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30th birthday banner for Community Integrated Care, one of the UK's largest health and social care charities.

Our History

Community Integrated Care has a proud history as one of the original pioneers of the Care in the Community agenda. Since our founding in 1988, we have grown into one of Britain’s most innovative and successful social care providers. Our history continues to shape not only our organisation, but also the wider social care sector. It reflects decades of commitment to helping the people we support live the best lives possible.

Community Integrated Care was founded in 1988 by Dr David Robertson, who had a vision to support people with care needs to move from institutional hospitals into independent lives within their communities. He established the charity with a strong belief in social inclusion, diversity and inclusion, and the power of community. These founding principles remain at the heart of everything we do today and continue to guide us as we build on our legacy and create positive social change for future generations.

I felt that colleagues were constrained by outdated and institutional practices, which held them back from doing their best - I wanted to provide an alternative. When I look at how we have grown across the UK and think about the amount of people that we have supported, I feel an enormous amount of pride.

Dr David Robertson - Founder

Dr Robertson image, founder of social care charity Community Integrated Care

Our Timeline

1988-1998

  • 15th March 1988 – Community Integrated Care registered as a charity, following the closure of long-stay hospitals. Its mission: to provide support based upon the principles of choice, dignity and respect in the community.
  • 1988 – Community Integrated Care took over its first-ever services from the charity, Mind. These included Ship Steet, Frederick Street, Ireland Street and Inglenook in Halton. The first long-stay hospitals to close in the area included Rainhill, Crossley, Olive Mount and Dutton.
  • 1988-1993 – Community Integrated Care grew its learning disabilities, mental health and older people’s services across Cheshire and Merseyside.
  • 1993 – Community Integrated Care opened its first services and regional office in the North East, based in Darlington.
  • 1994 – 1996 – Between 1994 and 1996, Community Integrated Care began supporting people in new areas, including Cumbria, Leeds, Hampshire and Surrey.
  • 1997 – Community Integrated Care opened its first service in Scotland – Muirs Court in Edinburgh. This service has thrived in recent years, with one person supported completing a skydive in 2014!
  • 1998 – Community Integrated Care opened its first service in Aberdeenshire – an area that’s continued to expand throughout the last 20 years.

1999-2008

  • 1999-2002 – Community Integrated Care opened its first Alcohol, Addiction and Homelessness services between 1999 and 2002. These services proudly transformed lives across Merseyside and Cheshire for over a decade.
  • 2007 – Community Integrated Care opened a new group of learning disability and mental health services in Leicester, which in 2017 achieved Community Integrated Care’s first ‘Outstanding’ CQC rating.
  • 2008 – Care provider, Community Integrated Care celebrated its 20th anniversary, becoming the  57th largest charity in the UK, supporting over 2,000 people in 200 settings.

2009-2018

  • 2009 – The first of many thriving sport partnerships kicked off between care provider, Community Integrated Care and Middlesbrough FC foundation supporting social care projects in the community.
  • 2012 – Our new model of dementia care, EachStep, launched in Blackley, Manchester.
  • 2013 – We celebrated our 25th anniversary and unveiled our exciting rebrand.
  • 2015 – We proudly opened our first services in Sheffield and Nottingham. We also launched the Golden Thread, our personalisation project which brings to live the principles of the Care Act.
  • 2018 – Care provider Community Integrated Care celebrated its 30th anniversary, taking the 45th spot as largest charity in the UK. 2018 was a big year for the charity as we launched our ambitious We Dare Strategy and merged with Age Exchange, the leading reminiscence-led dementia arts charity based in Blackheath.

2019-Present

  • 2019 – Community Integrated Care, as one of the UK’s largest care providers, was proudly recognised as Charity Times Charity of the Year. The year also saw the launch of the ground-breaking Community Integrated Care Learning Disability Super League, changing lives and perceptions through the power of sport.
  • 2020 – With a global pandemic taking hold, the charity sought to protect its people and stand up for social care. Community Integrated Care featured in the national media holding the Government to account, also taking the brave step of creating an award-winning Panorama programme to document the first wave of Covid-19 within social care.
  • 2021 – The charity launched its very first Diversity & Inclusion plan, ‘A Place I Belong’, setting out commitments to become an even more inclusive, diverse and equal organisation. We merged with Life Opportunities Trust, a specialist learning disability charity that supported more than 100 people with over 160 colleagues based throughout London and Hertfordshire. Community Integrated Care is the official social care partner of the Rugby League World Cup 2021, creating unique inclusion opportunities for those with support needs, the likes of which have never been seen before in sport.
  • 2022 – Community Integrated Care revealed a second ‘Unfair To Care‘ report, unveiling the pay gap in social care. As a charity we continue to lobby central government for fair pay and reform across the sector.
  • 2023 – The charity appoints a new Chief Executive Officer, Jim Kane. Care provider Community Integrated Care invested £4million into colleague pay, providing industry leading pay rates across England and Scotland.
  • 2023 – We were proud to announce the successful merger with Scottish social care charity, Inspire.
  • 2025 – We were proud to be recognised by David Holdsworth, Chief Executive of the Charity Commission, during his keynote address at the Charity Times Annual Conference in May 2025. Community Integrated Care was highlighted as a positive example of successful collaboration in the charity sector, following our 2023 merger with Inspire as an example of best practice in the sector. Find out more here.

Explore what we do

People. Passion. Potential.