About Shared Lives
Shared Lives involves supporting an adult with Learning Difficulties in your own home who needs some practical and emotional support. Shared Lives can either provide a day service, short breaks (one night or more), be on a permanent basis, or as a stepping stone to independent living.
Shared Lives provides people with Learning Difficulties a positive alternative, to meet their care needs. The focus is on Person Centred Care planning and encouraging service users to
‘live an ordinary life in their community and to share family life’
(Adult Placement Scheme’s National Minimum Standard 1).
The people who use Shared Lives are all over 18 years, both men and women with a Learning Difficulty. This may mean that they need help with some aspects of their daily living for example, money management and shopping. For others it may mean they need support to cook a meal or to communicate.
Becoming a Shared Lives carer
Single people, couples and families from a wide variety of experience, backgrounds and cultures can become shared lives carers. No formal qualifications are required but we are looking for people with:
• openness and commitment to understanding and training in Learning Difficulties
• an interest in helping people with a Learning Difficulty develop new skills
• an ability to demonstrate some basic skills and knowledge required for a caring role
• promote the positive development of the Shared Lives Scheme
Benefits of becoming a Shared Lives Carer
• you can escape your more traditional 9 to 5 job
• a job that's rewarding
• a job that fits in with your life style and is based within your own home
• ongoing training for a career in social care
• free membership to NAAPS and Carer Public Liability Insurance
• regular support and monitoring to ensure that each party is getting the most out of Shared Lives
• competitive rates of pay
• Ongoing Carer Support
Application process
An enquiry can be made by a single person or as a joint application (a person and their partner). Just email your enquiry to sharedlives@southglos.gov.uk or write to Shared Lives, Learning Difficulties Services, Hanham Road, Kingswood. BS15 8PQ. Someone will then arrange a pre-application visit to explain more about the scheme. As part of the approval process, a full assessment is undertaken on the main carer and other family members. This will involve several home visits and will include taking up personal and medical references as well as full checks with the Criminal Records Bureau. As part of the assessment you will also be required to undertake some training.
A Shared Lives Approval panel will then make a decision as to whether your application has been successful.
Once approval has been completed, the assessment will be used as part of the matching process with every effort made to ensure that compatibility between the people using the service and carer is achieved. The approval and matching process may take sometime, up to 6 months or more in some complex cases, as it is essential that everyone involved is positive and happy about the proposed Shared Lives placement.
Ongoing support for the Shared Lives scheme will be provided by staff employed by the South Gloucestershire Shared Lives Scheme. Regular monitoring visits and reviews will form part of the contract. The payment you will receive will depend upon the level of support required by the person using the service. Shared Lives will pay for membership to NAAPS and they will also pay for Carer Public Liability Insurance.
If you are in receipt of housing benefit, income support or any other state benefits, you are advised to check your own position with regard to this. It may be that deductions are made from your benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions (this link is on the right hand side of the page under 'Other websites'). If you are receiving Incapacity benefit you cannot be the main carer.
You will also need to contact your insurance company, landlord, or mortgage company to check whether approval is necessary before accepting a paying individual into your home. It is the carer's responsibility to declare payments received to the tax office.