Handsworth Community Care Centre
Charity 1002669
Overview
Summary
Handsworth Community Care Centre appears to have been a place-based Birmingham charity that combined mental-health support with practical space, advice and leisure provision, while also holding an early-years education objective. Its formal remit suggests an attempt to support people’s wellbeing through both care and community participation, particularly among disabled people and people from particular ethnic or racial backgrounds. However, the charity was wound up on 31 March 2005, so its current relevance is primarily historical: as a possible example of a locally rooted, multi-purpose support model whose relationships, reach and legacy remain unknown.
Operational geography
Coverage: Citywide
Operational areas:
Evidence and reasoning
Supporting evidence
Remaining uncertainties
- There is no reliable evidence that Handsworth Community Care Centre currently delivers any services, maintains a physical site, or has active partnerships in Birmingham. The Charity Commission record states that the charity was wound up on 31 March 2005 and records zero income and expenditure for the year ending 31 March 2006.
- The Charity Commission still lists Birmingham City as the charity's recorded area of operation, but this appears to be historic registry information rather than evidence of current activity. The citywide coverageType therefore reflects the last recorded declared geography only, not a finding of current citywide provision.
- The organisation's name suggests a connection to Handsworth, but no current or historic service address was available to support assigning activity to the Handsworth ward.
- A separate charitable company, Omnicare Community Services, recorded 'Handsworth Community Care' as a previous name and delivered a day centre, advocacy unit and residential hostel across Birmingham and other West Midlands authorities. However, it was removed from the register as ceased to exist on 26 September 2012, and the available evidence does not establish an active successor organisation.
Additional evidence needed
- Recent confirmation from trustees, former management, Birmingham City Council, or a documented successor organisation that any services, premises, assets or programmes remain active.
- Historic annual reports, transfer documents or lease/property records identifying the former care centre location and whether operations transferred to another provider.
- Current official records for any successor body linked to Handsworth Community Care Centre or Omnicare Community Services.
Areas of work
- Accommodation/housing
- Disability
- General Charitable Purposes
Who they help
- Other Defined Groups
- People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
- People With Disabilities
How they help
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Provides Buildings/facilities/open Space
- Provides Services
Discoveries involving this organisation
The Atlas has not published any Discoveries involving this organisation yet.
Observations
A community-centre model for mental health
The organisation appears to have treated mental health as requiring more than clinical or advisory support: its objects and methods suggest a care-centre model combining a physical base, services, information and opportunities for recreation.
Why it matters
This indicates a potentially distinctive operating model in which belonging, activity and accessible space may have been integral to support, rather than secondary additions.
Show evidence
“The charity's objects included relieving people suffering from mental illness or disorder in Birmingham by providing a care centre.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity provided buildings, facilities or open space, services, and advocacy, advice or information.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity's objects included providing facilities for recreation and other leisure-time activities.”
Source:Charity Commission
An unusually broad remit across life stages
The inclusion of early-years education alongside mental-health and disability-related purposes may indicate that the organisation understood wellbeing through a wider family or community lens, rather than serving only adults with mental-health needs.
Why it matters
This broad remit raises useful questions about whether the centre connected mental-health support with family support, childcare or prevention—potentially making it more relational than its name suggests.
Show evidence
“The charity's objects included advancing the education of children below compulsory school age.”
Source:Charity Commission“The charity helped people with disabilities, people of a particular ethnic or racial origin, and other defined groups.”
Source:Charity Commission
A lost local capability with an unclear legacy
Because the charity was wound up in 2005, the evidence points to a discontinued organisation rather than a current provider. It may nevertheless have left relationships, premises, service practices or unmet needs that were taken up by others.
Why it matters
Understanding what replaced—or failed to replace—this centre could reveal changes in local mental-health infrastructure and identify longstanding gaps or enduring community assets.
Show evidence
“This charity was wound up on 31 March 2005.”
Source:Charity Commission
- Which communities and neighbourhoods within Birmingham the centre actually served.
- Whether mental-health support, recreation and early-years education were delivered together or as separate activities.
- Why the charity closed and whether another organisation inherited its work, premises or relationships.
Remaining uncertainties
- Annual reports, accounts or trustee reports from the years before 31 March 2005.
- Records of services delivered, referral partners, beneficiaries and any successor organisations or transferred assets.
Additional evidence needed
Charity Commission profile
Activities
THIS CHARITY WAS WOUND UP ON 31ST MARCH 2005
Charity objects
1.THE RELIEF OF PERSONS SUFFERING FROM ANY FORM OF MENTAL ILLNESS OR DISORDER WITHIN THE CITY OF BIRMINGHAM BY PROVISION OF A CARE CENTRE.2.THE PRESERVATION, SAFE-GUARDING AND MENTAL HEALTH OF THE SAID PERSONS.3.THE PROVISION OF FACILITIES FOR RECREATION OF OTHER LEISURE TIME ACTIVITIES FOR THE SAID PERSONS.4. ADVANCE THE EDUCATION OF CHILDREN BELOW COMPULSORY SCHOOL AGE.