‘I see them giggling in this little kitchen of mine and just think, this is life. Hannah and Cindy have grown so much. We colour each other’s lives.’

Jean, Shared Lives carer

How we’ll support you

As a self-employed Shared Lives carer, it’s important you have all the support you need from us to do a great job.

At PSS we’ve got dedicated Shared Lives teams at each of our scheme locations to support you in your role as a Shared Lives carer. There’s also lots of other support you can get from other organisations and other Shared Lives carers.

Support for Shared Lives carers from PSS

We’ll give you advice on everything you need to get going, like public liability insurance, health and safety and paperwork. We’ll walk you through anything you’re not sure of.
We’ll provide full and thorough training in everything you need to get started as a Shared Lives carer. Once you’re up and running, you’ll be enrolled into a programme of essential online learning, which we’ll need you to complete as you go along.
You’ll have a dedicated member of our team who’ll get to know you and the person you support really well. They’ll be your main contact at PSS and will be in touch with you regularly to check everything’s going swimmingly.
You’ll have an induction process, where we’ll prepare you for the different parts of your role.
We’ll explain all the policies and procedures we have here at PSS and how you can make sure you follow and understand them.
We’ll prepare you for dealing with different situations you might come across.
We’ll be here for you whenever you need us – and we’ve even got an out of hours support line to get help and advice when our offices are closed.
We’ll introduce you to a network of carers just like you.

Other support available for Shared Lives carers

Shared Lives Plus is a membership organisation especially for Shared Lives carers. Shared Lives Plus is a completely separate organisation from PSS and we’re not involved in running it.

Shared Lives Plus is a specialist organisation who, once you’ve joined them, can provide oodles of independent advice and resources about all things Shared Lives – from access to insurance through to specialist training and one-to-one support.
Think of Shared Lives Plus a bit like a club or alliance you can join.

You can find out more about Shared Lives plus at sharedlivesplus.org.uk

What our carers say about the support we give them

Everyone at PSS has been a great support for me as a Shared Lives carer. I had a few difficulties when I first started with getting Tim settled into my home. He felt a bit anxious at first, but the team helped us both through it. I was impressed with how well they knew Tim and the things they were able to suggest to help him feel more at home with us. We worked it out together and we’re pretty much like a family now. This is the best job you can get and I give my thanks to PSS for introducing me to it.

Dave, Shared Lives carer, PSS Lincolnshire

The team at PSS has been nothing short of amazing. I've never had my own business before or worked for myself and it felt a bit scary, to be honest. Annette at PSS helped me get myself set up and talked me through everything. She was there if I had any questions or if I wanted to run things by her. She's been there the whole way and she also introduced me to a few carers who live really close to me. We meet up for coffee regularly and they are a great support, especially in the early days. I've really surprised myself with how easy it is to be self-employed. It's much simpler than I thought.

Josie, Shared Lives carer, PSS Norfolk

I started off as a Shared Days carer with PSS. Everything from the recruitment bit to getting matched and introduced to Nina who I support has been so smooth. Whenever I've had any questions Gary has been brilliant. He comes on visits regularly and he's always so friendly and professional. I'm now making the move to offer the Home from Hospital service with PSS.

Sue, Shared Lives carer, PSS Wirral

I've been a carer with PSS for about 20 years now. I lived in Merseyside first and then moved to Wales, so I worked with both the PSS Merseyside and Wales teams. They have all been fantastic. Very supportive. Shared Lives has gone from strength to strength and I've enjoyed being a part of it.

Brian, Shared Lives carer, PSS Wales

Interested in becoming a Shared Lives carer? Let your local team call you for a quick chat

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