The service has been brought in house from 1st June 2021. There were significant issues uncovered from the previous service delivery that took a lot of resource to investigate and resolve. These issues include over and under payments, and poor service quality. These issues have now been resolved.
Market Context
Essex shared Lives is a care scheme that matches adults who need support with approved hosts. The hosts share their homes and community life with the adults they support. The scheme is designed to help people with Learning Disabilities and or Autism that are unable to live independently. In a Shared Lives arrangement, the adult needing support can either live with the host full-time or stay for respite. This setup allows the adult to become part of the hosts family and community, fostering a supportive and inclusive environment. The scheme supports adults to gain independent skills, seek voluntary work and gain employment as a step towards living an independent, meaningful life.
Essex Shared Lives hosts are trained and vetted, and they receive a fee for their services. The scheme is regulated by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to ensure high standards of care.
Market Rating
There is minimal provision for this market, therefore work is required to evolve the service. The longer-term vision is to develop the service. The current demand is stable and focusing on growth and quality.
| Market Quality | Market Supply | ECC Demand |
|---|---|---|
| Moderate | Low | High |
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 |
 |
| ECC Ambition | Market Workforce | Market Maturity |
| Increase Supply | Moderate | Evolving |
 |
 |
 |
ECC rating of the market, assessed on 30th September 2024.
| Essex ASC Market (ECC Funded) | |
| Spend | £1 Million |
| No. Adults | 43 |
The information shown in the table(s) above is correct as of 30th June 2024.
Current service is now stabilised. The service is now concentrating on target grow and aiming for an increase new placements.
The COVID impact highlighted is:
- Service is now BAU within guidelines
Current market risks:
- Recruitment is required to allow for resource to grow the service to expected volumes – a challenging recruitment market across the social care sector makes this difficult.
- Post Covid it may be more challenging to recruit family hosts
Our current area of focus is:
- Recruitment of service staff to allow the targeted service growth to be achieved.
- Recruitment of shared lives hosts.
- Continued service stabilisation and quality development.