Creative Support was established as Manchester Housing Consortium in 1990 and was registered in 1991 as an Industrial and Provident Society with charitable status. We subsequently changed our name to Creative Support to show our commitment to developing creative responses to individual needs. In our first five years we successfully enabled people who had been living in long stay hospitals to move into supported housing, greatly improving their quality of life. By the late 1990’s we were providing a wide range of housing, care and support services. Creative Support now provides person-centred services across England in 65 local authorities, supporting over 5,000 individuals with care and support needs. Our portfolio includes accommodation based services such as residential care, supported housing and extra care as well as a range of floating support and homecare services to service users living in their own homes. We also provide day activities and respite support so that service users, families and carers can enjoy holidays and short breaks. We currently provide care, support, housing and preventative services for: • People with a learning disability • People with mental health needs • People with dementia • People with autistic spectrum conditions • People with acquired brain injuries • People with sensory and physical disabilities • People with complex needs, including behaviour which can challenge services • Young people with care and support needs • Older people with care and support needs • People who are homeless or in housing need • People who have a history of problematic drug or alcohol use • People who have a history of offending or are at risk of offending The needs of our service users are diverse and we support people from all ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds. Over 20% of our service users are from BAME groups and this is reflected in the diversity of our staff and volunteers.