Shared Lives: unlocking the potential
Alex Fox, CEO
Shared Lives Plus
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
http://alexfoxblog.wordpress.com
Kent Shared Lives
Karl and Clare with Shared Lives carers Blossom and Mike,
at their wedding, before moving to live independently
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Sharing home and family life.
8,000 Shared Lives carers are recruited, trained,
supported, monitored by 150 registered local schemes.
They are matched with
adults who need support
and share home and family
life at the Shared Lives
carer’s home.
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Paul and Sheila
Paul, 50, moved in with Shared Lives carer, Sheila and family
in Birmingham. He bought his first bicycle and enjoys bike
rides with Sheila and her husband, who have helped Paul
become a visible and popular member of the community. He
knows people like local shopkeepers by name and Sheila
encourages everyone to ‘look out for Paul’. Paul has learned
to use public transport and cross roads safely and he can now
walk unaided in his community for the first time. Paul doesn't
have a lot of speech, but when asked what 'independent'
means, he smiles and says 'walk'.
Other stories: the Parker family (the Telegraph): http://goo.gl/gM3Iq;
Nigel and Stephen (the Guardian) http://bit.ly/eqritE
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Sharing home and family life.
‘Peter’, who I support several days a week, is a similar
age to me and he has learning, physical and
communication difficulties. I really enjoy being in his
company and I think he feels the same. I encourage
Peter to decide what he wants to do and get great
satisfaction seeing him making good sound decisions.
Peter visits my home and has got to know Moira, my boys
and my sister and Mum. I was impressed at how Peter
engaged my youngest son Aaron, bringing Aaron out of
his shell.
Allan, retired police officer and Shared Lives carer.
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Shared Lives vital statistics
In England, primary (not sole) reason for support:
• 7710 are people of all ages with learning disabilities
• 820 are people with mental health issues
• 310 have dementia
• 280 are people with physical disabilities
• 8000 are working age and 1600 are 65+
6720 Shared Lives carers:
• 4403 providing long term support
• 2317 solely providing breaks or day support
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Shared Lives: outcomes
‘Firsts’ for 500 individuals using Shared Lives:
• Learned a household task: 35%
• Carried out a personal task: 35%
• First ever holiday: 30% (UK) 16% (abroad)
• First boyfriend/girlfriend: 12%
• Joined a club not exclusively for disabled people: 26%
• Started a job: 4% and volunteering 13%
• 30% of service users had made one new friend
• 32% of service users had made two to four new friends
• 34% of service users had made five or more new friends.
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Shared Lives savings in three
local authorities in 2013
• Average net per person p.a.
savings: £26,000 (learning
disabilities) and £8,000 (mental
health).*
• Social investment available to start
and expand Shared Lives schemes.
*Social Finance: Investing in Shared Lives
2014
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Other
1200
Intermediate care /
reablement
1000
800
Offenders
Transition support for nondisabled care leavers
Transitions support for
disabled children
600
Drug or alcohol problems
Parent with child
400
Physical impairment
200
Mental health
Dementia or similar
Regional variation in use
of Shared Lives in
England:
• Yorkshire & Humbs:
0.9% of people
supported.
• East of England:
0.2%.
0
Learning disabilities
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Scaling up
• Hampshire Shared Lives supports 9% of supported adults
with learning disabilities; Sheffield supports 2% of
supported over 65s and 2% of people
with mental health support.
• If all areas caught up with these areas
Shared Lives would grow from 10,000
to 36,000 people.
• Yorkshire and Humbs: 30% of Shared
Lives arrangements are for over 65s,
but in the North East, this is only 2.1%
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Social sustainability
Shared Lives is not alone in combining community building
ideas with support
•
•
•
•
•
•
Homeshare
Circles of Support
Care banks and time banks
Micro-enterprise development
Local Area Coordination
KeyRing networks
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Social sustainability
Shared Lives illustrates some counter-cultural ideas:
• Mixing paid and unpaid; professional and personal
• Community development not just community location
• Strengths, capabilities, assets-focus; not just needs/deficits
• (Re)arranging interventions in support of informal networks
The sustainability of both services and of communities relies
on service models which are re-arranged around not just
individuals’ needs, but their informal support eco-system:
a networked model of support & truly ‘social’ social care.
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk
Contact details
Alex Fox, CEO,
Shared Lives Plus,
alex@SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
West Wales Adult
Placement
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
07738641897
http://alexfoxblog.wordpress.com
Twitter: @alexsharedlives
• Personalisation: lessons from social care, RSA: http://goo.gl/QSlDg
• Redesigning the front end of social care: http://goo.gl/dcxzh.
• Working locally: micro-enterprises and building community assets, for
NHS Confederation's Uneasy Consensus series: http://goo.gl/YO81j.
www.SharedLivesPlus.org.uk
www.communitycatalysts.co.uk