Mears Group plc is a housing and social care provider. It repairs and maintains over 700,000 social homes across the UK.[2]
 | |
| LSE: MER | |
| Founded | 1996 |
| Headquarters | Gloucester |
Key people | Jim Clarke (Chairman) Lucas Critchley (CEO) |
| Products | Repairs and maintenance, Care services, development, GIS & land referencing |
| Revenue |  £1,089.3 million (2023)[1] |
| £51.7 million (2023)[1] | |
| £36.7 million (2023)[1] | |
| Website | www.mearsgroup.co.uk |
History
editThe company was founded in 1988 in Gloucestershire, where it is still based, and floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange, as Mears Group plc in 1996. In 1999 it acquired Haydon & Co and in 2007 Careforce. In 2008, the group moved to the main market on the London Stock Exchange.[3]
In 2011 it took over more than 20 Home Improvement Services from Anchor, and in 2012 acquired Morrison Facilities Services from AWG plc.[4] In 2012 it acquired Independent Living Services Scotland[5] and launched Mears Nurseplus, enabling the company to offer health services as well as social care. Nurseplus (specialising in the care of adult and paediatric service users with complex health conditions, both acute and chronic that require clinical intervention and management) was awarded a place on the NHS framework contract to supply staff into NHS establishments across Scotland in November 2014.[6]
In October 2014 it took over Omega Group Ltd., a private sector provider of residential lettings and management services to the social housing market.[7] In December 2014 Torbay and Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust named the Group as the preferred bidder to run its Living Well@Home Services contract, integrating IT systems and deliver a range of community-based services for a minimum of five years.[8]
In June 2015 it bought Care UK's home care division, with about 6,000 employees for £11.3 million. Subsequently renamed Mears Care, it looked after about 13,000 people.[9]
In December 2016, executive director Alan Long announced that the company was pulling out of contracts with local authorities because it could not afford to operate on the money it was being paid.[10]
In January 2019, it was announced that Mears Group would take over a Home Office contract to provide housing for asylum seekers in Glasgow from Serco.[11] At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic Mears moved 350 asylum seekers from living in their own private apartments to living in six hotels across the city, reducing their independence and reducing their ability to social distance, often being moved with little or no prior notice.[12] At the same time the UK Government Home Office suspended the £5.37 per day support payment that they had been receiving, leaving asylum seekers fully dependent on the services provided by Mears, and in some cases unable to communicate with friends, family, solicitors or any external support.[13] Charities like Refuweegee and Scottish Refugee Council drew attention to the conditions that people were being held in calling on the UK Government and their contractor Mears to restore the support payments and move people back into private accommodation.[12]
On 5 May 2020, Adnan Walid Elbi a Syrian refugee was found dead in his room at the Mclays Guest House in Glasgow.[14] Elbi's father had been murdered by ISIS in 2018, his youngest brother was kidnapped by ISIS in 2019, and Elbi himself had been detained and tortured by Ansar al-Sharia.[14] Elbi had repeatedly told authorities about previous suicide attempts and ongoing suicidal ideation including the week before his death.[14] In June 2020, Badreddin Abadlla Adam, a Sudanese asylum seeker being cared for by Mears in a hotel in Glasgow city centre stabbed three fellow asylum seekers, two hotel staff and a responding police officer with a knife.[12] Adam was shot dead by armed police officers but the six stabbing victims survived.[15] A report by the Home Affairs Select Committee in July 2020 advised that asylum seekers "should not have been moved to new accommodation during the pandemic without justified and urgent reasons for doing so, or without a vulnerability assessment demonstrating that the move could be made safely."[12] In August 2020, Mercy Baguma was discovered dead in her Govan flat beside her one year old child.[16] Baguma had been working in a restaurant to support herself, but after her leave to remain had expired she wasn't allowed to work, meaning she was dependent on others for support including the asylum system.[17][18]
In January 2020 it announced that it was to sell its domiciliary care division which employed 1,500 people across 18 branches in England and Wales and 1,000 people across 16 branches in Scotland. It planned to concentrate on providing housing with care.[19] The division was sold to Cera Care in February 2020.[20]
Cornwall Council confirmed the group as lead strategic partner for the delivery of extra care in Cornwall with a seven year agreement for 750 extra care housing units worth £150 million.[21]
Political involvement
editMears was nominated as a Social Mobility Business Compact ‘Champion’ after signing the Social Mobility Business Compact, set up by the Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg in 2011, to encourage employers to offer young people fair and open access to employment opportunities.[22]
The group, with the Local Government Information Unit, supported a report, in December 2014 by former care minister Paul Burstow calling for home care workers to be given key workers status and a living wage.[23]
References
edit- ^ a b c "Annual Results 2023" (PDF). Mears Group. Retrieved 24 April 2024.
- ^ "Mears Group to oversee Flowgroup microCHP boiler installations". Heating and Ventilation News. 13 August 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Interview with Mears Group chief executive Bob Holt". Growth Business. 28 July 2008. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
- ^ "Mears buys Morrison Facilities Services". Facilitate Magazine. 8 November 2012. Archived from the original on 3 January 2020. Retrieved 3 January 2020.
- ^ "Mears acquires domiciliary care business". HealthInvestor. 22 April 2013. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Mears Nurseplus to provide Nurses and Healthcare Assistants for NHS Scotland". 24 Dash.com. 3 November 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "BPE Solicitors named as legal experts in £40m Mears Group plc takeover deal". Gloucestershire Echo. 17 October 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Mears Group named preferred bidder on NHS contract". Health Investor. 15 December 2014. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Mears Group acquires Care UK's domiciliary care service for £11.3m". Health Investor. 1 June 2015. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
- ^ "Today's running order". BBC – Today. 14 December 2016. Archived from the original on 13 December 2016. Retrieved 14 December 2016.
- ^ "Serco loses contract to house asylum seekers in Scotland". The Ferret. 8 January 2019. Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved 13 January 2019.
- ^ a b c d Trilling, Daniel (18 October 2020). "From Sudan to the Park Inn: the tragic story of a migrant's killing". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "Covid-19: Support and Accommodation for Asylum Seekers". UK Parliament Hansard. 29 June 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ a b c Qureshi, Robina (21 June 2020). "Adnan Walid Elbi: How one refugee's journey ended in tragedy". The National. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "BBC blasted for false reporting of three deaths in Glasgow stabbing". The National. 27 June 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "Mercy Baguma: Govan mum found dead next to 'starving baby'". BBC News. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "Third tragedy hits Glasgow refugee community". Scottish Housing News. 25 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "'She was a rainbow': Friends paint fuller picture of Mercy Baguma". The Guardian. 28 August 2020. Retrieved 24 October 2021.
- ^ "Mears Group to exit domiciliary care operations". Homecare Insight. 21 January 2020. Archived from the original on 10 March 2020. Retrieved 23 February 2020.
- ^ "Cera Care joins top 15 with Mears Care acquisition". Home Care Insight. 3 February 2020. Archived from the original on 25 April 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2020.
- ^ "Cornwall Council agrees partnership with Mears Group to deliver £150m extra care scheme". Homecare Insight. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 7 September 2020.
- ^ "UK employers set a new benchmark for social mobility". Business Quarter. 20 November 2014. Archived from the original on 1 January 2015. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
- ^ "Home care nearing 'crisis' point warns report". Local Government News. 2 December 2014. Archived from the original on 19 December 2014. Retrieved 19 December 2014.