Shared Lives in Learning Disability Services: A Complete Guide
Why Shared Lives is growing in importance for commissioners, how it differs from supported living, home care or residential care, and what providers must evidence in tenders.
If you’re preparing bids in learning disability tenders or want an expert eye to sharpen your submission, our Tender Review & Proofreading Service ensures your Shared Lives sections are clear, evidence-led, and aligned to scoring frameworks.
Shared Lives is not a “nice-to-have” add-on in social care anymore. Increasingly, councils commission it as a core service within their learning disability strategies. But Shared Lives is unlike other models of support — and that difference matters when you’re writing tenders.
Before diving into tender strategy, let’s be clear about how Shared Lives actually works.
👩👩👧 How Shared Lives Contracts Work
A Shared Lives service is not the same as domiciliary care or a care home. Here’s the key difference:
- Shared Lives carers are self-employed, not staff employed by the provider.
- Carers receive fees/allowances (funded through local authorities) to support an adult with learning disabilities in their own household.
- The contract tendered by the council is for an organisation to manage the scheme, not to deliver direct care hours.
That means your organisation’s role, if you win a Shared Lives contract, is to:
- Recruit, vet, and approve Shared Lives carers.
- Deliver ongoing training, supervision, and quality checks.
- Match people with learning disabilities to suitable carers and households.
- Provide governance, safeguarding oversight, and compliance with CQC Shared Lives registration.
- Report outcomes, activity levels, and quality measures back to commissioners.
In tenders, commissioners will expect you to demonstrate deep understanding of this model — especially the fact that Shared Lives carers are not your employees. Governance, safeguarding, and scheme development are the focus, not rostering shifts or managing payroll.
🔎 What Makes Shared Lives Different?
Shared Lives offers something neither home care nor residential care can fully replicate: a family-based, relationship-centred model of support. Instead of hourly visits or shift-based care, a person with learning disabilities becomes part of a household. This creates stability, belonging, and continuity.
Commissioners value Shared Lives because it:
- ✅ Reduces social isolation.
- ✅ Improves long-term outcomes through natural relationships.
- ✅ Can be more cost-effective than 24/7 supported living or residential placements.
- ✅ Fits with strengths-based, person-centred commissioning priorities.
For providers, the challenge in tenders is to show not just an understanding of these values, but how your scheme will deliver them consistently.
📋 What Commissioners Look For in Shared Lives Tenders
When local authorities issue Shared Lives tenders, they want providers to demonstrate capacity in three main areas:
- Carer recruitment and retention — how will you build and sustain a pipeline of households?
- Matching process — how do you ensure safe, person-centred matches that last?
- Governance and safeguarding — how will you manage quality and oversight when carers aren’t your employees?
Generic promises (“we will ensure people are safe and supported”) won’t score. Commissioners expect detail, such as:
- Clear recruitment plans, including campaigns, local networks, and support for prospective carers.
- Approval processes, assessment tools, and training frameworks for new carers.
- Supervision frequency, escalation protocols, and safeguarding governance structures.
- Outcome monitoring — how you track improvements in independence, wellbeing, and community inclusion.
🧑🤝🧑 Shared Lives in Practice — Learning Disability Context
Example 1: Transition to Independence
A young adult with learning disabilities is leaving residential school. Rather than moving into supported living, they are matched with a Shared Lives household. Over time, they develop independent living skills in a family environment, supported by natural daily routines.
Tender evidence: “In the past year, 72% of people in our Shared Lives placements developed new independent living skills, including managing personal budgets, travel training, and preparing meals.”
Example 2: Reducing Social Isolation
An adult with learning disabilities living with their elderly parent is at risk of isolation and carer breakdown. A Shared Lives placement provides continuity, companionship, and stability while ensuring safeguarding.
Tender evidence: “Our monitoring shows 84% of people in Shared Lives placements reported reduced feelings of loneliness, compared with 42% before the match.”
Example 3: Avoiding Costly Placements
A commissioner faces pressure to place an individual in high-cost supported living. A Shared Lives match offers a more cost-effective alternative while maintaining quality outcomes.
Tender evidence: “Shared Lives placements achieved an average cost saving of £9,500 per person per year compared to alternative supported living placements.”
🎯 Strengthening Your Shared Lives Tender
If you’re bidding in learning disability tenders, Shared Lives is often a specialist lot or included as part of wider community support contracts. To maximise your score:
- Provide case studies of successful matches and outcomes.
- Explain your carer recruitment strategy with timelines and community links.
- Show your safeguarding and supervision framework in detail.
- Highlight your CQC compliance and how you maintain governance when carers aren’t employees.
Commissioners are looking for confidence that you can grow the service sustainably while protecting people’s rights and ensuring safe, supportive households.
Final Thought: Shared Lives is not an “add-on” service — it’s a distinctive, regulated model that commissioners value for its relational approach, outcomes, and cost-effectiveness. The organisations that win Shared Lives tenders are those that demonstrate robust governance, creative recruitment of carers, and clear evidence of outcomes for people with learning disabilities. If you can show this, you’ll stand out in a highly competitive tendering space.
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Updated for Procurement Act 2023 • CQC-aligned • BASE-aligned (where relevant)