Shared Lives

Section 01Service definition

Shared Lives is a regulated model of care and support where an approved Shared Lives carer provides accommodation, support, or short breaks within their own family home. The model is distinct from foster care, supported living, and residential care in that it is rooted in ordinary family life rather than institutional or staffed environments. Commissioners define Shared Lives as a community-based alternative to traditional care settings, with outcomes focused on belonging, inclusion, and long-term stability.

Shared Lives schemes recruit, train, assess, and support individual carers who are approved through a panel process. The scheme itself holds CQC registration and is responsible for matching, ongoing monitoring, and safeguarding oversight. Arrangements can be long-term placements, short breaks, or day support.

Section 02Typical client cohort

People placed through Shared Lives schemes typically include adults with learning disabilities, autistic adults, people with mental health support needs, older people, and people with physical disabilities. Referrals come from local authority social work teams, hospital discharge pathways, transition teams for young people moving from children's to adult services, and community mental health teams.

Eligibility is determined by the referring local authority based on assessed care and support needs under the Care Act 2014. Shared Lives is often positioned as an alternative to residential care or supported living for people who would benefit from a family-based environment rather than a staffed setting.

Section 03Commissioning and procurement context

Shared Lives is overwhelmingly commissioned by local authorities, typically through the adult social care directorate. Procurement routes include direct scheme commissioning, framework agreements for Shared Lives providers, and in some cases, inclusion within broader supported living or community-based frameworks. Many local authorities operate their own in-house Shared Lives schemes but increasingly commission external providers where capacity or specialism is needed.

Block funding, per-placement fees, and retainer models are all used depending on the authority. Some tenders are structured as expansion opportunities for existing schemes, while others commission entirely new scheme setup within a geographic area.

Section 04Core service requirements

Specifications for Shared Lives typically require evidence of robust carer recruitment, assessment, and approval processes, including enhanced DBS checks, panel review, and ongoing annual review. Matching processes must demonstrate consideration of compatibility, cultural needs, communication preferences, and personal interests.

Commissioners expect detail on how schemes support carers through training, supervision, and emergency response. Specifications reference safeguarding systems, complaint handling, and how schemes evidence outcomes such as community inclusion, skill development, and placement stability. Short breaks provision is often included as a separate strand within the same contract.

Carer Recruitment and Assessment. Responses detail how carers are recruited from local communities, the assessment process including home visits and panel presentation, DBS and reference checks, and how diversity in the carer pool is actively pursued to enable culturally appropriate matching.

Matching and Placement. This addresses how schemes match individuals with carers based on assessed needs, preferences, interests, and compatibility. It includes trial periods, review mechanisms, and how placement breakdowns are managed.

Safeguarding in Family-Based Settings. Unique to Shared Lives, this covers how safeguarding is maintained in unregulated home environments, including unannounced visits, carer supervision, allegation management, and referral protocols.

Supporting Carer Wellbeing and Retention. Covers training programmes, peer support networks, respite for carers, and how schemes maintain carer engagement and reduce turnover.

Short Breaks Provision. Where included in scope, this details how short breaks are arranged, matched, and monitored, including emergency short breaks for crisis situations.

Section 05Regulatory and compliance framework

Shared Lives schemes are regulated by CQC under the category of community-based adult social care. Inspection focuses on the scheme's governance, carer assessment and approval processes, matching protocols, safeguarding systems, and quality of support planning. The five key questions (safe, effective, caring, responsive, well-led) apply, with particular weight given to how schemes ensure carers are properly supported and monitored.

Relevant legislation includes the Care Act 2014, Mental Capacity Act 2005, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. Shared Lives UK provides sector-specific quality standards and an accreditation framework that many commissioners reference in specifications.

Section 06Key operational challenges

The workforce in Shared Lives consists of scheme coordinators, matching officers, reviewing officers, and administrative support. Carers are not employees but are approved and monitored by the scheme. Specifications typically require evidence of staff-to-carer ratios, caseload management, and how the scheme ensures coordinators have sufficient capacity to support all active placements.

Training requirements for coordinators include safeguarding, MCA, person-centred planning, and scheme-specific assessment skills. Carer training covers first aid, medication management, safeguarding awareness, challenging behaviour, and equality and diversity.

Providers lose marks in Shared Lives tenders through insufficient detail on matching processes, weak safeguarding systems for home-based settings, failure to evidence cultural competence in carer recruitment, and generic responses that do not address the specific needs of the commissioned cohort. Lack of local knowledge and absence of measurable outcomes are also common weaknesses.

Section 07How we approach this setting

We write Shared Lives tender responses by converting the scheme's operational model into scored narrative that directly addresses commissioner evaluation criteria. This means translating carer recruitment pipelines, panel processes, matching protocols, and monitoring frameworks into structured answers that demonstrate governance, safety, and person-centred practice.

Responses are built around the specification's language, embedding the commissioner's terminology for outcomes, eligibility, and service delivery. We position the scheme's quality systems, carer training programme, and safeguarding framework as evidence of compliance rather than aspiration. Each response is scored internally against evaluation criteria before submission.

Section 08Typical starting points we handle

First-time bidders entering this setting, scaling providers expanding across districts, established providers seeking score improvement, and providers building the evidence base required for competitive frameworks.

Section 09Outcomes achieved

KPIs in Shared Lives typically include placement stability rates, number of placement breakdowns, carer recruitment and retention figures, service user satisfaction, and outcomes relating to community inclusion, skill development, and independence. Commissioners may also track short break utilisation, time from referral to placement, and safeguarding incident rates.

Section 10Related case examples

The case studies below match this care setting and demonstrate the operational evidence base behind successful submissions.

Section 12Where this applies

Shared Lives schemes work closely with local authority social work teams, community mental health teams, learning disability teams, and transition services. Partnership working extends to housing providers where Shared Lives carers also act as landlords under supported living arrangements, and to NHS services for health-related support needs.

Shared Lives delivery is affected by the availability of approved carers in specific geographic areas. Rural areas may have strong carer availability but limited access to community resources, while urban areas offer more community links but higher housing costs affecting carer recruitment. Schemes must demonstrate how they maintain geographic coverage across the commissioned area.