Date published: February 2, 2022
Report: The state of Shared Lives in England in 2020-2021
The latest figures from England show that Shared Lives remains the highest quality form of nationally available social care, with the CQC rating 96% of schemes good or outstanding. While the size of the sector has shrunk slightly over the past year, Shared Lives schemes and carers have continued to provide an exceptional level of care, to thousands of people, under very challenging conditions.
The report shows that there is an urgent need to restart shorter-term services which so many people rely on. But it also proves the resilience of so many long-term, live-in arrangements, and of the Shared Lives model generally.
Shared Lives is based in the family and community, and any change in wider community-based social care provision is felt acutely by people living and working in our sector. The restrictions in place to mitigate the pandemic have caused a drastic reduction of day services. This has been difficult for people supported in Shared Lives and has forced many Shared Lives carers to work harder, for longer, than ever before. It also meant that many Shared Lives carers who usually offer day, respite and short breaks support, have not been able to. It is therefore no surprise that the report shows a modest reduction in the overall numbers of Shared Lives carers in England.
75% of people supported in Shared Lives have support needs related to a learning disability, autism, or Asperger’s. This is where the majority of Shared Lives care has been focused since it began, although there has been a slight reduction in the absolute number of people with these support needs in Shared Lives since last year – down from 6,483 to 5,929, a reduction of 544.
However, we have also seen growth in two areas where Shared Lives has been underused in the past. In 2020-2021 Shared Lives supported 74 more people with mental ill health (576 people in total) and 52 more people with a physical impairment (431 people in total). While these are still relatively small numbers, they represent growth of 12% and 13% respectively.
We have long argued that Shared Lives is suitable for a wider range of people, and we believe that is reflected in these areas of growth. Focused development work for specific types of support is now needed in order to diversify the model to meet developing challenges, particularly after the pandemic.
The research shows that there is clear room for the growth which is needed to ensure that more people can choose and benefit from life-changing Shared Lives support. But this growth cannot be achieved without investment – both in our sector and in the wider services that so many people rely on. Fewer than 1% of people drawing on long-term social care in England are currently supported in Shared Lives, and the Shared Lives workforce amounts to slightly more than 0.5% of the total social care workforce in England. The report also reveals that there was a reduction of over 10% in full-time Shared Lives staff numbers compared to last year.
We call on directors of services and central government to absorb the lessons from the latest data. We call on them to recognise the potential of Shared Lives to deliver fantastic outcomes for people despite challenging circumstances, and design a more resilient, human, and higher quality care system with shared living at its centre.
