Created: 1992
Where: Nationwide
Scale: 10,000 carers in the UK

Shared Lives Plus is a nationwide network that connects small community services focusing on adult care around the UK. Shared Lives carers are matched with disabled adults or older people to ‘share family and community life’, which can include co-habiting.

This mission to create a long-term bond hopes to foster enduring security and reliable support for the individual, and reduce their reliance on stretched national healthcare services. It offers an alternative to traditional care systems that can provide stability to people for whom the conventional option has failed.

Shared Lives Plus has thousands of carers across the country, and has gained national recognition for its life-changing work – the scheme has been awarded £1.4 million in lottery funding to assist with the expansion of its services and raise awareness of its mission and needs.

The ambition is to integrate the Shared Lives model further into the systems of local and national care providers, including the NHS.