We win Charity Times award with Sport England

Our partnership with Sport England has been named as the Best National Corporate Partnership in the charity sector, for our work in helping to transform the lives of hundreds of people who require ongoing care and support through our world-first ‘Inclusive Volunteering’ Programme.

The 2023 Charity Times Awards celebrates and promotes best practices in the UK not-for-profit sector by bringing together the country’s most inspirational charities. We’re incredibly proud to take home this prestigious award recognising our partnership with Sport England. Our ground breaking collaboration creates life-changing personal development opportunities inspired by and delivered with major sporting events such as the Rugby League World Cup 2021, UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, and World Gymnastics Championships 2022.

Uniquely engaging people from 12–106 years of age with profound learning disabilities, autism, mental health concerns, acquired brain injuries and dementia through innovative programmes that build skills, friendships, and new passions, it provides a uniquely a motivating pathway to greater independence.

Praising the partnership, the judges said:

“This innovative partnership has changed opportunities for people living with disabilities, reaching a large audience through major sporting events and demonstrating high levels of inclusivity.”

Esther Jones, Senior Manager, Disability Team Sport England said: “We are incredibly proud to have supported Community Integrated Care with their innovative approach to inclusive volunteering.

The programme uses a truly person-centred approach to understand what people are interested in, and then works with them to develop and use their skills linked to volunteering.

Paving the way, the work that Community Integrated Care has done with the partners involved has led to the creation of a successful volunteering model that can be used at all levels of sport and physical activity to ensure that spectating, volunteering and participating truly is accessible and inclusive for everyone.

We are so pleased to see this work continuing and new partnerships developing as a result of our work together. There is more positive work to come, too. Through links with UK Sport, Community Integrated Care are now partnering with other sports and organisations to develop a wide range of inclusive programmes linked to future sporting events, which is fantastic.

John Hughes, Community Integrated Care Director of Partnerships and Communities, said: “We’re extremely proud of our relationship with Sport England and our shared vision that is truly changing lives and making a massive difference to many communities.

This collaboration has provided us with an opportunity to break through the constraints that limit the care sector, creating an exemplar of a world where every person has a chance to truly live their Best Life Possible – supporting people who face significant barriers and exclusion in their daily lives to grow in independence and confidence, and to find and fulfil their potential.

We are thrilled to have been awarded the Corporate National Partnership Champion for our ground-breaking Inclusive Volunteering Programme, and would like to thank Sport England, our brilliant colleagues and teams, our volunteers, and our partners the Rugby League World Cup 2021, UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, and World Gymnastics Championships 2022, for their passion and commitment to supporting our vision and championing disability inclusion.”

Hosted by Charity Times, the charity sector’s leading business and management magazine, the event took place on Wednesday 20th September, in London.