Care Programme

Care is a social right and absolute foundation of thriving communities. 

Systems that are supposed to support those giving and receiving care (including social care and child care) are broken. This means that people struggle to afford the basics and may experience poor health and wellbeing.

We believe thriving communities are ones where people can live in dignity and get the support they need. We also know that it is organisations and residents in those communities that know best how to support people who are carers or people with care needs.

Latest work

See our latest report: Ageing Well in Place at Meredith Court.

With our partners Aquarius Community Savers, Aquarius Tenants and Residents Association, Meredith Matters Community Researchers and Community Led Action Savings and Support, we supported tenants to conduct a survey to better understand the cost of care in Meredith Court. The report details the survey findings and our next steps. 

Our headline findings

1. Cost of living: 81% of participants reported that they couldn't comfortably afford energy costs.
2. Social isolation: 46% of participants saw family or friends about once a fortnight or less. 
3. Health inequalities: 46% of participants reported having a long-term health condition.

Why we co-produced this research

Tenants (a team of eight community researchers) led this survey process from deciding what questions to ask to conducting the research itself.

Three community researchers had done this before at neighbouring tower block Hopton Court, as part of the Naturally Occurring Retirement Community initiative.

This has built up more tenant leaders who want to go beyond data gathering and advocate for changes tenants want to see in their tower block and amongst local services -  including financial and care support.

Building connections between our partners

In mid-October 2025, we connected two of our place-based partners.

Women from Creative Minds Middlesbrough and CLASS affiliated Community Savers leaders in Manchester came together to share learnings and support the running of a new Savers Group in Middlesbrough.

These Savers Groups are a community-led poverty reduction strategy in which local residents (primarily low-income women) save money together. The benefits of these groups go beyond just financial resilience and also empower residents to create their own solutions to inequality, improving mental and physical wellbeing, and reducing isolation.

Within the Turn2us Care Programme, we are working to support this network and champion this transformative co-production approach to best support those facing financial insecurity. Our mission is to work further with this network and identify areas we can best support. We will be documenting the journey here so watch this space!