Care Together

The Care Together Vision

Keeping local people at the heart of everything we do, the council works with communities and partners to design and develop local services that enable our changing population to fulfil their wish to remain independent at home for as long as possible.

As a result:

• finding the right support in the local community is easy
• people remain active and age well, staying socially connected
• volunteers offer a hand eg with shopping and gardening
• there are more and better homecare and day opportunities, offering choice and flexibility for all
• council-funded homecare is more personalised and rewarding for everyone involved
• local people benefit from Care Together with better quality of life and a fairer, greener community

To achieve the above vision, we have dedicated place-based commissioners in each locality. The commissioners are building connections with local people and partners to co-design future services.

Our team is supporting the creation and growth of voluntary, community and social enterprises (VCSEs). These will support older people to remain living independently for longer, in collaboration with Communities Service, Health professionals and other partners.

We are reshaping how we commission council-funded homecare to increase local supply. We are also introducing different types of providers into the home care market. For example, Care Micro Enterprises - to increase capacity and choice for all.

Older Adults Social Inclusion Grants (OASI) – Community Transport

The application phase closed on 21 July 2024 and all bids are now being evaluated. We hope to confirm outcomes directly with both successful and unsuccessful applicants by Friday 13 September, following governance approval.

Care Together seed funding awarded for 2024-25

We are excited to announce that after careful consideration of the proposals Care Together received for seed-funding, we have had approval to award the amount to many grass roots community groups, charities and social enterprises in our communities.

This funding is intended to generate evidence of impact of new initiatives supporting older adults across Cambridgeshire (or expansion of existing projects into new areas, in order to support more people), empowering VCSE organisations to successfully apply for longer-term funding in future.

In South Cambs, we are supporting opportunities for more physical activity and exercise, including walking football and walking netball for older adults. Chair-based exercise and a Talking Together (phone conversation) project led by Cambridgeshire Older People's Enterprise. A mobile gym will be visiting rural villages in South Cambs where there are no or few exercise facilities, with expert trainers guiding older people on how to have fun while exercising safely.

In East Cambs, there will be offers of physical exercise from Living Sport and other providers, to complement the activities of the 10 Community Hubs in East Cambs funded by last year's seed-funding and now guaranteed support (via Cambridgeshire ACRE) for the next 3 years, as a result of the recent award of Older Adults Social Inclusion grant funding. The mobile gym run by Fitness Rush will also be visiting villages in East Cambridgeshire.

In Cambridge itself, there will be subsidised exercise for older adults (via Living Sport and Cambridge United) and co-production of activities with those supported by BPHA (Independent Living) in Trumpington, as well as a small fund for the Vietnamese Refugee Community.

Fenland will benefit from Care Together seed-funding for a wide range of projects, including dementia support (Alzheimer's Society), Social Inclusion by phone with COPE's Talking Together service, assistive technology for those with sensory impairments (Doddington 100th Club). Other VCSE organisations will offer one-pot nutrition classes, art therapy and community cinema, as well as digital and social inclusion for older adults in Wisbech.

In Huntingdonshire, we are funding four different projects, all supporting physical activity and exercise, and delivered by Peterborough United Charity Foundation, Fitness Rush (outdoor exercise confidence building), Active Lifestyles for the Over 60s Club and Golden Games sessions in Buckden.

More detail on successful bids is below.

Care Micro-Enterprises

Care Micro-Enterprises are local people who are supported to set up their own small businesses. They provide their neighbours with personalised care and support amongst other services that support independence at home.

We offer training and guidance on running such a business. Benefits include:

• longer-lasting relationships between the care worker and their clients (lower turnover)
• opportunities to make a livelihood
• making a difference to people's lives in communities where employment opportunities are often limited

Find out more about Care Micro-Enterprises.

Care Together news and events

Older Adults Social Inclusion (OASI) Grants - Outcome of Applications

 At the end of last year, the Care Together team received grant applications from every corner of the county for our Older Adults Social Inclusion Grants, worth £479,963 per year, for 3 years. These applications were carefully evaluated, and decisions made on how best to fund activities and services that maintain independence and support social inclusion of older adults in our communities. 

We will be funding the services and social inclusion activities below, as they offered the best value for money and will enable us to support the highest number of older people. There are additional services that will be funded but these are still subject to our governance processes – we hope to update this page in the next few weeks.

 City

• Cherry Trees Day Centre (Age UK)

East Cambridgeshire

• Burwell & District Day Centre
• Community Hubs in East Cambridgeshire (Cambridgeshire Acre)
• East Cambs Social Car Scheme (Voluntary Community Action East Cambs) – to provide additional transport to social inclusion activities.
• Cambridge Dial a Ride (East Cambs), – to provide additional transport to social inclusion activities.
• Rock Solid Community Hub
• Reach out! (The Field Theatre Group)

 Fenland

• March Day Club (Caring Together)
• Monday Club (Age UK)
• Oasis Centre Day Service (Age UK)
• March Friendship Club (COPE)
• Box and Brew (JG Next Generation)
• Mindful Motion (Peterborough United Foundation)

Huntingdonshire

• Community Pop Up hubs (Hope Against Poverty)
• Green End Day Club (CARESCO)
• Ramsey Seniors Lunch Club (Ramsey & District Day Centre)
• St Neots Day Centre
• St Ives Day Centre
• Warboys & District Day Centre

South Cambridgeshire 

• The Moorlands Court Day Centre (CHC)
• Over Day Centre,
• Community Pop Up hubs (Hope Against Poverty)
• Community based digital inclusion (Cambridge Online)

Care Network Cambridgeshire have also received a grant for their Wellbeing Service across all districts.

Our team of Place-Based Commissioners will be working closely with these providers over the coming months, gathering evidence of impact and benefit to Older People across the county.

New Care Together Website

We are excited to launch this brand-new countywide website for Care Together! In the coming months, watch this space for the latest developments and news from the Care Together team on how we are working with communities across Cambridgeshire to support older adults to live happily at home for longer.

So far this year, our team of Care Together commissioners have been speaking to older adults at warm hubs, cost-of-living events, Senior’s Fairs, Drop-in Sessions at Libraries, Lunch clubs, “Knit and natter” meetings and many other venues and events, as well as meeting with health partners and others. Out of these conversations, which have focused on what people love most about their communities as well as things they would like to see more of to support older adults, several co-produced projects have been identified in each locality (Cambridge, South Cambridgeshire, East Cambridgeshire, Fenland and Huntingdon).

The next step will be for grant-funding to be approved for these projects to go ahead and we hope to bring news of more opportunities for collaborative working with partners, including development of care micro-enterprises and a Capital Investment Grant to increase accessibility of public venues, like village halls, in the coming months.

Care Together partners

• Cambridge Council for Voluntary Services
• Hunts Forum
• Voluntary & Community Action for East Cambs
• Community Catalysts
• Cambridgeshire Library Service
• Caring Together (Carers Support)
• How Are You? Cambridgeshire & Peterborough
• FACT Community Transport
• The Ferry Project (Wisbech)
• Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Age UK
• The SUN Network
• Healthwatch
• Cambridgeshire ACRE
• Camsight
• Care Network Cambridgeshire
• Integrated Care System
• East Cambs District Council
• South Cambs District Council
• Cambridge City Council
• Hunts District Council
• Fenland District Council

Contact us

Please contact us if you would like any further information.

Email: care.together@cambridgeshire.gov.uk