Shared Lives Officer

Brighton & Hove City Council; Brighton; On-site; GBP 34,000 - 39,000; Part time

Job summary

Brighton & Hove City Council is seeking a Shared Lives Officer in Brighton to recruit, assess and support Shared Lives carers, ensuring safe, person-centred care that promotes independence and inclusion.

You will work with social workers, health professionals and families to facilitate successful placements and ensure ongoing compliance. The role involves assessments, safeguarding, and providing professional support to carers.

Qualifications

• Experience in health, social care or regulated care environments.
• Ability to assess and support carers and people supported.
• Knowledge of safeguarding, risk management and person-centred practice.

Responsibilities

• Recruit and promote the Shared Lives scheme in local communities.
• Undertake comprehensive assessments of prospective carers and conduct checks.
• Present recommendations for approval to the Shared Lives Panel.
• Support carers to understand roles within a CQC registered service.
• Ensure carers complete mandatory training and compliance.
• Match individuals to suitable carers and provide ongoing support.
• Conduct quarterly monitoring visits and annual reviews.

Skills

Shared Lives experience

Relationship building

Job description

Shared Lives Officer

Wellington House, Wellington Street, Brighton, BN2 3AX

Basis Fixed Hours

Job details

Salary £34,434 - £39,152 (pay award pending)

Contractual hours 22.5 Basis Fixed Hours

Job category/type Adult Social Care

Date posted 04/08/2026

Job reference REQ0001340

Package We are pleased to offer a wide range of benefits to support you and your wellbeing. You can read about them on our Why work for us pages.

Job description

Do you understand the needs of carers and the people they support?

Are you passionate about helping people live independent, fulfilling lives within their communities?

Can you build trusted relationships, provide professional support, and ensure high standards of care and compliance?

If so, we would love to hear from you.

As a Shared Lives Officer, you will play a vital role in delivering a high-quality Shared Lives service. You will recruit, assess and offer ongoing support to Shared Lives carers, while ensuring that people accessing the service receive safe, person-centred support that promotes independence, choice and inclusion.

This is a rewarding opportunity for someone who enjoys working with people, has a good understanding of adult social care, and is committed to achieving positive outcomes for both carers and the individuals they support.

There is full information about the role below and attached but, if you would like an informal discussion, please contact Thomas Cafferkey, Shared Lives manager on 07544 656333 or email [e-mail]

About the Role

As part of a dedicated Shared Lives team, you will:

• Recruit and promote the Shared Lives scheme within local communities.
• Undertake comprehensive assessments of prospective carers, including statutory checks, references, and suitability assessments.
• Present recommendations for approval to the Shared Lives Panel.
• Support carers to understand their role and responsibilities within a CQC registered service.
• Ensure carers complete mandatory training and maintain compliance with ongoing learning requirements.
• Match individuals referred to the service with suitable carers.
• Provide professional, practical and emotional support to carers to help them succeed in their role.
• Conduct quarterly monitoring visits and annual reviews to ensure compliance with regulations, policies and best practice.
• Support carers with key areas including safeguarding, risk management, medication, health and safety, promoting independence, and person-centred support planning.
• Meet regularly with people supported through the scheme to ensure their views are heard and their needs are being met.
• Work closely with social workers, health professionals, families and other stakeholders to support successful placements.
• Participate in multi-disciplinary meetings and contribute to service development and continuous improvement.
• Facilitate carer meetings and promote meaningful feedback from carers and the people they support.

What We're Looking For

We are looking for someone who:

• Has experience working within health, social care, supported living, Shared Lives, fostering, or another regulated care environment.
• Understands the challenges and rewards of caring roles.
• Can assess, support and develop positive working relationships with carers and the people they support.
• Has knowledge of safeguarding, risk management and person-centred practice.
• Is confident working independently and managing a varied workload.
• Has strong communication, assessment and report-writing skills.
• Can work collaboratively with a wide range of professionals and partner agencies.
• Is committed to equality, inclusion and delivering high-quality services.

Why Join Us?

You’ll be joining a service that changes lives by enabling adults to live in welcoming family homes and communities where they can develop skills, independence and meaningful relationships.

In return, you’ll benefit from:

• A rewarding role that makes a genuine difference.
• Supportive and experienced colleagues.
• The chance to contribute to the growth and development of an innovative service.

Join us and help create opportunities for people to live fulfilling lives through the power of Shared Lives.

Encouraging a diverse workforce

Our city is known and loved for its diversity. Not only is the mixture of people, culture and skills vital to the economic and social development of the city, it's what makes Brighton & Hove such a great place to live, work and visit. We are committed to developing and retaining a workforce that is representative of the diverse communities we serve so we welcome applications from individuals from all backgrounds. In order to achieve our aims of proportionate representation, we particularly encourage applicants from a BME or White Other background as well as those who identify as disabled, male or trans.

Find out more about our commitment to being a fair and inclusive place to work where everyone can achieve their potential by reading about our fair and inclusive actions, our anti-racism strategy and the work we are doing to encourage a diverse workforce (brighton-hove.gov.uk).

Why work for us?

• be connected
• be confident
• be innovative and creative
• be diverse and inclusive
• be healthy and psychologically safe

For more information about our values and the benefits of working at the council, visit Why work for us which gives details of our wellbeing support, our benefits including leave and pensions as well as details of our training and development.

Your starting salary will be pro rata if the above position is less than 37 hours or term-time only.

Please note that this post is exempt from the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974, and is subject to a Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) Check.

We are a workplace that supports flexibility and employee wellbeing in the way we work whilst providing the best service for our customers. Team and service working arrangements are designed to support both employee work life balance and team collaboration. These would be part of your individual working arrangements alongside any personal preference agreed with your manager in advance of joining. Your contractual location will be the designated council office for your team and travel to and from your contractual location would be at your own expense.

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