As an organisation, we think it is really important that we have a plan of what we want to achieve in the future, and this is what we call this our Strategy.

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It is nearly 5 years since we launched our exciting 2018-2023 Strategy ‘Building on Strong Foundations’.

Over the past few months, we have been looking at what we want to achieve between 2023-2028.  

Lots of people have already been involved in helping us look at how to make a difference to the lives of local people in the coming years.  Now there is a chance for many more people to have a say.

Between 2023-2028, we plan to work across 5 main key areas.  We call these 5 areas our goals. 

These include:

 

1. To be a great place to work

Our staff are one of our greatest assets and recruiting and retaining staff has become a challenge for most sectors across the UK.  We want to make sure that we attract and keep the best staff. 

Staff turnover is currently 24% and within the social care sector, it is 34.4%.  We want to work with our staff to explore what we could do to reduce this.  One important factor in attracting and retaining staff is through their salary and in this strategy, we make a commitment to pay the real living wage, the only UK wage rate that is voluntarily paid by employers who believe their staff deserve a wage which meets everyday needs.  Having an opportunity to grow and progress within your workplace is another important factor and over the next 5 years, we will provide a programme that supports our staff to grow and progress at SJMT.  However, not all people who contribute to making SJMT a great place are paid, and we want to recognise the valuable contribution of and increase the opportunities for people to volunteer with us.

 

2. To be the best we can be

One of our strategic goals is ‘Excellence’.  We strive for excellence in all that we do and during the past 5 years, we have committed to a range of quality standards and pledges and developed internal improvement plans to help us continually improve. 

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We know that in the coming years, it is essential that we catch up and excel in reducing our environmental impact as well as demonstrate our social impact.  We are aware that our residents are particularly affected by the current cost of living crisis. In the coming years, we want to explore ways in which we can reduce costs and seek alternative funding sources to help reduce the financial impact upon our residents.  Finally, as we diversify our activities and reach out more to young people and potential fundraisers, we may need to reconsider how we look to the outside world (our brand).    

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3. To provide homes for the future

The oldest charity in our family has been providing homes since 1650, and today we are one of the largest Almshouse charities in the UK.  However, we know that people’s needs and wants are changing and many older people want to ‘age in place’ and have a home that can adapt as their needs change, rather than move to a more specialist environment. 

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Many of our homes are ageing and are not equipped to me the needs of future generations of older people and we know that we need to begin a programme of remodelling and replacing our homes with homes and communities of the future. Over the next 5 years, we want to begin a process of replacing some of our homes, whilst developing a 20-year rolling programme of improvements or developments.  We are also keen to continue to increase the number of homes we provide by welcoming new charities to our family who share our objectives.

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4. To create opportunities that help people to achieve their potential and thrive

Our Vision is of a world where everyone has access to opportunities and can thrive.  Therefore, this is a goal we really welcome in our next 5-year strategy. 

Technology is and will become increasingly important in the provision of housing and care.  We know that technology will never replace our people, but it can enhance what we provide and we do want to become better friends with technology across our services. We also know how valuable having an opportunity to give and contribute can be to someone’s wellbeing and growth, and in this strategy, we will work with our residents to create more opportunities for them to volunteer within SJMT, including the chance to mentor new residents and young people.  Another great asset at many of our sites are our grounds.  We have not always utilised these spaces to their full potential, so this will be a priority for us in the coming years.  We also know that we have the experience, ideas and aspiration to help other groups in our community as Sir Josiah Mason did, and whilst we do not plan to change who lives on our current schemes, we will be open to new opportunities that means we can help people of different ages and needs.

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5.  To increase the services and support we provide to children and young people

Our Trust was founded on the opening of our orphanage in Erdington.  It was Sir Josiah’s instruction that his Trust should go on to support more young people and left us with some resources to do this (now our Relief in Need Charity).  In 2021, we launched our exciting plans to directly support young people once more and in the next 5 years, this will come to fruition during this Strategy.