2023
A beacon of hope.
In closing out 125 years of care, we faced one of our greatest challenges: the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, through fear and uncertainty, our teams showed resilience, compassion, and unwavering purpose. From living rooms and kitchens to the front lines, we adapted, cared, and carried on. Our mission to support the most vulnerable never paused. This moment, like so many before, proved that our strength lies in our people. Their spirit honoured our legacy and ensured our light never dimmed, even in the darkest times.
As the world changed overnight, so did we. In early March 2020, business continuity planning began across all our services. By mid-month, with the national call to suspend non-essential contact, offices were closed and services swiftly transitioned to remote working. From day one, our Direct Payments Support Service adapted—processing payroll, paying invoices, and offering critical guidance from home.
Phones were diverted, post rerouted, and paper-based systems transformed into digital workflows. We continued sharing vital health updates, including testing and vaccination guidance, to help keep people safe and informed. Even in the face of mounting pressures, our team found creative workarounds: extending processing timelines, managing ongoing payments for paused services, and printing and posting P60s from home.
With Leicester’s lockdown lasting longer than most, we invested in connectivity tools, brought staff back from furlough, and restored full service capacity—all from home. By mid-2021, we gently returned to the office, balancing safety with support.
This era reminded us: when everything changes, our commitment stays the same.
A dream rekindled
In 2023, we announced our bold plans to create a hub of disability care, connection, and community—a brave step into the future that honours our past. At the heart of this vision is the transformation of the historic Whetstone Baptist Church buildings into a vibrant, inclusive centre of hope, opportunity, and belonging.
More than bricks and mortar, this development is a rekindling of our founding dream—first envisioned over a century ago with the building of The Guild Hall. This new space will bring together respite care, support services, creative programmes, vocational training, and community outreach, all co-designed with and for disabled people.
The Chapel will become a lively, welcoming space dedicated to engagement, inclusion, and purpose. From exhibitions and information services to outreach projects and support groups, it will offer a rhythm of activity that builds connection and opens doors. It will be a place of spirit, volunteering, creativity, and positive impact.
The surrounding community buildings will be sensitively modernised to include sensory rooms and Changing Places facilities, making them fully accessible for both children and adults. These spaces will complement our Head Office and host Mosaic 1898’s Adult Day Services and Children’s groups, becoming another home where people can truly thrive.
And in The Manse, our purpose-built respite care facility, we will offer vital short breaks for disabled people with complex needs—giving families peace of mind and a moment to rest, knowing their loved ones are cared for with dignity and compassion.
We believe in the power of place to change lives. This is our invitation to dream together, build together, and shape a future where everyone belongs.
Our story so far
For 125 years, we have stood beside disabled people, creating spaces of belonging, dignity, and hope. From a trickle of kindness, now flows vast rivers of joy. Since that fateful act of kindness in 1898, we’ve never stopped listening, adapting, and acting. In war and peace, sorrow, and celebration, we’ve built more than support, we’ve built community. Led by disabled people and fuelled by compassion, our legacy is one of courage and change. This is our story so far. A better world still unfolding.