Care and social work · Entry level · UK conventions

Support worker (supported living): resume example, explained

This fictional example shows a support worker in a supported living service for adults with learning disabilities and autism since December 2025, applying to a fictional charity: support written as enabling rather than doing for, the keyworker role shown as coordination, and behaviour support described as a plan followed, recorded and reviewed. Each decision is explained, three weak bullets are rewritten from the evidence behind them, and the editable download lets you replace every detail with your own. Nothing here describes a real person, service or tenant.

Illustrative example. An illustrative, invented support worker in a fictional six-person supported living service since December 2025, after volunteering as a befriender, applying for a support worker post with a fictional learning disability charity. Every employer, date and figure is fictional.

Editable version of this example (.docx)

Tomasz Wierzbicki

Support Worker · Supported living · Learning disability and autism

Bristol · 07700 900 456 · tomasz.wierzbicki@example.com

Profile

Support worker in a supported living service for six adults with learning disabilities and autism since December 2025, working to person-centred support plans and positive behaviour support strategies. Keyworker for two tenants, covering annual health checks, appointments and monthly reviews. Care Certificate completed in 2026, Level 2 Diploma in Care in progress. Seeking a support worker role where tenants are building independence.

Experience

Support Worker — Fictional Supported Living Service, Bristol

December 2025 – present · Six tenants with learning disabilities and autism in shared and single flats; two to three staff per shift; sleep-in rota.

Support six tenants with cooking, budgeting and bus travel, following each person's support plan and recording progress against their goals on the service's electronic system.
Act as keyworker for two tenants, arranging annual health checks, GP and dentist appointments and leading the monthly keyworker review with each person and their family.
Follow positive behaviour support plans for two tenants, recording every incident on an ABC chart within the shift; one person's incidents fell from around six a month to two over eight months after the plan was reviewed with the PBS lead.
Travel-trained one tenant over six weeks to reach his supported employment placement independently two days a week.
Complete MAR charts for two medication rounds a shift and cover around four sleep-in shifts a month.

Volunteer Befriender — Fictional Learning Disability Charity, Bristol

March 2025 – November 2025

Spent two hours a week with an adult with a learning disability, planning outings he chose and supporting his confidence in shops and cafés.
Completed the charity's safeguarding adults and accessible communication (easy read, visual supports) training.

Education

Care Certificate (16 standards) — completed with Fictional Supported Living Service, 2026
Level 2 Diploma in Care — Fictional College, in progress, expected 2027
GCSEs including English and Maths — Fictional School, 2019

Training

Positive behaviour support (in-house), 2026
Epilepsy awareness and emergency medication, 2026
Safeguarding adults, 2025

Skills

Person-centred support planning and outcome recording · Positive behaviour support (PBS) plans and ABC recording · Keyworker coordination: health checks, appointments, reviews · Supporting tenancy, budgeting and independent travel · Medication (MAR charts) and sleep-in shifts · Safeguarding adults and mental capacity awareness · Enhanced DBS on the Update Service

Why it is written this way

Support, not care, is the vocabulary

Supported living employers read the verbs. 'Support six tenants with cooking, budgeting and bus travel' says the support worker enables people to live their own lives; 'looked after residents' says the opposite. Tenants, support plans and goals are the sector's words, used consistently.

The keyworker role shows the level above the shift

Any support worker can do a shift. Being keyworker for two people, arranging health checks and appointments and leading the monthly review with the family, shows coordination and trust, and is the evidence for progression to senior support worker.

Behaviour support is a plan followed and recorded, with the outcome

'Experience of challenging behaviour' is a badge, not evidence. The bullet names the plan (positive behaviour support), the record (an ABC chart within the shift), the review with the PBS lead and the change in frequency. It credits the team and the plan, which is how the sector talks about it.

Volunteering is kept because it explains the move

Eight months of befriending shows the applicant chose support work before being paid for it and had safeguarding training before the first shift. Two bullets are enough; the paid role carries the evidence.

Bullet rewrites, and the evidence behind them

Each rewrite was produced by asking an evidence question and using only the (fictional) answer. No number appears in a rewrite that is not in its evidence.

