Positive behaviour support policy template

1. What the standards say

Positive behaviour support (PBS) is the recognised, evidence-based approach to supporting people whose behaviour challenges, in particular people with a learning disability or autism. It focuses on understanding why behaviour happens and changing the things that cause distress, so that the person's quality of life improves and restrictive interventions become rare or unnecessary. It sits within Regulation 13 (which prohibits improper treatment and disproportionate restraint), Regulation 9 and Regulation 10, and the Human Rights Act 1998.

The Service must verify this policy against current PBS and restraint-reduction standards (for example the PBS Academy standards and the Restraint Reduction Network training standards) and the relevant regulations before adoption.

2. Plain British summary

People sometimes behave in ways that are hard to support, often because something in their life, their health, their environment or the way they are being communicated with is causing distress. Positive behaviour support means understanding the reason behind the behaviour and changing those causes, rather than controlling or punishing the person. The aim is a better life for the person and far less use of restriction. Reactive or punitive approaches are not acceptable, and any restrictive intervention is a last resort, lawful, and the least restrictive option.

3. Scope

This policy applies to:

• everyone the Service supports whose behaviour challenges, in particular people with a learning disability or autism
• every member of staff who supports them, and the senior staff who plan and oversee that support
• the development, use and review of positive behaviour support plans, and the rare use of restrictive interventions (which are governed in detail by the restraint policy)

(Tenant updates the scope to fit its own service and service-user bands.)

4. Roles and responsibilities

• Registered Manager: accountable for the PBS approach across the service. Reviews restrictive-intervention data, signs off the approach, and ensures the culture is proactive rather than reactive.
• Positive Behaviour Support Lead (named individual): leads the PBS approach, oversees functional assessments and PBS plans, monitors the use of restrictive interventions, and drives reduction.
• Care and support staff: follow each person's PBS plan, use proactive and de-escalation strategies, record what happens, and take part in supervision and reflective practice.
• All staff: understand that behaviour is communication, and never use punitive or disproportionate responses.

(Tenant updates the named role-holders.)

5. Procedure

1. Aims. The Service states its aim plainly: to improve the person's quality of life, to use proactive strategies that prevent distress, and to eliminate reactive or punitive measures.
2. Functional behaviour assessment. For each person whose behaviour challenges, staff carry out a functional assessment to understand what the behaviour is communicating, what triggers it, and what keeps it going, drawing on the person, their family, and the people who know them.
3. The PBS plan. The Service develops an individualised PBS plan based on the assessment, setting out the person's strengths and needs, the proactive strategies that improve their life and prevent distress, the early signs of distress and how to respond, and what to do if behaviour escalates. The plan is developed with the person and those close to them.
4. Reviewing the plan. Each PBS plan is reviewed and updated regularly, and whenever the person's needs or circumstances change.
5. Proactive first. Staff prioritise proactive and de-escalation strategies at all times. A restrictive intervention is never the first response.
6. Restrictive interventions as a last resort. Where a restrictive intervention is genuinely unavoidable to prevent harm, it is used only in line with the restraint policy: lawful, necessary, proportionate, the least restrictive option, time-limited, and recorded. This policy and the restraint policy do not contradict each other.
7. Data and evaluation. The Service records each behaviour-of-concern and each restrictive intervention, and uses the data to evaluate whether the support is working and to refine the strategies. A rising use of restriction is treated as a signal that the support needs to change.
8. Cross-referencing. Any behaviour-of-concern that raises a safeguarding question is handled under the safeguarding policy, and any complaint is handled under the complaints policy. The three policies work together.
9. Equality and inclusion. The PBS plan takes account of the person's cultural, linguistic, communication and disability needs, and the Service considers these through an equality lens so that support is fair and accessible.

6. Training requirement

• Staff who support people whose behaviour challenges complete positive behaviour support training, and any physical-intervention training comes only from a recognised, certified provider (for example one certified under the Restraint Reduction Network training standards).
• Staff receive ongoing supervision and reflective practice on supporting behaviour that challenges.
• Training and competence are refreshed on a stated cadence and recorded in the training register.

7. Audit

The Service checks, on a stated cadence, that:

• every person whose behaviour challenges has a current, individualised PBS plan based on a functional assessment
• proactive strategies are being used and restrictive interventions are rare, lawful and reducing over time
• restrictive-intervention data is recorded, reviewed, and acted on
• staff are trained and supported, and the approach does not drift toward reactive or punitive practice

Audit findings are recorded in the tenant's audit register; actions are logged in the improvement-actions register.

8. Record-keeping

PBS records (functional assessments, PBS plans, behaviour and restrictive-intervention records, reviews) are held as part of the person's care record for the period the NHS Code of Practice on Records Management sets, and securely.

Verivius preserves the per-record audit trail indefinitely while the workspace is active.

9. Related policies in this pack

• Safeguarding Adults Policy (safeguarding-adults-policy)
• Complaints Policy (complaints-policy)
• Consent Policy (consent-policy)

10. Document control

This sample policy template was issued by Verivius. It is a template, not a substitute for legal advice or the tenant's own policy-development process. Where this template and the live regulation or standard diverge, the live source wins.