Written by Simon Gower, founder of +ProActive Approaches. Last reviewed 7 November 2026.
In brief
A positive behaviour support (PBS) plan is a written, person-centred plan that explains why a person's behaviour happens and sets out how the people supporting them will improve their quality of life, prevent distress, respond safely when it happens and learn afterwards. Most of a good plan is about prevention.
- Main sections: about me, the behaviour, what it is for, proactive, early warning, reactive and after-incident strategies, restrictions and review
- Who writes it: someone with PBS training, together with the person, their family and the staff who know them
- Key test: every strategy should link back to the reason for the behaviour
- Review: on a set date, and sooner after a serious incident or a change in the person's life
What is a positive behaviour support plan?
A PBS plan, sometimes called a behaviour support plan, is the document that turns positive behaviour support from an idea into daily practice. It brings together what is known about the person and their behaviour, and gives every member of the team the same clear instructions for supporting them.
It is not a list of rules for stopping behaviour, a punishment plan or a document that is written once and filed. If the plan mainly describes what staff do after an incident, it is missing its most useful part. The Challenging Behaviour Foundation describes plans in colour-coded sections, with green proactive strategies, amber early warning and de-escalation strategies, red reactive strategies and a post-incident section. We use the same idea below.
National guidance expects people whose behaviour challenges to have one. NICE guideline NG11 recommends a behaviour support plan based on a shared understanding of the behaviour, and the Department of Health's Positive and Proactive Care guidance expects any restrictive intervention to be planned and reviewed within one.
What goes in a PBS plan
Plans vary in layout, but a good one covers the sections below. Keep each one short and practical.
| Section | What it contains | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| About me | Who the person is, what they enjoy, what a good day looks like and how they communicate. | Helps a new or agency worker connect with the person as a person, before reading about risk. |
| Behaviours of concern | Clear, observable descriptions of each behaviour, how often it happens and how intense it gets. | Means everyone is talking about the same thing and can tell whether it is changing. |
| Understanding the behaviour | The setting events, triggers and likely function (what the behaviour achieves for the person). | Links every strategy in the plan back to a reason, so staff are not guessing. |
| Proactive strategies | Changes to the environment, routine, communication and support, plus skills the person is learning. | The largest section. This is where most incidents are prevented. |
| Early warning signs | What the person looks and sounds like as they become anxious, and what staff do at that point. | Gives staff a chance to step in before distress becomes crisis. |
| Reactive strategies | What to do if the behaviour happens: de-escalation, keeping people safe and the least restrictive response. | Keeps crisis responses consistent, proportionate and lawful. |
| After an incident | How to support the person to recover, debrief staff, record what happened and repair relationships. | Turns each incident into learning rather than repetition. |
| Restrictions and safeguards | Any restriction in use, why, the legal basis and the plan to reduce it. | Shows a restriction is a last resort and is actively being reduced. |
| Monitoring and review | What data is collected, who reviews it, how often, and what would trigger an early review. | Keeps the plan current and shows whether life is improving. |
How to write a PBS plan in seven steps
Agree why you are writing the plan and who will use it
Be clear about the outcomes that matter to the person, which settings the plan covers (home, day service, community) and which staff will follow it. Write for the support worker on a late shift, not for an inspector.
Get to know the person, with the person
Gather their views in whatever way they communicate best, and talk to family, friends and staff who know them well. Record strengths, likes, routines, sensory needs, health conditions and important relationships.
Describe the behaviour in observable terms
Replace labels such as 'aggressive' or 'kicks off' with what you can see and hear, for example 'bangs the table with an open hand and shouts no'. Add how often, how long and how intense, using recent records.
Collect information and look for patterns
Use ABC charts (antecedent, behaviour, consequence), daily notes, incident records, medication records and health appointments. Look at time of day, place, people, demands and what changes straight after the behaviour.
Write a functional hypothesis
Summarise your best current explanation in one or two sentences: when these conditions are present, this trigger leads to this behaviour, which results in this outcome for the person. Treat it as a working theory to test.
