Anchor was England’s largest not-for-profit provider of housing, care and support to people over 55 years old up until November 2018 when Anchor merged with Hanover Housing Association to form

Anchor Hanover Group Anchor Hanover Group, trading as Anchor, is the largest provider of specialist housing and care for older people in England. It was formed in November 2018 when Anchor Trust and Hanover Housing Association merged. Its main office is in Bradford. ...

, the largest provider of specialist housing and care for older people in England. Anchor had been a charitable housing association registered as a society under the Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, and one of the largest in the UK, with a turnover of £389.1 million in 2017/18."Annual Report & Financial Statement 2017/18"
Retrieved 2018-09-12. Anchor's headquarters were in central

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, with main offices located in

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

. It employed more than 8,500 people nationally. Its patron was Princess Alexandra.

History

Anchor was established in 1968 by

Cecil Jackson-Cole Cecil Jackson-Cole (1901-1979) was an English entrepreneur and humanitarian. He was associated with a number of charities including Oxfam, Help the Aged and ActionAid. A devout Christian, Jackson-Cole set up charitable trusts including the Volu ...

, as Help the Aged (Oxford) Housing Association, to provide

sheltered housing Sheltered housing is a term covering a wide range of rented housing for older and/or disabled or other vulnerable people. In the United Kingdom most commonly it refers to grouped housing such as a block or "scheme" of flats or bungalows with a sch ...

to older people. By 1972, the organisation had completed its first new-build properties and begun diversifying into both

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a lessee or a tenant holds rights of real property by some form of title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold rights to real property, a l ...

and

rented Renting, also known as hiring or letting, is an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property owned by another. A gross lease is when the tenant pays a flat rental amount and the landlord pays for a ...

accommodation. The organisation became Anchor Housing Association in 1975, and launched its first care homes in 1982. Anchor's multi award-winning Denham Garden Village – their largest development of retirement properties to date – opened in 2004. Anchor continued to grow its existing services and diversify into new services such as

retirement villages Retirement Villages Group Ltd is a British residential property developer. Residents must be aged 55 or over to live in its developments, which are known as "villages". It was acquired by Axa for about £100 million in October 2017. History ...

and extra care housing, becoming a thought-leader in caring for individuals with dementia and promoting equality for minority groups, such as

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

groups."Show a Little Love"
. London: Inside Housing, October 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-24. The organisation rebranded from Anchor Trust to Anchor in 2010, adopting a new logo and refreshed brand image to reflect the range of services on offer. In 2012 a ground-breaking new care home called West Hall was opened in West Byfleet, Surrey. In the same year it won the Best Interior Dementia Design category at the National Dementia Care Awards 2012. In 2015 a new 'Support Hub' was created in Bradford. Since April 2015 Anchor opened a series of new developments: * April 2015 - Buckingham Lodge care home * August 2015 - Bishopstoke Park retirement village and Maple Tree Court care home * September 2015 - Mayflower Court care home and Clayburn Court care home * December 2015 - Moore Place care home * January 2016 - Hampshire Lakes retirement village and Austin Place retirement apartments * October 2016 - Hurst Place retirement houses *Spring 2017 - Nelson Lodge care home *Summer 2017 - Hurst Place retirement apartments and Phase 2 of Bishopstoke Park retirement village *January 2018 - Phase 2 of Hampshire Lakes retirement village *May 2018 - Eaves Court care led apartments The proposed merger of Anchor and Hanover Housing Association was announced in May 2018, and was completed successfully later the same year, creating Anchor Hanover Group

Services

Anchor offered three main services: *Retirement properties to rent - Anchor let a range of properties, typically flats, although the housing portfolio did include some bungalows, at more than 700 sites across England. Each site was overseen by a manager, and had access to a 24-hour emergency call system. Anchor also provided a number of extra-care properties. *Retirement properties to buy - Anchor managed a portfolio of 200 leasehold estates, where the individual owned the property and Anchor provided the necessary property management service. Since 2015 Anchor responded to the growing demand for higher-quality retirement properties, opening an array of new developments including The Laureates, in

Guiseley Guiseley ( ) is a town in metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated south of Otley and Menston and is now a north-western suburb of Leeds. It sits in t ...

, near

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

,"Denham Green (sic) Village scoops Daily Telegraph Award"
London: Housingnet News, March 2008. Retrieved 2010-05-24. Austin Place in

Weybridge Weybridge () is a town in the Borough of Elmbridge in Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. The settlement is recorded as ''Waigebrugge'' and ''Weibrugge'' in the 7th century and the name derives from a crossing point of the ...

and Hurst Place in

Haywards Heath Haywards Heath is a town in West Sussex, England, south of London, north of Brighton, south of Gatwick Airport and northeast of the county town, Chichester. Nearby towns include Burgess Hill to the southwest, Horsham to the northwest, Crawl ...

