Published: 15.11.2023
Zara Ross, Ben’s Chief Executive, has provided an update on the strategic direction of Ben:
“Ben has been providing support to people working in the automotive industry for 118 years, since it was founded in 1905. Over the decades, the charity has adapted and evolved its services to remain relevant to our automotive industry beneficiaries.
“Through a recent strategic review process, Ben’s Board of trustees reflected on the changing context for people working in the automotive industry and the impact that it is having, and will have, on their health and wellbeing. In light of the growing demand for Ben’s health and wellbeing services, the Board concluded that over the next 5–10-year period, the priority of the charity will be to significantly increase these services for industry people and their family dependents. This will entail enhancing and accelerating both our reactive and preventative health and wellbeing support services and driving increased impact and engagement across the automotive industry. We will share more about our plans for these developments in the coming months.
“Establishing Ben’s future focus has required a fundamental review of all Ben’s current services. Our care, and latterly village, services have been an integral and valued part of the charity for over 70 years. Both the Board and Executive team are extremely proud of these services and the excellent reputation they have achieved over the years. After very careful consideration, the Board, supported by Ben’s Executive team, has unanimously concluded that now is the right time to recommend the transfer of these services to the stewardship of new operators. We believe this will ensure that these services and our employees working in them have the very best opportunity to continue to flourish, develop and thrive going forward.
“We recognise this strategic decision will represent a considerable change for our current operations. Our primary consideration over the forthcoming period is therefore to ensure the continuity and quality of all of our services for everyone affected, especially all our service users and their family members, as well as Ben employees. We are committed to achieving a seamless transfer of our services at the appropriate time, but currently, our services remain unchanged.
“Ben will now commence the process of finding new operators for each of our care and village services. We have met with our service users and employees on all sites, to ensure that the interests of every individual affected are understood in our decision making. Over the forthcoming period we will continue to provide updates as we take these changes forward.”
We welcome any questions via email at strategy@ben.org.uk.