Write strategies that follow from the hypothesis
Most of the plan should be proactive: change the conditions, teach a safer way to meet the same need and notice what goes well. Then write early warning, reactive and after-incident strategies, using the least restrictive options.
Share, train, monitor and review
Talk the plan through with every staff member who will use it, check they understand it, agree what will be recorded, and set a review date. Review sooner after a serious incident or a change in the person's life.
Worked example: Daniel, supported living
This is a fictional example
About me
Daniel is 27, autistic and has a learning disability. He has lived in his own flat with 1:1 support during the day for two years. He loves trains, cooking pasta, his mum's Sunday visits and walking his neighbour's dog. He speaks in short sentences and finds it easier to understand pictures and written lists than spoken plans. A good day for Daniel is one where he knows what is happening, gets out of the flat in the morning and has quiet time after lunch.
Why this works: it leads with what Daniel enjoys and how he communicates, so a new worker meets him as a person first.
Behaviour of concern
Daniel shouts "no, no, no", bangs his bedroom door repeatedly and sometimes throws objects that are within reach (usually cushions or the TV remote) towards the wall. This happens two to four times a week, lasts between five and twenty minutes, and has twice led to a broken item. He has not hurt anyone.
Why this works: the description is specific enough to count, and it records how serious the risk really is.
Understanding the behaviour
ABC records over six weeks show that 80% of episodes happen between 8am and 10am, usually when a planned activity changes at short notice or a support worker he does not know arrives. Episodes are more likely after a poor night's sleep. Afterwards, staff usually cancel the activity and leave him in his room.
Hypothesis: when Daniel is tired and his morning is unpredictable, an unexpected change leads to shouting and door banging, which results in the change being stopped and time alone. The behaviour is likely to help Daniel escape a situation that feels overwhelming and get back some control.
Why this works: the hypothesis uses evidence, names setting events and a trigger, and suggests a function the team can test.
Proactive strategies (green)
- Each evening, Daniel and his worker put tomorrow's picture schedule on the fridge, including who is working.
- If a change cannot be avoided, tell Daniel as early as possible using the 'change' card and show the new plan in pictures.
- New staff are introduced through a short planned visit with a familiar worker before working alone with Daniel.
- Daniel is learning to use his 'stop' card and to say 'I need a break', and staff respond to it straight away every time.
- Quiet time after lunch is protected, and a sleep diary is shared with his GP to look at his poor nights.
Why this works: each strategy targets one part of the hypothesis: predictability, unfamiliar staff, a safer way to ask for a break, or sleep.
Early warning signs (amber)
Daniel repeats "what's happening?", rubs his hands on his legs and walks between the kitchen and his bedroom. Staff use fewer words, show him the schedule, offer his stop card and offer a choice of two things to do next. They do not add new requests.
Reactive strategies (red)
If Daniel is shouting and banging, one worker speaks, keeps a calm distance in the hallway and moves breakable items out of reach where safe. Staff do not go into his bedroom or block the door. No physical intervention is planned for Daniel. If someone is at immediate risk, staff follow the service's emergency procedure and contact the manager on call.
Why this works: it uses the least restrictive response and says clearly what staff should not do.
After an incident (blue)
When Daniel is calm, the worker offers a drink and his train magazine and does not discuss the incident until he chooses to. The rearranged activity goes on the schedule for later in the week. The worker completes an ABC record and incident report the same day, and the team leader debriefs staff within 48 hours.
Monitoring and review
Staff record every episode on an ABC chart. The team leader reviews the data monthly with Daniel's mum and the community learning disability team. The plan is reviewed in three months, or sooner if there are more than four episodes in a week.
