Alex Fox, CEO announces departure from Shared Lives Plus

Alex says, “I’ve lived and breathed Shared Lives Plus for such a long time! But I have felt for a little while that I would like to take on a new challenge, and that the membership charity is very well placed to thrive with a new leader. One of the many pleasures of this job has been recruiting such an amazing team, with great managers and a strong culture.

“Our membership support is stronger now after the pandemic than ever, with more opportunities to innovate and share best practice amongst our membership’s growing network of Shared Lives carers and schemes, and Homeshare services. We’re confident that our work will place Shared Lives carers and schemes work within the government’s social care reform plans. And just last week, we announced the biggest investment in Homeshare UK to date, with a major new grant which will offer Homeshare to hundreds more people in under-served areas across the UK. Homeshare UK now has three colleagues in Wales, Scotland and in Norfolk, where new Homeshare services are starting and our Homeshare UK network members are well-supported and growing.

We are also pioneering work with Australian partners, TACSI to deliver our first family support project, Family by Family in Stoke-on-Trent which is offering our values and supportive relationships to families and children and help them connect with each other with support.”

Alex and our senior management team have empowered the Shared Lives Plus team, with a strengths-based flat structure and devolved management, which makes his departure less impactful on day-to-day work supporting members. Finances and systems are in good shape, and the Shared Lives membership support and Homeshare programme are well-resourced, well-led and based on a sound foundation of evidence and experience.

Directors, Jayne Wilson and Lynette Barlow agree: “We are excited about the significant opportunities ahead, and while we will miss Alex enormously, the team are ready for new leadership post-pandemic. Shared Lives Plus Trustees and leadership team are not rushing to fill the post, and we will be talking with colleagues and members about the kind of leadership we want for the future to deliver our vision of more people sharing their lives and homes to build kinder and stronger communities across the UK.

In the meantime, we will continue to put our members’ voices and needs front and centre of our work – we are here for you so please do get in touch.”

There will be opportunities at the Shared Living conference and other times during the next three months to wish Alex farewell – we will share details when we know more.

For more information, please contact Jayne Wilson, Director of Development, jayne@sharedlivesplus.org.uk or Lynette Barlow, Finance Director, lynette@sharedlivesplus.org.uk