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Link Group mulls joining forces with care provider
Edinburgh-based housing provider Link Group has begun discussions with Blackwood Homes and Care about a potential partnership.
Senior staff from the two organisations have met for talks about options to join together.
Inside Housing understands that this could include a ‘constitutional partnership’, a type of merger available in Scotland where the subsidiary organisation retains its name and chief executive.
Link Group is the parent company of a number of smaller housing associations across Scotland, including Horizon Housing, Larkfield Housing, Link Housing Association, Link Living, Link Property, Lintel Trust, and West Highland Housing. In total it supports 15,000 tenants.
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Blackwood was founded in 1972 by Dr Margaret Blackwood, a campaigner for the rights and independence of disabled people.
It now provides housing, care and support for disabled people of all ages, with more than 1,500 homes across all 29 mainland local authorities in Scotland, with a focus on enabling people to live independently.
Jon Turner, chief executive of Link, said: “These early stage discussions are to establish the benefits of a partnership between Link and Blackwood.
“Both organisations share the same customer focus in our activities and we hope any potential partnership will enable us to build further on the level of services we provide to our customers and bring these to more people and communities across Scotland.”
Fanchea Kelly, chief executive of Blackwood, said the organisation’s desire to innovate would “now benefit from the scale and synergy which a partnership with Link Group could bring”.
She added: “Link is highly respected and its long history of looking after customers’ interests fits well with Blackwood’s values.”
The discussions are at a very early stage to establish whether a partnership between Blackwood and Link could offer more to customers across Scotland, the two organisations said.
