COMMUNITY Integrated Care with services in Warrington, celebrated a double success after being awarded two prestigious care sector accolades at this year’s National Learning Disabilities & Autism Awards, including the top award – the ‘Employer Award’.
Working in the community, Community Integrated Care one of the UK’s most successful social care charities, employs over 5000 caring and committed colleagues to deliver life-enhancing support to over 2,500 people across the UK with a diverse range of care needs, including: learning disabilities, autism and mental health concerns.
Hosted by leading social care publication, Care Talk; the National Learning Disabilities and Autism Awards celebrate individuals, teams and organisations who have gone above and beyond over the past 12 months, providing outstanding care and support to people with learning disabilities and autism.
The highly coveted ‘Employer Award’ recognises ‘an exceptional employer’ in the care sector.
In presenting the award to Community Integrated Care, judges commended the charity’s ‘innovation, passion and drive to enhance the lives of people they support’ and praised them on being ‘a dynamic organisation who focussed on making a tangible difference to people’s lives’.
Mark Adams, CEO of Community Integrated Care, said, “It is a great honour to be awarded the Employer Award and to be recognised on a national level amongst so many fantastic organisations across the sector. I am incredibly proud of our frontline colleagues and support services teams for the efforts that they go to every day, to ensure the best lives possible for the people we support. This recognition is a testament to the amazing things that we have achieved over the past year, and I can’t wait to see what we accomplish in the next 12 months.”
The charity was also awarded the ‘Making A Difference Award’ for their ground-breaking partnership with the Rugby League World Cup 2021. The accolade celebrated the partnership’s world-first Inclusive Volunteering Programme. The initiative sees hundreds of people with learning disabilities and autism have the opportunity to play a variety of important roles at live RLWC 2021 fixtures in stadiums across England – from supporting hospitality guests to capturing matchday photography.
Praising the partnership’s successes over the past 12 months, judges spotlighted their teams as “passionate and completely devoted to [their]work within one of the best community projects in global sport” and stated that “this gives more than 300 people life-changing opportunities to fulfil their true potential through aspirational experiences, achieving dreams, securing paid work and also challenging and tackling prejudice and discrimination.”
James Brooks, one of the charity’s Inclusive Volunteers, attended the awards evening and collected the trophy. He said, “It was brilliant to join everyone celebrating at the awards on Friday, we had a great time. I felt so proud to collect the Making A Difference Award for our team. I love being an Inclusive Volunteer and getting to have lots of exciting experiences and learning new things – it’s such a great programme to be part of. I am over the moon that we won!”
John Hughes, Community Integrated Care’s Director of Partnerships and Communities, said, “I’m delighted to see our partnership with the Rugby League World Cup 2021 and our Inclusive Volunteering Programme take home the gold for the Making a Difference Award. Championing inclusion, tackling discrimination and securing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for people with learning disabilities and autism are at the heart of this programme.
It’s fantastic to see the judges recognise this and for it to be highlighted as a leading project within the sector, at a national event. I am really proud of everyone that has contributed to the programme so far and would like to extend my gratitude to the Rugby League World Cup 2021 for helping make dreams a reality, and supporting to us in promoting inclusion on a global scale.”
The annual awards, which took place at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham also saw the charity shortlisted for 4 further honours in the ‘Breaking Down Barriers’, ‘Sporting Chance’, ‘People’s Award’ and ‘Supporting People with Multiple Learning Disabilities’ categories.
Community Integrated Care is currently recruiting Support Workers in Warrington at an industry-leading pay rate of £10 per hour. To find out more about the charity’s current vacancies, visit their careers website here or register your interest at www.WorkInCare.co.uk
