Shared lives carers

We’ll call you to talk through the scheme in a bit more detail, and also to check you meet the basic requirements of our shared lives scheme, such as you live in East Riding of Yorkshire and you have a spare bedroom.

We’ll then email you an application form for you to complete (if you don’t have an email address we can post it instead).

Where to send your completed form

Please return your completed form to:

Shared Lives Scheme
92 Mill Lane
Beverley
East Riding of Yorkshire
HU17 9DH

When we receive your completed application, we’ll contact you to carry out a home review. This is part of the assessment process to make sure you are suitable for the shared lives carer role. The home review will include:

You and your lifestyle

We’ll have a chat about:

• what it’s like to be a shared lives carer (we might also invite you to meet other shared lives carers)
• your experiences, relationships and care-giving skills
• your family, lifestyle and anything you do in the community.

Home standards

We’ll also check your home to make sure that:

• there’s enough space for another person
• you have a spare room
• the property is suitable and of a safe standard.

This is to make sure that we continue to meet the quality of standards required by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Please note: our shared lives service is regularly checked by the Care Quality Commission. You can find the results of our latest review on the Care Quality Commission website.

Your training

We’ll discuss your training and any skills or experience you already have. We’ll also advise which training you should begin to undertake and tell you how to access our online training website. Find out more about shared lives training.

To help us assess if you are suitable for this role, we’ll need to:

• ask for references from your GP, mortgage lender or landlord, your employer and some close friends
• carry out a DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) check. Visit the GOV.UK website for more information on DBS checks.

Once we have completed our assessment, we’ll share it with you so that you are fully aware of what it contains before we send it to our shared lives panel. You’ll also be able to comment and add any other details that you feel are important to your application.

Our shared lives panel are a group of interested and experienced people appointed to consider all new shared lives carer applications.

They will review your application and make recommendations on its approval to the head of service.

The head of service, who has overall responsibility for the shared lives scheme, will review the recommendations made by the panel and decide the outcome of your application.

Once the head of service has made a decision, you will be contacted by the shared lives team and advised on the results.

If your application has been delayed pending further review, we’ll discuss with you what needs to happen before your application is resubmitted to the panel.

If your application is approved, you’ll need to start preparing to become a shared lives carer.