Age Exchange becomes subsidiary of Community Integrated Care

06 Aug 2018 News

Age Exchange chief executive Rebecca Packwood and Community Integrated Care chief executive Mark Adams

South-east London-based charity Age Exchange has become a subsidiary of national social care charity Community Integrated Care.

The charities say there will be no changes in terms of staffing or organisational structure at either organisation as a result of the merger.

Age Exchange had an income of £733,000 in the year to March 2017, a slightly higher amount than in previous years, and an expenditure of £724,000. It has 16 members of staff and more than 100 volunteers.

Community Integrated Care has an income of £115m and more than 4,000 staff.

Age Exchange will retain its own identity, board of trustees and governance agreements and services at its centre in Blackheath will remain the same.

The two charities were legally joined on 27 July following due diligence processes and the unanimous ratification by the boards of both organisations. No money exchange hands as part of the deal.

Sustainability review

Rebecca Packwood, chief executive of Age Exchange, said her charity began looking for a parent organisation after it undertook an internal review of its sustainability in 2016/17.

She said: “We set out to find a national partner that provided both the infrastructure we needed to grow and synergy in terms of values and ambition - Community Integrated Care was the perfect candidate.

“This partnership will allow us to replicate the work we do in our Blackheath centre across the UK, dramatically increasing the number of beneficiaries we are able to reach.

“Community Integrated Care will benefit from our expertise in Reminiscence Arts, allowing it to further develop its award-winning dementia services using Age Exchange’s impactful strategies, which are the blueprint for the ambitious plans for this partnership.”

'We hope it will be the first of many partnerships'

Mark Adams, chief executive at Community Integrated Care, said the merger supports his charity’s five-year strategy, which includes a plan to partner with more local charities.

He said: “Having already successfully ventured into dementia and reminiscence projects to improve the lives of people we support, our partnership with Age Exchange will now allow us to further improve those projects by sharing knowledge, learning from Age Exchange’s industry-leading strategies and expanding our offer to deliver genuine social impact to communities across the country.

“We hope Age Exchange is the first partnership of many to come, as we help more charities increase the reach of their incredible work.”

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