Date published: April 7, 2025
Accelerating reform fund projects: impressive achievements in Birmingham and Solihull
During 2023-2024, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) launched the Accelerating Reform Fund (ARF), providing grant funding to local Integrated Care Systems (ICS) to foster innovation in adult social care.
This fund has enabled Shared Lives to be at the forefront of priorities with over half (27 out of 42) of all ICS areas across England choosing to prioritise Shared Lives.
Birmingham and Solihull are one of 14 ICS areas that Shared Lives Plus are supporting to deliver ARF projects.
Working with Birmingham and Solihull, the Shared Lives Plus consultancy team have been successfully supporting in; development and implementation of a new carer recruitment strategy, providing training to Social Workers and Shared Lives carers, and developing an options appraisal to advance a new digital system for carer management and monitoring.
Whilst the project is still running, key outcomes surrounding the growth of Shared Lives have already been achieved, demonstrating the impact of the ARF fund, Birmingham and Solihull’s engagement with the project, and the Shared Lives Plus consultancy offer. At present:
- 23 Shared Lives carers have been recruited since June 2024 with three currently going through the approval process
- There has been an increase in awareness of Shared Lives with social workers
Frank Fitzpatrick, Senior Researcher at Shared Lives Plus said,
“We started this project in June 2024, and it is excellent to see the outcomes thus far. Our Strategic Carer Recruitment Communications Manager is providing monthly ongoing support to help support on the implementation of the carer recruitment strategy and we expect to see further growth of Shared Lives and the number of new carers.”
“The support we have had from Shared Lives Plus has been second to none. It has enabled us to work at pace and to implement good practice from other areas which SLP have gleaned for us from their extensive network. The passion that these colleagues have for Shared Lives is evident through all interactions with them.”
By working with 14 ICS areas on ARF projects, Shared Lives Plus are starting to build and capture a wide range of good practice and repository of learning from around England, which will inform future projects to help establish, grow, and diversify Shared Lives.
You can read more about this project and its current outcomes here, and find out about Shared Lives in Birmingham: www.birmingham.gov.uk/sharedlives
If you’re interested in support from the Shared Lives Plus consultancy team, please contact us on consultancy@sharedlivesplus.org.uk
