Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland Shared Lives schemes support adults aged over 18. Shared Lives may be called Adult Placement and Shared Lives carers, Host Carers in Northern Ireland. Shared Lives/Host carers can support up to three people at any one time.
Schemes in Northern Ireland most commonly support those with a learning disability and older people. Four out of five of the Health and Social Care Trusts have Shared Lives for those with a learning disabilitiy and there is a service for older people covering all five Health and Social Care Trusts.
In 2021-2022, 264 people were supported by 213 Shared Lives carers in Northern Ireland.
Shared Lives schemes are registered and inspected by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority.
No matter where you live in the UK Shared Lives centres around matching based on shared interests and values, offering choice of who provides support and how you live your life.
Read the previous Northern Ireland state of the Shared Lives sector report
Information for professionals
The key pieces of legislation, regulations and standards in Northern Ireland for Shared Lives schemes are:
Social workers are required to be registered with the Northern Ireland Social Care Council. Scheme workers and Shared Lives carers do not need to register.
