Person-Centred Learning Disability Support
We provide compassionate support workers and nurses specialising in learning disability care and person-centred support. Our staff are trained to promote independence, dignity and choice for every individual they support.
What We Provide
- ✓Specialist Support Workers
- ✓Learning Disability Nurses
- ✓Person-Centred Approach
- ✓Positive Behaviour Support
Our team supports people with learning disabilities in supported living, residential care and community settings, helping individuals live as independently as possible while receiving the care they need.
Roles and Settings We Cover
We supply registered nurses for learning disabilities, specialist support workers and staff experienced in positive behaviour support. They work in supported living and shared houses, residential services, respite and short-break services, day services, community teams and step-down placements. Where a service needs a blend of clinical and support cover, we can supply from the same booking, drawing on our nursing, mental health and support staff teams.
What Person-Centred Support Means in Practice
Person-centred is an easy phrase to put on a website and a harder one to staff for. In practice we brief workers on the individual, not the label: how the person communicates and how they prefer to be communicated with, whether that is speech, Makaton, symbols, easy-read or a total communication approach; what a good day and a bad day look like; sensory sensitivities and the environments that unsettle them; the routines that hold the day together; and what choice and control look like for them in real decisions, from what to eat to how to spend money. Active support means enabling someone to take part in their own life rather than doing things for them, and it needs staff who understand the difference.
Workers also need to understand the legal framework around capacity. The Mental Capacity Act 2005 governs decision-making where someone may lack capacity for a specific decision at a specific time, including the presumption of capacity and the best-interests process. Health inequality is a real risk in this group, so we brief staff on supporting annual health checks, hospital passports and reasonable adjustments where relevant.
Positive Behaviour Support and Restrictive Practice
Where behaviour that challenges is part of the picture, the brief matters enormously. We look for staff with recent experience of the proactive side of positive behaviour support: understanding what a behaviour communicates, spotting early signs, adjusting the environment and the demand rather than reacting to a crisis, and following the person's own behaviour support plan. Restrictive practice should be a last resort, kept to the minimum necessary and properly recorded, and we brief workers to work that way. Where physical intervention training is a requirement, tell us the specific approach your service uses so we send someone trained in it.
Training and Compliance
All staff supporting people with a learning disability or autistic people are expected to have completed the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, introduced under the Health and Care Act 2022, and we check it. Alongside that, every worker completes and can evidence an enhanced DBS check, right-to-work verification in line with Home Office guidance, professional registration checked against the NMC register for nurses, mandatory training mapped to the Care Certificate, occupational health clearance and references covering recent employment with any gaps explained. In England the Care Quality Commission inspects against the fundamental standards in the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and every worker we send becomes part of your regulated service. Protocol Healthcare Services Ltd is REC affiliated and an FSB member.
How a Booking Works
Send us the brief: the service type, dates and shift times, how many people are supported and their communication and support needs, whether a behaviour support plan or physical intervention training applies, any gender or driving requirements, and your induction arrangements. We match on competency and confirm named workers in advance. Our consultants are contactable seven days a week, Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and weekends from 10am to 9pm, for urgent and short-notice bookings, including cover for evening, night, weekend and bank holiday shifts, and if a worker cannot attend we tell you immediately.
Continuity Is Not Optional Here
For many of the people you support, an unfamiliar face is itself a destabilising event. A rotating cast of strangers erodes trust, raises anxiety and increases incidents, and it undoes work that took months. We aim to build a small, regular pool who know the individuals, the house and the support plans, and we would rather propose fewer names more often than a different worker every shift.
Bookings, Rates and Honest Limits
Temporary cover suits sickness, annual leave and vacancies awaiting recruitment; block and fixed-term bookings suit a known period of extra need and give continuity; permanent placement is a one-off recruitment service where you employ the candidate directly. We quote per assignment rather than publishing a rate card, and every quote is itemised, covering wage, employer National Insurance, holiday pay and pension, vetting and training costs and our margin, with uplifts for nights, weekends, bank holidays and short notice. We will not send a worker whose training and experience do not match the brief simply to fill a gap, and if we cannot cover a shift safely we will say so. Accountability for the service stays with you: our workers operate under your policies, support plans and registered manager's oversight.
Read More
- ✓The complete healthcare staffing guide for UK providers →
- ✓All our staffing services →
- ✓Areas we cover →
Need learning disability cover for a specific rota? Talk to our consultants and we will come back with named, evidenced availability.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about working with Protocol Healthcare Services. Can't find your answer? Our team is always happy to help.
Contact UsYes. Staff supporting people with a learning disability or autistic people are expected to have completed the Oliver McGowan Mandatory Training on Learning Disability and Autism, introduced under the Health and Care Act 2022, and we check it before placement rather than at your next audit. It sits alongside enhanced DBS, right-to-work verification, mandatory training mapped to the Care Certificate, occupational health clearance and references covering recent employment.
We look for recent experience of the proactive side of positive behaviour support: understanding what a behaviour is communicating, spotting the early signs, adjusting the environment and the demand rather than reacting to a crisis, and following the person's own behaviour support plan. Restrictive practice should be a last resort, kept to the minimum necessary and properly recorded. If your service uses a specific physical intervention approach, name it when you book so we send someone trained in that approach.
Because we brief on the individual, not the label. Share how the person communicates and prefers to be communicated with, whether that is speech, Makaton, symbols, easy-read or a total communication approach, along with any communication passport or one-page profile you hold. We also brief on sensory sensitivities, the routines that hold the day together, and what a good day and a bad day look like, because active support means enabling someone to take part in their own life rather than doing things for them.
Yes. Our workers cover supported living and shared houses, residential services, respite and short-break services, day services, community teams and step-down placements. The staffing model differs between them, so tell us how many people are supported and their communication and support needs, whether the shift is lone working or shared, whether waking or sleep-in cover is needed and whether driving is required. We match on that rather than on a job title.
That is what we aim for, and here it matters more than anywhere else we staff. For many of the people you support an unfamiliar face is itself a destabilising event, so we build a small, regular pool who know the individuals, the house and the support plans, and we would rather propose fewer names more often than a different worker every shift. When a regular worker cannot attend we tell you as soon as we know and work on a replacement from the same pool wherever we can.
The Mental Capacity Act 2005 governs decision-making where someone may lack capacity for a specific decision at a specific time, including the presumption of capacity and the best-interests process, and we brief workers to work within it and within your own policies and support plans. In practice that means supporting real choice and control, from what to eat to how to spend money, rather than assuming those decisions away. We also brief staff on annual health checks, hospital passports and reasonable adjustments where relevant, because health inequality is a real risk for this group.
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Related guide
Person-Centred Support That Promotes Independence
Practical approaches to learning disability care that put the individual first.
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