Rights & choices · England
Does my support plan respect me?
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Your support should help you have a good life.
This guide is for adults in England.
What your plan is for
A positive behaviour support plan is sometimes called a PBS plan.
It should help people understand you.
It should help you have more choice and less distress.
Pain or illness can make you distressed.
Noise, worry or not being understood can also make things difficult.
People should find out what is wrong.
Make the plan with you
You should help make your plan.
Use words, signs, pictures or your usual communication.
People should listen when you say no.
The plan should say how staff will help you.
It should include things you enjoy.
It should say what staff need to change.
Your rights and restrictions
Adults can make choices that other people dislike.
Swearing does not mean you should be punished.
Threats or hurting people are different.
Everyone’s rights matter.
Tell someone if staff take your phone or stop outings to punish you.
People must not withhold food, drink or basic care to punish you.
Ask an advocate to help you speak up.
A restriction is something that limits your freedom or choices.
Ask why each restriction is used.
Ask what less restrictive support could help.
Writing a restriction in a plan does not automatically make it lawful.
Ask why you take each medicine.
Tell your prescriber if it makes you too sleepy or unwell.
Ask for a medicine review.
Do not change medicines without clinical advice.
Check whether life is better
A good plan should make life better for you.
Ask whether you have more choice, activities and relationships.
Being quieter does not always mean feeling better.
Your plan needs regular reviews.
Ask for an earlier review if things get worse.
Ask how restrictions will be reduced.
Ask for a copy of your plan that you understand.
An advocate can help you explain what you want changed.
You can ask how to complain.
Tell someone you trust if you are hurt or feel unsafe.
You can contact the council’s adult safeguarding team.
Safeguarding means helping protect people from abuse or neglect.
Call 999 if there is immediate serious danger.
What you can do next
Explain what worries you and what you want changed.
Ask who will help and when you will hear back.
Read about good PBS (PDF) PDFThis link opens another website.
It may use harder words.
More useful links
- Bild: what does good PBS look like? (PDF) PDF
The original resource compares helpful support with restrictive approaches.
- Bild: positive behaviour support explained Web page
How PBS can support quality of life, understanding and inclusion.
- NHS England: STOMP and STAMP Web page
Information and resources about appropriate medication and reviews.
- Government guidance and Easy Read information Web pageEasy Read
Positive and Proactive Care resources about reducing restrictive interventions.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Positive behaviour support: checking that a plan respects your rights
Recognise helpful support, question punishment and challenge unnecessary restrictions in a behaviour plan.
Adults aged 18 and over · England
What positive behaviour support should do
Positive behaviour support (PBS) aims to understand the person and improve everyday life. It should develop helpful surroundings, communication and skills. It should not simply make someone quieter or easier to manage. Look at what a plan actually asks staff to do; its title is not proof that it respects rights.
Understand distress before trying to change it
Check for pain, constipation, illness, medicine effects, trauma, sensory overload and unmet needs. Describe what happens before, during and after distress without labels such as “naughty” or “manipulative”. A functional assessment explores what the behaviour may communicate or achieve. Observations are not proof of someone’s motives. Health changes need appropriate clinical assessment.
Make the plan with the person
Use the person’s communication methods and give them time. Record their wishes, refusal and uncertainty, not just staff or family opinions. Explain proposed support and seek valid consent where required. If there is a genuine capacity concern, consider the particular decision with support. A PBS plan does not replace Mental Capacity Act safeguards or other required legal authority.
Put practical support first
A plan should explain what staff will change: demands, noise, routines, communication, meaningful activities or access to help. It should identify early signs of distress and approaches the person finds useful. Name who will provide support, what training they need and who coordinates reviews. Merely listing behaviour to stop leaves the person’s needs unanswered.
Respect ordinary adult choices
Disagreement, swearing or an unconventional preference does not by itself justify punishment or restraint. Distinguish this from threats, harassment or a real risk of harm. Blanket targets such as “never swear”, “no alcohol” or “no relationships” need scrutiny. Consider the individual decision, consent, actual risks, other people’s rights and relevant law rather than staff disapproval.
