Strategic spotlight – Hull Shared Lives growth and development

• Work more closely with local leaders
• Increase the number of referrals
• Recruit more Shared Lives carers and support existing ones
• Target: 50 live-in carers (up from 41)
• Target: 20 short-break carers (up from 10)
• Involve people supported in Shared Lives more to help shape the service

The early months of development focused on reshaping scheme policies and processes while the consortium determined how ARF funding would be allocated. Once funding was confirmed, investment was used to:

• Hire two new permanent Shared Lives officers
• Buy 50 tablets so carers could access training and stay in touch more easily
• Run a recruitment campaign for new Shared Lives carers

This extra support helped the service grow in a sustainable way. Since then, four long-term and six sessional arrangements have been set up.

Previously, Hull Shared Lives was on the edge of social work teams and not truly integrated, which led to low understanding of Shared Lives among social workers. To address this, the scheme:

• Embedded Shared Lives as an option in the local system LiquidLogic
• Created accessible information for social workers, including a leaflet with a QR code linking to resources to support understanding of the referral process
• Became part of induction training for new social workers
• Co-located with transitions and high needs adult social care teams, creating opportunities for conversations and joint working
• Delivered presentations across teams to increase awareness of the scheme
• Engaged with the parent carer forum, improving awareness of Shared Lives among families planning for adulthood

Additionally, the scheme improved processes for setting up arrangements, including a more structured approach to caseload management. This introduced a red, amber, green (RAG) rating and weighting to balance workloads across Shared Lives officers and improve oversight.

Impact

A large part of the growth achieved by the scheme has been for respite arrangements.

• Referrals have steadily increased
• New referrals are coming from teams that previously had limited awareness of Shared Lives
• Three new respite arrangements are in progress with more Shared Lives carers ready to be matched

A major barrier to scheme growth was Shared Lives carer recruitment, as is often the case nationally. With a £14k advertising budget, a coordinated recruitment campaign was launched across the North East consortium. Key elements of this campaign included:

• Regionally aligned branding and messaging
• A professional video featuring Shared Lives carers and supported people
• Advertising on electronic billboards and buses
• A focused three-month social media campaign

Impact of recruitment campaign

• A Shared Lives Week event led to two enquiries and ongoing applications
• Increased interest from foster carers, with two Shared Lives carer assessments underway.

The campaign significantly raised the local profile, and a were recruited.

Previously, pre‑approval training for new Shared Lives carers took six months, and the scheme had difficulties engaging existing Shared Lives carers in training.

Now:

• Pre‑approval training is delivered in-house, led by Shared Lives Officers as a rolling programme.
• Shared Lives carers can use tablets to complete training online and in their own time

Outcomes

• Approval times have reduced from six months to just 12 weeks by switching pre-approval training to in-house, making it more flexible.
• 93% of approved Shared Lives carers have completed all required training

“Online training courses enable me to do training at a time that suit’s me.” – Shared Lives carer

Hull Shared Lives has a clear commitment to co-production, ensuring the voices of supported people are central to development of the service.

Key examples include:

• Supported people sit on every interview panel, including the recruitment of new scheme staff and Shared Lives carers. Those involved are paid with vouchers.
• The development of a Shared Lives Forum, ensuring Shared Lives carers and supported people can influence change within the scheme.

“I’ve found people aren’t right to care for others. We need to know they will work with a person and get to know them.”’ – Dee, supported in Shared Lives

“I enjoy the panels and forums. They are satisfying.” – Lennie, supported in Shared Lives

Dee has also set-up a craft group, where people drop in for coffee and work on crafts together. She also does charity work, including volunteering at a local soup kitchen. Dee and Lennie are partners, both supported by Jodie, their Shared Lives carer, and are fantastic advocates for Shared Lives.

‘Shared Lives is a lot more than people see, it’s not just the care side, it’s encouraging people to be them… it’s allowed me to be who I am without faking it, I’ve faked it before.’ – Dee

“I wouldn’t be here without Shared Lives” – Lennie

Find out more about Hull Shared Lives.

Over half (27 out of 42) of all Integrated Care Systems (ICS) chose to prioritise the growth of Shared Lives using ARF funding, and Shared Lives Plus has so far provided strategic advice and hands-on consultancy to 14 ICS areas.

If you’re interested in our consultancy support to help establish, grow, or diversify Shared Lives in your area, contact our strategic advice team at consultancy@sharedlivesplus.org.uk or read more about our consultancy offer: Consultancy support – Shared Lives Plus and our recent support to schemes.