. They also invested in new retirement villages; Bishopstoke Park and Hampshire Lakes, both in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. These new sites included a number of innovative features for retirement housing, such as spas, swimming pools, salons and cafés. *Care homes - Anchor operated a number of care homes across England, each providing trained 24-hour personal and practical support. Anchor advocated the personalisation of care provision and was politically active in promoting person-centred dementia care."Dementia Care Homes"
anchor.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-05-24. Anchor's specialised dementia homes used the latest techniques and understanding to assist individuals living with dementia, such as

sensory garden A sensory garden is a self-contained garden area that allows visitors to enjoy a wide variety of sensory experiences. Sensory gardens are designed to provide opportunities to stimulate the senses, both individually and in combination, in ways that ...

s and contrasting colour schemes. In 2015 Anchor acquired 24 care homes from LNT Group as well as the Cavendish Healthcare Group's five care homes.

Governance

Anchor was governed by a trustee board of

non-executive director A non-executive director (abbreviated to non-exec, NED or NXD), independent director or external director is a member of the board of directors of a corporation, such as a company, cooperative or non-government organization, but not a member of the ...

s, and an executive management board of

executive director Executive director is commonly the title of the chief executive officer of a non-profit organization, government agency or international organization. The title is widely used in North American and European not-for-profit organizations, though ...

s. Anchor’s

Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

, Jane Ashcroft, was awarded the Outstanding Contribution to Social Care award at the Great British Care Home Awards 2010 in recognition of her "... eadingthe agenda on developing quality care services across the continuum of care.""Winners of the Great British Care Home Awards Announced"
Retrieved 2010-06-17. She also topped a high-profile list of the most influential people in social care at the Care Talk Awards 2012, and is a trustee of

The Silver Line The Silver Line is a free confidential telephone helpline offering information, friendship and advice to older people in the United Kingdom, available 24 hours a day. As of 1 October 2019 The Silver Line joined forces with Age UK to help more of ...

, a helpline for older people. Ashcroft is a graduate of the

University of Stirling The University of Stirling (, gd, Oilthigh Shruighlea (abbreviated as Stir or Shruiglea, in post-nominals) is a public university in Stirling, Scotland, founded by royal charter in 1967. It is located in the Central Belt of Scotland, built w ...

. She was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

2014 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2014 were appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours are awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

. In 2010 the high salaries of housing association executives drew criticism from the incoming government, in particular that the highest paid executive at a housing association was the chief executive of Anchor, earning £391,000 per year. The Housing Minister,

Grant Shapps Grant Shapps (born 14 September 1968) is a British politician who is serving as Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy since October 2022. He previously served as Secretary of State for Transport in the Premiership of Bo ...

, said that the pay packages were unacceptable. Anchor was regulated by the

Care Quality Commission The Care Quality Commission (CQC) is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom. It was established in 2009 to regulate and inspect health and social care services in England. I ...

, the Regulator of Social Housing and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Agenda and influence

Anchor frequently sought to use its profile to draw attention to issues within the care environment. The organisation published white paper documents investigating

ageism Ageism, also spelled agism, is discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of their age. The term was coined in 1969 by Robert Neil Butler to describe discrimination against seniors, and patterned on sexism and racism. Butler defi ...

on television,"BBC One 'should have more over-50s', report says"
London: BBC News, March 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-24. lobbied parliament on the importance of older people's issues,"Grey Vote Holds the Key to Power"
Sunday Express, April 2010. Retrieved 2010-05-24. and sought to underline the importance of person-centred care.
London: Community Care, January 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-24. The organisation also campaigned to highlight the importance of retaining residential scheme managers at retirement properties.
London: Communities and Local Government Committee, October 2009. Retrieved 2010-05-24. In 2011 Anchor launched The Grey Pride campaign, calling on government to appoint a Minister for Older People to prioritise the needs of older people and make sure their views and interests receive dedicated attention. The petition gathered 137,000 signatures and was handed in to Downing Street on Monday 28 November 2011. As a result of the campaign the shadow cabinet appointed Liz Kendall as Shadow Minister for Older People. Penny Mordaunt MP secured a debate on the topic in the House of Commons on Thursday 28 June 2012. In June 2013 a charity single was released by The Anchor Community Band to celebrate the positive aspects of ageing and challenge stereotypes and misconceptions in a fun and inclusive way. More than 350 people from Anchor’s retirement housing and care homes were involved in recording the song. It reached number one in the Amazon singles chart and raised over £15,000 for national charity Contact the Elderly. As well as recognition for its dementia training, Anchor also received praise for its work in

palliative care Palliative care (derived from the Latin root , or 'to cloak') is an interdisciplinary medical caregiving approach aimed at optimizing quality of life and mitigating suffering among people with serious, complex, and often terminal illnesses. Wit ...

,"Building on Firm Foundations - Improving end of life care in care homes: examples of innovative practice"
. London: The Department of Health, June 2007, pp. 10. Retrieved 2010-05-24. and nutrition and catering."Fresh Inspiration"
London: The Guardian, May 2006. Retrieved 2010-05-24. Anchor were one of the first organisations to pioneer Your Care Rating, a groundbreaking customer satisfaction survey first conducted by IpsosMORI in 2012.

References

External links

Anchor Trust website
* * {{Use dmy dates, date=June 2017 Housing associations based in England Housing for the elderly in the United Kingdom Charities for the elderly based in the United Kingdom Charities based in West Yorkshire 1968 establishments in England Organizations established in 1968