Commissioning 1:1 and 2:1 support
What the ratios mean, when each is appropriate, what drives cost, and how to step down.
Read the guide →Commissioner resources
Knowledge centre
Practical guidance for commissioners, social workers, brokerage teams and children’s services professionals — on commissioning complex support, stabilising placements, contact arrangements, risk and reporting. Written for people making live decisions, not for search engines.
Commissioned support
Designing, costing and running bespoke packages
How a bespoke package is mobilised
The seven stages from referral to review, and what causes delay at each.
Read the guide →Commissioned support vs agency staffing
What each model provides, and where responsibility actually sits.
Read the guide →Placements under strain
Stabilisation, breakdown and transitions
Placement stabilisation
Warning signs, what support can realistically achieve, and when escalation is right.
Read the guide →Placement breakdown options
The realistic options when a placement is failing, and how to weigh them.
Read the guide →Step-down from residential care
Planning the transition, designing the taper, and where step-downs most often fail.
Read the guide →Families and contact
Family support and contact arrangements
Intensive family support
What it involves, when it is commissioned, and what it can and cannot achieve.
Read the guide →Supported vs supervised contact
The practical difference, and what recording to expect from each.
Read the guide →Governance and referrals
Reporting, risk and getting referrals right
What good commissioner reporting includes
The four layers of reporting, and how to specify them before mobilisation.
Read the guide →Risk management in community support
Dynamic risk, lone working, escalation and recording.
Read the guide →Information needed for a complex referral
What to include, what to leave out, and the two sections most often missing.
Read the guide →Placement stabilisation referral checklist
A practical, printable checklist for a placement at risk.
Read the guide →Cannot find what you need?
Send the referral with the situation and the outcomes you need, or speak to the team if you would rather talk it through first.