Shared Lives is consistently rated as one of the highest quality and safest forms of social care support, often outscoring other more traditional care models.
This is recognised not only by official regulators such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Care Inspectorates Scotland and Wales, but crucially also by the people who use the service.
To find out more about how Shared Lives can provide value for money as well a high quality care and support, see our briefing below.
Shared Lives in England is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
Shared Lives schemes in England that provide regulated services have to be registered with CQC.
In October 2023 CQC rated 97% of Shared Lives schemes in England as good or outstanding, in comparison to just 83% for the wider social care sector.
Shared Lives in Scotland is regulated by the Care Inspectorate.
Shared Lives schemes in Scotland that provide regulated services have to be registered with the Care Inspectorate.
All Shared Lives schemes in Scotland have a rating of at least grade 4 (good) for the care and support they deliver. 76% have a rating of grade 5 (very good) or 6 (excellent).
Shared Lives schemes in Wales are regulated by Care Inspectorate Wales.
There are no specific ratings for care inspections in Wales.
Shared Lives schemes in Northern Ireland are regulated by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA).
RQIA reports on Shared Lives/adult placement schemes are consistently good. There are no specific ratings for care inspections in Northern Ireland.
We capture how people supported in Shared Lives rate their experience through the My Shared Life outcomes tool. This works by Shared Lives schemes asking people about their wellbeing over time, with questions that were developed by people with lived experience of Shared Lives to best capture their definitions of good quality of life. The answers are then inputted into My Shared Life online tool which presents how people feel about their wellbeing, and how it has changed over time, in clear graphics.
The latest data (until up to July 2023) showed:
