Sandwell Community Caring Trust (SCCT) is a registered charity delivering care services to adults with physical and learning disabilities and elderly residents. Sandwell Community Caring Trust emerged from Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council in 1997. Big Issue Invest and Unity Trust Bank came together to provider over £4 million to enable Sandwell Community Caring Trust to purchase a new 62-bed residential care home. In some ways this was a relatively straightforward property deal but it was made possible by the partnership between the two investors and SCCT, brought together through shared values, and by Big Issue Invest’s capacity to take on risks which conventional banks cannot.
Before the investment
Sandwell Community Caring Trust (SCCT) is a registered charity created in 1997 to provide services in the Black Country in the West Midlands. The organisation delivers a range of services to support over 600 people in the area as well as providing NHS and social services in Torbay in the south west of England. Services include supported living for adults with physical and learning disabilities, residential care including for adults with physical and learning disabilities, day care services, respite care for physically disabled adults and domiciliary / home care.
Supported living enables people who are unable to live by themselves independently the chance to live in their own home with the support of care workers. SCCT provides supported living to adults with learning or physical disabilities in properties from 1 bedroom flats to 4 bedroom bungalows. These properties may be ‘ordinary houses in ordinary streets’ or part of a development together which is designed to build social capital and reduce isolation. Every home is based on the needs and choices of the people who will live there, depending on their needs, such as wheelchair access, or the support they require. SCCT aim to provide a plan of support while giving the individual the opportunity to maintain their independence wherever possible. Care varies from a few hours to 24 hour support.
Sandwell Community Caring Trust was originally part of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council and has grown from 85 staff and 62 customers to over 600 staff and 700 customers today. In 1997, long before the current UK government focus on mutuals, the enterprise ‘spun out’ of the council to become an independent social enterprise. Before the move, staff had on average 22 days sick leave every year, which for the last seven years is now just one day. Similarly, staff turnover was 30% and is now just 6%. As a result of its success, SCCT has expanded the range of services it offers including respite care, and supported living for children and adults with physical and learning disabilities. Sandwell Community Caring Trust devolved more control to staff, cutting management and administration costs from 20% to 6%.
Geoff Walker, CEO of Sandwell Caring Community Trust, has played a significant role in the social enterprise movement, particularly around advocating for the importance of creating a positive working environment for staff, helping them to be more engaged and motivated in their work. Geoff describes how “Our carers are absolutely committed to the people they look after. If you want people to work with respect and dignity, that is how you have to treat them.”