Circles of Support aim to enable people with learning disabilities (and others) to live
full lives as part of their communities. As part of a wider study of the economic case
for community capacity building conducted from 2012-2014, we conducted a mixed
methods study of five Circles in North West England. Members of these Circles were
supporting adults with moderate to profound learning disabilities and provided
accounts of success in enabling the core member to live more independent lives
with improved social care outcomes within cost envelopes that appeared to be less
than more traditional types of support. The Circles also reported success in
harnessing community resources to promote social inclusion and improve
wellbeing. This very small scale study can only offer tentative evidence but does
appear to justify more rigorous research into the potential of Circles to secure cost
effective means of providing support to people with learning disabilities than the
alternative, which in most cases would have been a long-term residential care
placement