Apply to become a Shared Lives carer

Contact us if you’d like to become a Shared Lives carer by:  

What happens next

After you’ve contacted us, we will: 

  1. tell you a bit more about Shared Lives  
  2. arrange a time to visit your home 
  3. tell you if your home is suitable to have someone live with you 
  4. make sure you and the person who will live with you are happy to continue 
  5. send you an application pack which you need to complete and return within 4 weeks and ask you to sign consent forms 

It’s important to place people with suitable families. This means the process can take a few months to complete after you’ve sent us your initial application.  

We will tell you if we cannot continue with your application for any reason during the process.

Assessment and training

Once we have your application pack, we will start the assessment stage and assign you two team members who will: 

  1. ask you some questions  
  2. do some vetting and reference checks with you 
  3. do a few interviews with you  

We will tell you if we need more information from you or when you need to do tasks such as training.  

The assessing officers will then work with you to write a report. They will then present this to the Shared Lives panel.   

New carers will be approved for a one-year probationary period. In that year, you will need to complete the Care Award and any other essential training.