Before
Helped residents with daily tasks.
Evidence question
How many people, which tasks, and against what plan?
Evidence (fictional)
Six tenants; cooking, budgeting, bus travel; each has a support plan with goals; progress recorded on the electronic system.
After
Support six tenants with cooking, budgeting and bus travel, following each person's support plan and recording progress against their goals on the service's electronic system.
Before
Dealt with challenging behaviour.
Evidence question
Whose plan did you follow, what did you record, and did anything change?
Evidence (fictional)
PBS plans for two tenants; ABC chart within the shift; one person's incidents fell from around six a month to two over eight months after review with the PBS lead.
After
Follow positive behaviour support plans for two tenants, recording every incident on an ABC chart within the shift; one person's incidents fell from around six a month to two over eight months after the plan was reviewed with the PBS lead.
Before
Keyworker for service users.
Evidence question
How many people, what does a keyworker do here, and how often?
Evidence (fictional)
Keyworker for two tenants; annual health checks, GP and dentist appointments; monthly review with the person and their family.
After
Act as keyworker for two tenants, arranging annual health checks, GP and dentist appointments and leading the monthly keyworker review with each person and their family.

Try it on your own bullets with the bullet workbench, which asks the same questions and never adds a figure you did not supply.

Transferable skills in this example

Coaching someone to do a task rather than doing it for them
Evidence: Six weeks of travel training to independent bus travel; daily support with cooking and budgeting against a plan.
Where it helps: Teaching assistant, employment support, reablement and training roles.
Following a plan and recording consistently
Evidence: ABC charts completed within the shift for every incident; outcomes recorded against goals.
Where it helps: Healthcare assistant, housing support and any role where records are reviewed by others.
Coordinating appointments and reviews
Evidence: Health checks, appointments and a monthly review arranged for two people and their families.
Where it helps: Care coordination, medical reception and administration roles.
Staying calm when a situation escalates
Evidence: Proactive and reactive strategies used from two behaviour support plans across 11 months of shifts.
Where it helps: Customer-facing roles, education and mental health support.

Occupation notes

Hard requirements

Expect an enhanced DBS check with barred list information as a condition of the offer: GOV.UK's employer guidance says the barred list check is only available for individuals carrying out regulated activity, and the employer gives you the form. Write 'Enhanced DBS, Update Service' where true and never the certificate number.
The Care Certificate is the induction standard in adult social care in England: Skills for Care publishes 16 standards and says they can be used for people new to care and to shape induction. Say whether yours is complete (and the year), in progress or still to be done.

Vocabulary that belongs on the page

Supported living versus residential care; tenants, not residents or patients
Person-centred support plan, outcomes, goals, keyworker, monthly review
Positive behaviour support (PBS), ABC chart, proactive and reactive strategies
Active support, graded assistance, 'doing with, not for'
Annual health check, hospital passport, health action plan
Mental capacity, best-interests decision, least restrictive option (terms you will meet in plans and training)
Sleep-in shift, waking night, lone working, MAR chart
Easy read, visual supports, communication passport

Pitfalls specific to this occupation

Calling tenants 'residents' or 'service users' and saying you 'look after' them: a supported living manager reads it as a residential care mindset.
Writing 'experience of challenging behaviour' as a badge: name whose plan you followed, what you recorded and what changed.
Listing training by title with no dates, so the reader cannot tell whether the PBS, medication or epilepsy training is current.
Leaving out keyworker, appointment and review work, the evidence that you can be trusted with more than a shift.

UK and US differences

UK: Many supported living providers are charities or independent organisations that recruit with values-based questions and a person specification; these bullets are the answers those questions need.
UK: DBS checks apply in England and Wales, with different rules in Scotland and Northern Ireland noted by GOV.UK; registration arrangements for support workers also differ across the UK nations, so follow what the advert names.

US: The nearest US titles are direct support professional (DSP) and residential counselor; training expectations are set by state and employer, so name the training you hold and describe support plans, incident recording and appointment coordination the same evidence-first way.

Common questions

What is the difference between a support worker resume and a care worker resume?

The verbs and the setting. A support worker resume shows people supported to do things themselves against a support plan with goals, usually in supported living or the community; a care worker resume shows personal care delivered to a care plan. Both need records, safeguarding and the DBS position stated plainly.

How do I describe behaviour support without sounding as if I blame the people I support?

Name the plan, your part in it and the record: 'followed a positive behaviour support plan, recorded incidents on an ABC chart, reviewed with the PBS lead'. Give the change in frequency as the outcome and credit the plan and team rather than describing the person.

Sources

GOV.UK: DBS check types, including enhanced with barred listsDisclosure and Barring Service · England and Wales · checked 3 November 2026
GOV.UK: DBS checks, guidance for employers (barred lists and regulated activity)Disclosure and Barring Service · England and Wales · checked 3 November 2026
Skills for Care: the Care Certificate standardsSkills for Care · England · checked 3 November 2026

Published 6 November 2026 · Every person, employer and figure in this example is fictional. Drafted with AI assistance and checked against Luceria’s editorial standards.