CQC Mock Inspection for Supported Living Providers
Supported living services operate at the intersection of social care and housing — and CQC inspectors understand the distinction. Your service users are tenants with legal rights, not residents.
Why Supported Living Inspections Are Different
Supported living services operate at the intersection of social care and housing — and CQC inspectors understand the distinction. Your service users are tenants with legal rights, not residents. This changes the inspection dynamic fundamentally. Our mock inspection focuses on the areas where supported living providers most commonly fall short: demonstrating genuine choice and control, evidencing positive behaviour support rather than restrictive practices, ensuring capacity assessments are decision-specific (not blanket), and maintaining the delicate balance between support and independence.
What CQC Inspectors Focus on for Supported Living
The specific evidence and practice areas inspectors scrutinise, broken down by each key question.
Safeguarding and Risk Management
- Positive behaviour support (PBS) plans — are they written by a trained PBS practitioner? Do they include proactive strategies, not just reactive responses?
- Restrictive practice reduction — a log of every restrictive intervention, evidence of debrief and review, and a demonstrable reduction trend
- Safeguarding — referral rates, patterns, staff understanding of the threshold for reporting to the local authority
- Environmental risk assessments — adapted for each individual's tenancy, not generic templates
- Medication management — self-administration assessments, competency checks for staff who prompt or administer
Capacity and Least-Restrictive Practice
- Mental Capacity Act compliance — decision-specific assessments (not blanket "lacks capacity" statements)
- Best interest decisions — properly constituted, involving the person, family, and relevant professionals
- DoLS/LPS tracking — authorisation status, expiry monitoring, conditions compliance
- Outcome-focused support plans — can you demonstrate that people are making progress towards their personal goals?
- Staff training — autism awareness, learning disability awareness, communication tools (PECS, Makaton, easy-read)
Choice, Control, and Tenancy Rights
- Tenancy agreements — does each person have a genuine tenancy (not a licence to occupy)? Can they change provider without losing their home?
- Choice and control — evidence that service users choose their own meals, activities, daily routines, and how their support is delivered
- Communication support — accessible information for people with learning disabilities or communication needs
- Family and advocate involvement — documented, with the person's consent
Individualised Support
- Person-centred support plans — reviewed regularly, written in the first person where possible, reflecting the person's voice
- Activity and engagement — meaningful occupation, community access, education, employment, and volunteering support
- Health action plans — accessible health passports, annual health checks, dentist and optician appointments tracked
Provider Governance
- Registered manager oversight — how do they maintain quality across multiple properties?
- Provider-level audits — not just service-level. Is the nominated individual engaged and informed?
- Workforce stability — recruitment, retention, agency use. High turnover destabilises supported living services disproportionately
- Commissioner relationship — contract compliance, quality monitoring returns, annual review evidence
Common Pitfalls for Supported Living Providers
Issues we frequently find during mock inspections — the kind of gaps that turn into inspection findings if not addressed.
Blanket capacity assessments
Writing "John lacks capacity" in a care plan is not a valid capacity assessment. The Mental Capacity Act requires decision-specific assessments — capacity to manage finances is a different assessment from capacity to consent to personal care. Inspectors check this rigorously.
No PBS practitioner involvement
Behaviour support plans written by support workers rather than trained PBS practitioners are a common finding. CQC expects PBS plans to be developed or overseen by someone with recognised PBS training, reviewed regularly, and focused on proactive strategies.
Tenancy vs licence confusion
If your service users don't have genuine tenancies — if they can't change care provider without moving out, or if the care provider controls housing allocation — inspectors will question whether this is genuinely supported living or an unregistered care home.
Restrictive practice not logged
Every restrictive intervention (physical, environmental, chemical, mechanical) must be recorded, debriefed, and reviewed. Many providers under-report because staff don't recognise certain actions as restrictive. Locked front doors, removing items, and PRN sedatives all count.
Start with a Self-Assessment
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Frequently Asked Questions
How is a supported living mock inspection different from a care home one?
The fundamental difference is that supported living service users are tenants with legal rights to their home. Our mock inspection assesses whether your service genuinely operates as supported living — with real tenancy agreements, genuine choice and control, and support that enables independence. We focus heavily on Mental Capacity Act compliance, positive behaviour support, least-restrictive practice, and tenancy rights, which are less prominent in care home inspections.
What evidence do CQC inspectors look for in supported living?
Inspectors look for evidence of genuine choice and control — that service users choose their meals, activities, daily routines, and how support is delivered. They check that capacity assessments are decision-specific, that behaviour support plans are developed by trained PBS practitioners, that restrictive practices are logged and reducing, and that tenancy arrangements are genuine. They also speak directly to service users using appropriate communication methods.
Do you inspect multiple supported living properties?
Yes. If your service operates across several properties, we visit a representative sample and review your governance arrangements for maintaining quality across all sites. This mirrors what CQC does — they select properties to visit and expect consistent standards across the whole service, not just the ones they see.
CQC Registration by City
Need to register a new supported living service? See our city-specific registration guides.
Other Mock Inspection Types
Mock inspections tailored to each CQC-regulated service type.
Registering a new service? Supported Living Registration