Health and social care charity Community Integrated Care plans to merge with Scottish care provider Inspire.

The Cheshire based charity said the merger was part of its Best Lives Possible strategy which aims to support people in new geographical areas.

Inspire has a significant presence across Northeast Scotland, supporting 360 people and employing 570 colleagues. The charity supports people with learning disabilities, autism and complex care needs, enabling them to live independently in the community.

Community Integrated Care provides bespoke care services to thousands of people across England and Scotland.

Jim Kane, chief executive officer at Community Integrated Care, said: “The teams at Community Integrated Care and Inspire have been in discussions for a number of years about the exciting possibility of bringing our two organisations together. We’re delighted that the moment has finally arrived where we can take this confident step forward. The move presents many positives: the opportunity to learn new ways of working through best practice sharing; the ability to align resources to work more effectively; as well as supporting us to collectively build initiatives that will improve the lives of our people.”

“Of course, we know that the challenging landscape in social care makes collaboration within our sector key. The union between our two organisations will not only support us to scale up and expand our work and mission across Scotland, but through a united voice, we hope that we can also have greater influence across the sector and demonstrate the true value of consolidation.”

Linda Gray, chief executive officer at Inspire, said: “Over the last few years, it’s been my honour to lead our charity in making great strides towards our ambition of being a care provider and employer of choice in Scotland. I’ve been proud to be involved in some huge successes: building quality Care Inspectorate grades, creating a positive reputation with our partners, and most importantly, fostering fantastic relationships with the people we support and their loved ones. We know that we can continue to achieve more of these great things by partnering with Community Integrated Care.”

“Underpinning everything is our aim to ensure sustainability for our people, particularly given the environment all care providers are currently facing. Through this merger we will bring the best of Inspire and Community Integrated Care together – our goals, values and passion – so that we can continue to flourish with the benefits that come with being part of a large organisation.”