is the organisation or person delivering your care. The commissioner arranges or buys it: this might be the council or NHS. Ask who holds the contract and who can change it. A landlord has a separate housing role. This guide mainly explains council adult social care in England; NHS funding and privately arranged care have different rules. Start by asking for your current assessment, care plan, personal budget and relevant agreements.

What choice should the council offer?

Care Act statutory guidance says people should have a reasonable provider choice when the council arranges services, including where it uses approved provider lists. It also expects involvement in commissioning and service changes. Ask what choices are actually available and how your views will affect your care. This does not guarantee your preferred organisation, any price it charges, or a veto over every procurement decision. Your individual assessed needs and the suitability of the proposed support still matter.

What does tendering mean?

Tendering is a process in which a council invites organisations to offer a service and decides which offer or offers to contract with. It may cover many people. Ask what is changing, why, when and who is responsible. Ask how people using the service were involved and what happens to your individual plan. A new council contract does not itself decide your tenancy rights. Guidance expects service replacement to protect wellbeing and continuity of care, rather than leave gaps in support.

Explain why a provider may be unsuitable

Give specific examples linked to your needs: communication, predictable staff, clinical skills, sensory needs, cultural requirements, personal care, overnight help or access to activities. Describe what would happen if those needs were not met. You might say: “I need staff who can use my communication aid; please show how this provider will provide that support.” Include positive things you need to keep. Ask for evidence, a meeting and a written response to each concern, rather than relying only on the provider’s general promises.

Ask for a review and suitable alternatives

State whether you are asking for different workers, a changed plan or another provider. Ask for the available alternatives, reasons for rejecting them and the way the budget was calculated. The personal budget must be sufficient for the needs the council is required to meet; a preferred provider’s price is not automatically the amount the council must pay. Ask how any lower-cost offer will actually meet the same needs. Request your own accessible copy of the decision and a contact for unresolved questions.

Direct payments and other ways to arrange care

You can ask about a direct payment to arrange agreed support yourself, support to manage it, a third-party arrangement or a mixed package. Ask whether an individual service fund is available locally: an organisation holds an agreed budget while working with you on its use. A direct payment can widen provider choice but has legal conditions and must meet the agreed plan. It is optional; the council cannot make accepting one the only route to personalised care. Ask for written reasons and the complaints route if your request is refused.

Get help comparing providers

Ask whether a broker or direct-payment support organisation can explain options, obtain quotes or help with employment responsibilities. Check who pays them, any charge and any link to a provider they recommend. Compare practical answers: who will support you, staff training, communication, missed visits, complaints and emergency cover. Where personal care is regulated, check the correct provider or service on CQC’s directory and read the date and findings of its report. Registration or a rating does not guarantee that a provider can meet your particular needs.

Shared homes and choosing different support

Ask which support is individual and which is shared with other residents. If you want a different provider, ask how separate staff, shared overnight cover and access to the property could work. Discuss genuine practical barriers and possible solutions. Other residents’ needs and rights matter too. Read the separate guide on supported-living tenancy rights before changing agreements. A council choosing a care provider does not, by itself, mean you have agreed to give up your home.

Your agreement, communication and advocacy

Ask to be involved in your care plan in a way you understand, with a supporter you choose. A decision about capacity must be specific and include help to decide. If a best-interests decision is needed, your wishes and participation remain central; relatives do not automatically decide for you. Ask about Care Act advocacy if you have substantial difficulty taking part and no appropriate person to help. The fact that you disagree with a proposal is not, by itself, a reason to dismiss your views.

Object without creating a gap in essential care

You can say that you do not agree with a proposed provider and ask for an urgent review. Explain what help you still need and request a safe interim arrangement while concerns are addressed. Ask whether the change can be paused; do not assume that an objection automatically stops it. Before cancelling a contract, refusing all visits or hiring a replacement, get advice about safety, notice, payment and agreed funding. Record any temporary arrangement and unresolved objections so that accepting essential help is not confused with saying every concern is resolved.

Plan the handover and check it works

Ask for a named lead, dates, introductions and enough time for the new team to learn your communication and support. Agree necessary information-sharing, medicines, equipment, meals, health plans, night support and emergency contacts. Ask what happens if a worker does not arrive or the new provider cannot deliver. Record who checks that staff are ready and when the arrangement will be reviewed. If familiar workers may transfer, ask what is confirmed; do not rely on an unconfirmed promise that all staff will stay.

Complaints, safeguarding and urgent legal advice

Use the council’s complaints process for its assessment, funding or commissioning decisions, and raise care-quality concerns with the provider too. The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman can consider relevant complaints, normally after the council or provider has had a fair chance to respond. CQC can receive concerns about regulated services; that does not replace an individual complaint. Raise abuse or neglect through safeguarding. If essential care may stop, a move is imminent or a decision may need court challenge, seek urgent community-care legal advice. Complaints do not automatically suspend decisions or legal deadlines.

Choosing who provides your support

Who arranges your support?

You should have a say

What is a tender?

Ask what is changing

Say what worries you

Ask for other options

Ways to arrange care

Meet possible providers

Your home and your care

Get help to speak up

Keep essential support in place

Plan a safe change

If things are not resolved

What you can do next

More useful links