Shared Lives is a national scheme managed in Surrey and surrounding areas by Surrey Choices.
Shared Lives offers a personalised service planned around the needs and interests of a person, by providing them with short or long-term support in a Shared Lives Carer’s own home.
We are Recruiting Shared Lives Carers
As a Shared Lives Carer, you’ll welcome someone into your home, providing support in a way that fits your lifestyle. You will be enabling a person who needs additional support to become more independent and confident within their lives and their communities by sharing your home with an adult.
What You Can Offer as a Carer:
- Welcome someone as a full-time member of your household
- Provide short-term breaks for individuals and their families
- Support people in building life skills for independence
- Offer emergency Short Breaks during family emergencies
- Support individuals recovering from a hospital stay
- Be carefully matched with someone who shares your interests and hobbies
Make a Difference from Your Own Home
Do you think you could support disabled people to live the lives they choose in their local communities? Become a Shared Lives Carer.
A Shared Lives Carer is matched with a person through finding shared interests, hobbies and more to ensure all individuals are compatible and happy with the match. Depending on how much time Carers can commit, this might be a long-term living arrangement or a short-term break. Carers may just provide occasional respite care, one or two days a week, or a long-term arrangement.
The benefits of becoming a Shared Lives Carer include:
- Getting paid via Surrey Choices depending on the type of care you are offering
- Being self-employed
- Being able to provide care and support from your own home
- Making use of a special tax arrangements for Shared Lives Carers
- Being able to be a Shared Lives Carer alongside other employment
- Being provided with all the information, training and support you require, to enable the person you support to grow and become independent
The Shared Lives service is registered and inspected by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Surrey Choices works closely with CQC, Carers and the people supported by the service to continually develop and improve services. There are opportunities to collaborate with Surrey Choices and to voice your opinion on how to make improvements.