What is Shared Lives care?
Shared Lives is a different way of providing care and support. Instead of relying on buildings or shift patterns, it is built around relationships. Shared Lives carers share their homes, family life and local communities with people who need support, helping them to live ordinary lives with the people and places that matter to them.
Across the UK, 146 regulated Shared Lives schemes (link to new page) recruit, train and support Shared Lives carers, carefully matching them with people who need support.
More than 10,400 Shared Lives carers support almost 10,000 people across the four nations. Over half of the people using Shared Lives live with their chosen Shared Lives carer, while others enjoy regular day support and short breaks.
Shared Lives is recognised as one of the highest-quality forms of social care. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) in England and Care Inspectorate in Scotland consistently rate Shared Lives as the safest and best quality social care service.
That’s why we believe Shared Lives isn’t just another form of social care; it’s an example of what the future of good social care looks like.
The matching process
The matching process is at the heart of Shared Lives care.
Matching is about making sure people get the Shared Lives carers that are right for them, and vice versa.
For supported people matching is about:
- Finding a Shared Lives carer that you will get on well with
- Finding a Shared Lives carer who can help you with the things you need
- Finding a house that suits your needs
What does matching involve?
Various things are taken into consideration to make sure people are matched with the right Shared Lives carer(s), including:
- The day to day help the supported person needs
- What skills the Shared Lives carer has
- What hobbies and interests the supported person and the Shared Lives carer have
