A CARE support business has become Scotland’s latest staff-owned company, marking employee ownership day.
Following the transfer of 100% of Aspire Housing and Personal Development Services’s shares into an Employee Ownership Trust, the company’s 186 social care employees across the organisation are now beneficiaries of the trust.
Glasgow-based Aspire provides services including intensive/complex home care, homelessness emergency accommodation and criminal justice and young care leavers services.
Chief executive Peter Millar, who is one of five directors of Aspire, said: “I’m delighted that Aspire Housing and Personal Development Services is in the hands of our committed and highly talented team who have been overwhelmingly positive about this important development for our organisation and are now even more enthusiastic about it. We have a superb senior management team and excellent employee trustees and staff and we are all really excited about the future.
“Employee ownership is wholly consistent with Aspire’s ethos and values. We are all about empowering people to achieve a better life and a more self-directed and optimistic future. Whilst that approach fundamentally underpins our work with the individuals we have the privilege of working alongside and supporting in the community, it is also highly applicable to our relationship with our employees.”
Following the transfer of the organisation’s entire shareholding into an Employee Ownership Trust, Aspire now has a Trust board which includes two elected employee trustees, Euan Jessiman and Cameron Gilchrist.
Gilchrist said: “On behalf of the whole team, I’d like to give a huge thanks to Peter for giving us the amazing opportunity to share the ownership of Aspire – which has such a positive impact on so many lives – and there’s something very meaningful, for both the whole team and the people we support, in becoming employee owned.”
Aspire was established by Millar in 2002. Millar has more than 47 years’ experience in social work and community care including planning, senior management, and developing services within local authorities and the NHS in Scotland.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here