Question punishment and forced compliance
Cancelling an outing because someone swore, removing their phone to make them obey, or withholding ordinary contact as a sanction are warning signs. Basic care, food and drink must not be withheld as punishment. Agreed encouragement to develop a chosen skill is different from coercion. Any genuine safety restriction needs its own lawful justification, alternatives and review.
Identify every restriction
Restrictions may involve physical holding, equipment, locked doors, preventing access to rooms or possessions, isolation, surveillance or medication used to subdue someone. Their legal classification depends on the circumstances. Ask what authority permits each measure and why it is necessary, proportionate and the least restrictive suitable option. A care-plan signature does not authorise unlawful restraint or deprivation of liberty.
Check the purpose of medication
Medication may be appropriate treatment for a diagnosed condition. Medication used mainly to control or sedate behaviour needs particular scrutiny. Ask the prescriber about the reason, intended benefit, side effects, alternatives and review or reduction plan. NHS England’s STOMP programme challenges inappropriate psychotropic prescribing; it is not anti-medication. Do not stop or change medicines without clinical advice.
Measure a better life, not just fewer incidents
Ask whether the person feels safer, makes more choices, enjoys relationships and activities, and needs less restriction. Fewer recorded incidents could reflect improvement, but could also reflect isolation, fear or sedation. Keep factual records of support delivered, the person’s experience and any restrictions. Share only necessary information and protect privacy.
Review, reduce and learn
A plan needs a review date and clear responsibility. Review sooner if distress, restraint or injuries increase, or quality of life declines. Check whether promised support was actually provided. After a restrictive incident, offer appropriate health checks and emotional support, listen to the person and examine alternatives. Any restrictive intervention should have a plan to reduce its use and need.
Ask for change and independent support
Request an accessible copy and a meeting with the responsible team. Explain which instruction worries you and the change you want. Ask for independent advocacy, specialist assessment or a second opinion where appropriate. Raise unresolved concerns with the provider and the council or NHS team arranging care. The linked complaints and safeguarding guides explain further routes.
If someone is being harmed
If there is immediate serious danger, call 999. Otherwise, suspected abuse, neglect, unlawful restraint or degrading treatment can be raised with the council’s adult safeguarding team. You can also share concerns about a regulated service with CQC. Do not wait for the next routine PBS review when someone may be unsafe.
Words you could use
“Please review this instruction in my support plan: … It affects my life by … What is its lawful basis? What less restrictive support can we try, and when will we review the result?”
More useful links
- Bild: what does good PBS look like? (PDF) PDF
The original resource compares helpful support with restrictive approaches.
- Bild: positive behaviour support explained Web page
How PBS can support quality of life, understanding and inclusion.
- NHS England: STOMP and STAMP Web page
Information and resources about appropriate medication and reviews.
- Government guidance and Easy Read information Web pageEasy Read
Positive and Proactive Care resources about reducing restrictive interventions.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
Where the information comes from
Links checked 1 November 2026.
These links open other websites.
They may use harder words.
- CQC: positive behaviour support policy Web page
Person-centred, proactive support; assessment, staff skills, monitoring and reduction of restrictions.
- NICE NG11: behaviour that challenges Web pageProfessional guidance
Health and functional assessment, support planning, quality of life, review and restriction reduction.
- CQC: restraint policy Web page
Legal and ethical safeguards, proportionality, monitoring and review.
- CQC Regulation 13: safeguarding Web page
Protection from abuse, degrading treatment, unnecessary restraint and unlawful deprivation of liberty.
- CQC Regulation 10: dignity and respect Web page
Autonomy, privacy, lifestyle choices, relationships and community involvement.
- DHSC: Positive and Proactive Care Web page
Adult guidance for England, including understanding distress, reducing restrictions and avoiding punishment.
- NICE NG10: violence and aggression Web page
Safeguards for restrictive interventions, including the prohibition on punishment or humiliation.
- NHS England: STOMP and STAMP Web page
Appropriate psychotropic prescribing, alternatives and regular person-centred medication reviews.
- Bild: positive behaviour support Web page
Rights, participation, supportive environments and quality of life.
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