Important to and important for
In 2008 United Response enters its 35th anniversary year. From tiny beginnings with just one house in West Sussex, we now support around 1,500 people across the country. But despite this growth, our focus has not changed - we continue to innovate and to push the agenda to make life better for some of the most vulnerable people in our society.
This is a pivotal moment in social care. The past year has seen huge changes in the way that social care is delivered and the introduction of Individual Budgets and Self-Directed Support offers enormous potential for people to have more choice in, and control of, the support they receive. We believe that individual budgets very much build on our ethos - that one size does not fit all, and that effective support must place the individual at the centre.
Crucially, we believe that independence is for everyone, not just the most able and we are already actively engaged in making this work on the ground.
We have pioneered "Person-centred Active Support" to make sure that even people with the most complex needs can gain more control and more independence - and we have developed our skills in working with people and supporting them to be involved in every day activities in a meaningful way. This means people choosing the staff who support them, developing job descriptions for their support worker or personal assistant, designing their own person-centred plan and taking part in every day activities such as shopping and preparing meals.
We plough our resources back into making our support the best it can possibly be, investing in key areas such as best practice, quality and inclusion. And as a registered charity, an important part of our work is speaking up and speaking out alongside people with learning disabilities or mental health needs.
In 2007 we joined with nine other organisations as founder members of the newly-formed Learning Disability Coalition which aims to raise awareness of issues facing people with learning disabilities.
Ultimately, our ethos is about looking not just at what is important for each person - to keep them healthy and safe - but also at what is important to them - so that they can achieve the things that they want to in their life.
This annual review sets out some of the ways in which we are working to make this happen.
I would like to extend a huge thank you to our many friends and supporters and everyone who has helped shape and develop United Response over 35 years.
It's been a real team effort.
Su Sayer OBE Chief Executive, United Response