£600 million social care boost can contribute to progressing Shared Lives in England

This announcement builds on the government’s ‘Next steps to put people at the heart of care’ plan. As such, this package will support the social care workforce and boost overall capacity in adult social care. The government has stated that £570 million will be allocated to support local authorities to make tangible improvements to adult social care services, including Shared Lives. This ‘flexible’ funding can be tailored to meet local needs.

The areas in which this package could be used to benefit Shared Lives include:

• Increase the fees to Shared Lives carers – who are self-employed and often missed in fee rises but are a key and critical part of the adult social care workforce.
• Increase the fees paid to independent providers of Shared Lives – which accounts for around a third of local authorities in England.
• Increased investment in the growth of Shared Lives – a proven preventative model of care.

We are pleased that Shared Lives has been specifically recognised within this funding, reflecting ongoing ministerial support for the model. Following a recent meeting with Shared Lives Plus CEO Ewan King, the Minister for Care, Helen Whately tweeted,

As well as ministerial support, the Shared Lives sector requires ongoing review and investment at the local level.

According to data collected as part of our Invaluable campaign in November 2022. 16 commissioning organisations in England did not provide any compensated respite to Shared Lives carers. Ten commissioning organisations had not provided a carer fee uplift for more than ten years, and a further nine had not provided an uplift for between six to ten years. One commissioning organisation provided a care fee of just £155.40 a week, which is £204.27 below the English national average care worker salary.

The DHSC has also published a policy statement which outlines how local authorities will receive the flexible funding, as well as the total they will receive. We are asking local decision makers, including commissioners and directors of adult social care, to:

1. Consider opportunities to raise awareness of Shared Lives and recruit more Shared Lives carers in line with local demographics and identified need.

2. Review the fees paid to Shared Lives carers and increase these where appropriate.

We encourage local decision makers to review carer fees against the benchmarking data provided in our eleven regional Invaluable reports. You can find recommendations for average lowest and highest fees, as well as board and lodgings contributions in the reports on our website.

Should Shared Lives schemes, commissioners or directors of adult’s social care wish to discuss this further with Shared Lives Plus, please contact us consultancy@sharedlivesplus.org.uk