Research: The 200 Lives project

Research summary

• November 2019 – January 2022

Local authorities spend nearly £3bn a year on supported living and residential care for adults with learning disabilities. This is a significant proportion of the total social care budget and demand for services is growing.

There is a lack of evidence to inform decisions about commissioning services for adults with learning disabilities.

The project aimed to understand the quality and costs of supported living and residential care services. It focused on the services that best help adults with learning disabilities lead fulfilling lives.

Objective

We aimed to provide up-to-date evidence of people’s experiences, and analysis of the cost and quality of services.

Methodology

In the project, we:

• asked more than 100 18 to 74-year-olds in supported living (77 people) and residential care (30 people) about their needs, quality of life, housing rights, and housing situation
• sought the views of 24 family members through surveys
• spoke to service providers about staffing, costs, how they operate, and the wellbeing of the people they are supporting
• completed quality check reviews of services for 14 people with learning disabilities through the disabled people’s organisation, Changing Our Lives
• involved people with learning disabilities and family carers throughout the study as core members of the research team and advisory group. They also shaped how we are sharing the findings.

Expected outcomes and outputs

We hope that the findings of the project will be useful to those commissioning social care services and providing housing support. We also hope the findings will:

• help inform government policy
• inform the work of the Care Quality Commission and disability action groups
• help people with disabilities, and their families, make informed choices about their care
• provide a robust evidence base to support consistently high quality, value-for-money services