What is the Shared Lives Scheme?
Shared Lives offers short breaks and full time placements to adults with learning disabilities in the home of approved shared lives carers in the community. Short breaks can be anything from a few hours to a weekend to a couple of weeks, depending on the needs of the person and their permanent carers.
Full time placements occur when the person moves in on a permanent basis with the adult placement carer or family.
Shared Lives exists to give adults with learning disabilities greater choice about where they have breaks and where they live. It can provide a reliable and enjoyable alternative to living with family or permanent carers or to using residential care.
How big is the Shared Lives Scheme?
There are 120 Shared Lives carers on the Scheme. They support 132 adults with learning disabilities. We have 29 households offering full time placements to 40 adults.
We have 6 full and part time social workers plus one admin worker and a Senior Care Manager who help the Scheme run smoothly and make sure all the rules and regulations are in place.
We are inspected and regulated by CSCI and by the Supporting People team.
Referrals:
All referrals come to the team from either Bradford or Keighley CTLD
Contacts for CTLD offices:
Park View
Skipton Rd
Keighley
BD 20 6LB
01535 609762 | 21 Owlet Rd
Shipley
Bradford
BD18 2LU
01274 322030 |
To be eligible for a service from Shared Lives, a person must usually have a Learning Disability and be in receipt of at least mid rate DLA care
The Shared Lives worker will then look at the needs of the person and see if we can find a suitable match.
Who provides the care?
Shared Lives carers are ordinary people who live in the community in ordinary homes. They are committed to offering choice and new social opportunities to adults with whom they are matched, and support to their permanent carers.
All Shared Lives carers are CRB checked, undergo a thorough assessment process, and receive regular and frequent support and training.
What does it cost?
Short breaks cost the service user / family around £8 for any care of 8 - 24 hours.
Full time placements are funded by a combination of funding including Supporting People Grant, Housing Benefit, Service User benefits or top up from the Care Trust. The exact combination depends on the person's needs.
Are Shared Lives carers paid?
They receive a session fee for caring for someone. At the moment (2009) this is £25.00 for care of 0 - 8 hours and for care of 8 - 24 hours £50.00
Full time adult placement carers are self employed and are paid a fee which varies from £320 - £400 per week, depending on the needs of the person they care for.
What do people think of Shared Lives?
People First Self Advocacy (Bradford) asked a selection of people with learning disabilities about what they liked and didn't like about respite services. The people who used Shared Lives said they liked it because they had choice about what they did and made new friends.
The Commission for Social Care Inspection inspected Shared Lives in June 2006 and gave it a good report and you can read the CSCI report here: www.csci.org.uk
How do we find out more about Shared Lives?
For more information you can ring 01274 432211 and ask to speak to any team member or to the Senior Care Manager
Shared Lives Bradford is registered with CSCI