Proactive, early warning, reactive and after-incident strategies compared
| Type | When it is used | Aim | Supported living examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Proactive (green) | Most of the time, when the person is calm | Reduce triggers, meet needs and build skills | A visual weekly planner on the fridge, agreed the night before; a quiet route to the shop |
| Early warning (amber) | When the person starts to become anxious | Help them settle before distress grows | Lowering demands, offering a break, using fewer words, offering a preferred activity |
| Reactive (red) | When the behaviour happens or there is a risk of harm | Keep everyone safe with the least restriction | Giving space, one person speaking, moving others away; any physical intervention only as set out and as a last resort |
| After an incident (blue) | Once the person is calm again | Recover, repair and learn | Checking for injury, a calm drink and time alone, a staff debrief, updating records and the plan |
The proportions matter. In most good plans the proactive section is longer than the others put together. Proactive work is also where you can see quality of life improving, which is the main point of PBS.
Who writes and reviews the plan
In many adult social care services, a team leader, deputy or registered manager with PBS training writes the plan. For people with more complex needs, a PBS practitioner, clinical psychologist or the local community learning disability team may lead the assessment. Whoever holds the pen, the plan should be built with:
- the person, using their preferred way of communicating, and recording what they said
- family members and friends who know them well, where the person is happy for them to be involved
- support workers from different shifts, including nights
- health professionals such as the GP, speech and language therapist, occupational therapist or psychiatrist where relevant
- the commissioner or social worker, particularly where restrictions are involved
Where the person lacks capacity to agree to part of their support, decisions need to follow the Mental Capacity Act 2005, including a best interests decision and the least restrictive option.
Common mistakes in PBS plans
- Writing mostly about what to do after an incident, with only a few lines on prevention.
- Describing the behaviour by intent, such as 'tries to hurt staff', rather than by what can be seen.
- Copying strategies from another person's plan, or using the same template text for everyone.
- Strategies that do not connect to the functional hypothesis, so staff cannot see why they matter.
- Language that only a psychologist would understand, or a plan so long that nobody reads it on shift.
- Restrictions listed without a reason, a legal basis or a plan to reduce them.
- No review date, or a review that only happens once a year whatever is going on.
- Writing the plan without the person, their family or the staff who know them best.
PBS plans, CQC and the least restrictive approach
Under Regulation 13, CQC expects zero tolerance of unnecessary or disproportionate restraint. A PBS plan is one of the clearest ways to show inspectors that any restriction in a person's life is planned, justified, as limited as possible and being reduced.
That means the plan should name every restriction in use, including ones that are easy to overlook such as a locked kitchen cupboard or a rule about when the person can go out, and explain why it is needed and how the team will reduce it. Our guide to restrictive practice in adult social care explains the types and the law in more detail.
Templates and further reading
Our PBS plan template for adult social care gives you each section with prompts. If you are carrying out the assessment that sits behind the plan, read our practical guide to functional assessment in PBS. To build the skills across your team, see our PBS training for adult social care.
One-page PBS plan quality checklist
Use this when you write a new plan or review an existing one.
- The plan starts with who the person is, in a positive and respectful way.
- The person, and people who know them well, were involved and this is recorded.
- Each behaviour is described so that a new worker would recognise it.
- There is a clear functional hypothesis for each behaviour, based on evidence.
- Most of the strategies are proactive and link to the hypothesis.
- The person is being supported to learn at least one new skill.
- Early warning signs are listed with what staff should do at each one.
- Reactive strategies use the least restrictive option and say when to stop.
- Any restriction has a reason, a legal basis and a plan to reduce it.
- After-incident support covers the person, staff and recording.
- It is clear what will be recorded, who reviews it and when.
- Every staff member who supports the person has been talked through the plan.
Frequently asked questions
Sources
- Challenging Behaviour Foundation: positive behaviour support planning, part 3
- NICE NG11: challenging behaviour and learning disabilities (2015)
- Department of Health: Positive and Proactive Care (2014)
- Skills for Care: positive behavioural support
- Mental Capacity Act 2005, section 6
- CQC: Regulation 13, safeguarding service users from abuse and improper treatment
