This week is Shared Lives Week, an opportunity to celebrate the amazing Shared Lives carers and the lives of the people they support.

Shared Lives carers open their homes and family life to support people with mental ill health, dementia, learning disabilities and people discharged from hospital. It’s a personal way of caring for each other, in an ordinary local home, but also a formal social care service, aiming to build kinder, stronger communities.

It was an absolute pleasure to join Shared Lives carers and the people they care for today and to hear their stories. They have each overcome huge challenges and what they are doing is amazing. In fact, this was by far the most uplifting meeting I’ve had since the crisis started!

We desperately need longer term reform for social care, and Shared Lives must be at the heart of any new settlement as we emerge from this crisis and seek to build a better future. You can find out more about Shared Lives here.