Developing a Shift Plan - Effective Planning Systems - Shift Plans

Sep 23, 2026

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Developing a Shift Plan outlines how deliberate daily structure supports people to feel safer, more predictable, and better able to participate. It explains the role of shift planning in communication, engagement, relationships, and positive responses to behaviours that challenge, framed as legitimate distress. The booklet also provides guidance for building an effective shift planning system: identifying current routines and activities, scheduling household tasks and personal self-care, coordinating support across staff and individuals, and keeping the plan flexible as choices and timing change.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time4 min

AccessFree to download

Developing a Shift Plan

Background

Effective Planning Systems - Shift Plans

Developing a shift plan

Developing a Shift Plan | Good support provides:
1. Structure:
creating predictability and consistency
2. Communication:
understanding and responding to a person’s communication skills and needs
3. Support for engagement:
supporting engagement in meaningful activities, interactions and relationships
4. Positive approaches to behaviour that challenges:
understanding behaviour that challenges as an expression of legitimate distress to which we must listen and respond
5. Support for relationships:
improving a person’s quality of life through relationships with others
6. Aspirations:
working together to avoid complacency and contribute towards the person’s rich and fulfilling life |

Aspirations

Support for relationships

Positive approaches to behaviour that challenges

Support for engagement
Communication
Structure

| | --- | --- | Background Structure, the deliberate arrangement of events, activities, routines, rituals, interactions and opportunities over time, makes the world a more predictable, accessible and safer place for the people we support. It aids personal autonomy and independence by reducing dependence on others and enables those providing support to modify environments and processes to ensure each person knows what is going to happen and what is expected of them, so reducing anxiety. Often we don’t have to think about the things we do each day/week/month or we write them down-but there are times when we don’t want to forget things, when we need to plan in changes or when we need to keep others informed and we use diaries or planners to do this. This is more likely to happen when there are a number of people involved (e.g. parents, children, friends and professionals) . For many of the people we support, who cannot manage information in this way, when and/or how things happen is often dependent on other people and factors beyond their control. They often have several influential but different individuals providing support for them who bring their own routines and rituals with them. While many of the people we support have individual planners and/or weekly timetables which list external commitments and community activities, like the one below they are not detailed enough to develop/maintain person centred routines or high levels of participation in activities on a day-to-day basis. Achieving this requires us to develop ways to plan the things those being supported want and/or need to do each day/week and co-ordinate the support required, particularly where support is being provided by more than one person and/or more than one person is being supported Get the structure booklet at [www.unitedresponse.org.uk/structure](www.unitedresponse.org.uk/structure) | Jane Smith | | | | | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | | M | T | W | T | F | S | S | | Morning | 11am– 2pm
Work at
Café West | 9am– 3pm
Parkside Day
Service | | Personal
Shopping | 9am– 3pm
Parkside Day
Service | | 10am– 11.30
All Saints
Church
service | | Afternoon | | | 12.30– 3pm
Mums for
Lunch and
shopping | | | | | | Evening | | | | | 7.30– 9.00
dinner and
drink with
sister at All
Bar One | | | -2- Effective Planning Systems-Shift Plans United Response requires all services to establish an effective daily planning system called Shift Planning, to ensure events, activities, routines, interactions and opportunities are arranged so that they happen predictably and are supported successfully. The shift plan is used to schedule the household tasks, personal self-care, hobbies, social arrangements and community activities, individuals need or want to do each day and to work out the availability of support so that activities can happen predictably. They enable people we support to plan ahead and they ensure the right support is available and help those providing support to wo

FAQs

What is the purpose of a shift plan in United Response services?

The shift plan schedules household tasks, personal self-care, activities, social arrangements, and community participation so events happen predictably and support is available when needed.

How does shift planning help with communication and engagement?

It supports understanding and responding to communication needs, helps people prioritise and prepare activities, and promotes meaningful participation through relationships and interactions.

Do shift plans require people to follow them rigidly?

No. The plan is adjusted throughout the day to reflect individual choices, additional activities, and changes in how long tasks take, while supporters maintain the flow rather than focusing on exact timings.

Sep 23, 2026

Upload by Liam