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Sue Ryder is a charity (originally called the Sue Ryder Foundation and more recently Sue Ryder Care) which was founded in 1953 by Sue Ryder, with the creation of a nursing home in Suffolk, UK. Sue Ryder supports people with complex needs and life-threatening illnesses across the UK and internationally.
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The charity is headquartered at Upper Woburn Place in London and is a registered charity in England & Wales. It dropped the word "Care" from its operating name in April 2011 after a public consultation suggested that it sounded unclear, corporate and distant.
In 2011/12 Sue Ryder had an annual expenditure of £81.9 million, placing it in the top 60 of UK voluntary organisations ranked by expenditure.
Main activities and centres
The charity supports people living with life-limiting and long-term conditions including brain injury, cancer, dementia, stroke, multiple sclerosis, Huntington's disease, Parkinson's disease and motor neurone disease. It operates specialist palliative care centres, care centres for people with complex conditions, homecare services and a growing number of community-based services.
Care Centres are currently located in the following areas:
Sue Ryder's name is also associated with services in 12 countries across the globe. Since 1953, the charity has played a role in influencing national and international policy debates and stimulating the evolution of care services in developing countries. The charity's overseas partners, in places including Albania and Malawi, provide palliative care, residential care for disabled people and older people, and community-based nursing for people with chronic conditions.
Fundraising
Sue Ryder needs to raise approximately £13 million each year to supplement its statutory income to continue providing four million hours of care a year, which is raised from fundraising and through Sue Ryder shops, of which there are around 400 in the UK. In November 2013, its shops and online store were said to generate over £36m a year for the charity's work.
Sue Ryder also relies on volunteering support and currently has 9,000 volunteers across the UK supporting its work. The charity has a large range of volunteer roles listed on its website, ranging from administration, finance and retail to research, befriending and bereavement support.
Sue Ryder launched its Prisoner Volunteer Programme in 2006. It works with around 40 prisons nationwide offering work experience in 100 locations, including offices, shops and warehouses. The programme has won a number of awards, including the education and training award at Civil Society's Charity Awards 2013. In 2014, the charity opened a store in Slough – said to be its biggest charity shop in the south of England – offering staff roles to homeless people in partnership with the organisation Slough Homeless Our Concern.
Workfare controversy
In February 2013 Sue Ryder was criticised for taking part in the UK Government workfare schemes. This criticism came in the light of a broader reaction against the government's workfare policies where people living on benefits are instructed to attend unpaid work at various companies and charities, at the risk of losing their benefits if they do not comply. Sue Ryder promised a "phased withdrawal" from the scheme. An article originally published in The Guardian noted that the charity had withdrawn to protect staff from an online campaign of harassment.