Work with us
We love working with like-minded organisations across health and social care.
About Us
Our vision is to be the #1 direct payments solution in the UK, working with health and social care organisations to empower People, strengthen Places and improve Lives by making Direct Payments easy.
Personalisation. Self-direction. Citizen-led. Strengths-based. Co-produced. Prevention. Self-management.
These words collectively represent a revolution in health and social care. Across the world, individuals and their families are benefitting from more choice and control. PPL are at the frontline of that revolution in the UK.
Personalisation is about empowering and enabling people. It can mean different things to different people, ranging from a bit of information and advice at one end of the scale through to the day-to-day management of complex health packages via a personal health budget.
This approach is being embraced by the NHS and the local authorities that are responsible for social care. It asks 'What matters to you?' instead of 'What is the matter with you?'. It puts people, places and lives at the centre, creating an alternative to traditional care and support models.
We live by our five values everyday, working in true partnership with health and social care organisations to deliver simple solutions that empower people, strengthen places and improve lives.
Our Values
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Caring
We care deeply about what we do, who we work with, the people that we serve and their lives. The principles of ‘choice & control’ are fundamental to us, and the individual sits at the heart of everything we do.
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Collaborative
We are in it together. We actively support our colleagues, client and consumers every day. Partnering and co-production have been central to us since our inception in 2008. We share in the ups and downs with everyone else.
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Determined
We constantly push ourselves, our teammates and the people we support to be the best version of themselves. We will go above and beyond to do the right thing, even if it’s hard. We take the initiative and create safe spaces where we work together to get things done, recognising that failure is an opportunity to adapt and to learn.
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Inclusive
We believe that every person has unique strengths and experiences. We create diverse, inclusive and supportive teams, so that we and the communities we serve benefit from their collective skills, talents and values.
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Resourceful
We are consciously curious, and we are deliberately challenging. We embrace the sharing of best practice to do ‘more for less’, instead of reinventing the wheel. We are prudent and we are proud that we save the public purse money so that more can be invested in the places that we operate.
Who We Work With
PPL work with more than 35 public sector organisations across England, Scotland and Wales, delivering services that support people to live more independently and exercise greater choice and control. These include:
10 county councils
16 unitary/metropolitan authorities
3 London borough councils,
6 NHS Integrated Care Boards, and
2 Welsh Health Boards,
Our Team
Our headquarters are based in Wigan, with additional offices in Richmond, North Yorkshire, and Sheffield. We employ 119 colleagues across the UK, bringing together a diverse range of skills, expertise, and lived experience.
The company is led by David Bowes (CEO), Claire Hewitt (COO), and Lee Jones (CTO), each of whom brings more than 20 years of experience within the sector. Many of our team members have personal experience of health and support needs, unpaid caring responsibilities, and SEND. This first-hand understanding fuels our commitment to creating better outcomes for the people and communities we serve.
Our Journey
Our journey began in 2008 when we launched as shop4support, a joint venture with the personalisation charity In Control. Since then, we have continued to evolve alongside the people we support, expanding our services to help individuals exercise greater choice, independence, and control over their lives.
The acquisition of System Associates in 2015 brought together complementary expertise and established us as the UK's market leader in self-directed support services. Having previously operated as Public Partnerships and Public Consulting Group, we became People Places Lives Limited in August 2023, a name that better reflects our purpose and the impact we strive to make.
On 1 June 2026, we welcomed People Plus Independent Living Services into our organisation, bringing together talented colleagues, valued customers, and a shared ambition to combine person-centred support with technology and operational excellence to make direct payments work better for everyone.
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Work for us
We are always looking for bright and committed individuals to join our team.
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Our Services
Find out more about our practical, people-centred services.