Strategic Spotlight: Herefordshire

The Shared Lives Plus strategic advice team worked closely with Herefordshire Council, including Hilary Hall, Corporate Director for Community Wellbeing (DASS), and Ginnie Jaques, Herefordshire Shared Lives Scheme Manager, to provide support across several key areas:

• Scheme audit and review: Conducted a comprehensive review of the scheme, assessing documentation and processes, and aligning them with the Care Quality Commission’s Single Assessment Framework. Interviews with key stakeholders provided additional insights into current practices and areas for improvement.
• Vision and strategy development: Engaged with local stakeholders to understand perceptions of Shared Lives and identify opportunities for growth. The resulting strategy outlined a roadmap for expanding the scheme’s reach and impact.
• Business case for growth: Delivered a business case that included benchmarking targets based on successful Shared Lives schemes, a cost-benefit analysis, and recommendations for diversifying support to meet local needs.
• Implementation roadmap: Co-produced with local colleagues, the roadmap outlined clear actions for expanding Shared Lives in Herefordshire, supported by targeted workshops and one-to-one meetings.

A key challenge was shifting the mindset of practitioners and social workers who often defaulted to quicker, more familiar support options rather than exploring Shared Lives. High workloads and staff turnover further compounded this challenge.

To address this, Shared Lives Plus prioritised awareness-raising and strategic engagement. Workshops and stakeholder interviews built understanding of the benefits of Shared Lives, creating greater buy-in at all levels.

Since the start of the project, key outcomes include:

• Increased strategic buy-in for Shared Lives within the council
• Greater visibility of Shared Lives among social work teams and strategic colleagues
• Enhanced stakeholder engagement and collaboration

Hilary Hall, Corporate Director for Community Wellbeing (DASS), emphasised the impact: “People should be living in a family basis where they can – there is lots of untapped potential. Shared Lives Plus coming in was timely and gave a kick start to transformation, showing the art of the possible and providing an evidence base for us to build on.”

Ginnie Jaques, Herefordshire Shared Lives Scheme Manager, added: “The work felt like a co-production. They really wanted to understand where we were going. Shared Lives Plus has really, really helped us. At a higher level, we are now much more visible with strategic colleagues. Shared Lives is part of the transformation agenda and is much better known across social work teams.”

Simone, a Shared Lives carer in Herefordshire, also noted the importance of being involved:”We felt heard, and our feedback was taken on board.”

For more information about Shared Lives in Herefordshire, call 01432 2607978, email sharedlives@herefordshire.gov.uk or visit www.herefordshire.gov.uk/shared-lives-herefordshire.

Shared Lives Plus continues to support local authorities and organisations, like Shared Lives Herefordshire to establish, grow, and diversify Shared Lives schemes. Recently, Partners in Care and Health (ADASS and LGA) commissioned Shared Lives Plus to develop good practice guidance to enable more people with a learning disability to benefit from Shared Lives. The guidance offers practical tools for social workers and commissioners to grow Shared Lives in their areas.

As a proven model of community-based, relational care, Shared Lives consistently delivers exceptional support for people with learning disabilities and is recognised by the CQC as the highest quality social care service. The new guidance outlines six strategic building blocks for councils to implement, ensuring Shared Lives is no longer ‘a secret’ but a widely available option.

Council leaders and social care professionals are encouraged to explore the guidance and checklist. Shared Lives Plus can help you grow your Shared Lives service. Contact us at consultancy@sharedlivesplus.org.uk or find out more about the guidance.

You can read the full guidance on the Partners in Care and Health website.