About us

ELCAP believes that people should have the support they need, delivered in the way they want, to live their chosen lives. We work in partnership with people and their families, to help them to identify and plan for the kind of life they want to live, and then to support them to achieve this. We also work with local communities to strengthen their capacity to include people with disabilities and other support needs as valued citizens.

ELCAP is a not-for-profit registered company, limited by guarantee, with charitable status, and a membership base of around 140. We provide services ranging from a few hours support a week to round the clock support to 140 people whose ages range from pre-teens to 80’s. These services are registered with the Care Inspectorate as Care at Home and Housing Support Services. Turnover is currently £6m per annum and we employ 300 staff.

History

 ELCAP (originally the East Lothian Care and Accommodation Project) was formed by a group of people who were seeking ways to help people with learning disabilities move on from the three local institutions – Prestonkirk  (a 24-bed hostel in East Linton), Wedderburn (a 16-bed hostel in Musselburgh) and Hopetoun (a 72-bed NHS hospital unit in Haddington).  The new body was registered at Companies House on 10 March 1989, then applied for and was granted charitable status.  The first 10 years its efforts were focused on supporting adults with learning disabilities to move form hostels and hospitals to living and being supported in the community.

Some proportion of the adults we support still live in shared housing and share a support team. Where this is not clearly identified as the positive choice of the person concerned we continue to work with them and the local authority purchaser to explore what would best meet the person′s needs and wishes and how that might be achieved.

ELCAP has a membership of around 130 people. Membership is open to all who agree with ELCAP′s objectives (except people employed by ELCAP). The membership elects up to 15 of its number to the Executive Board at the Annual General Meeting. Nomination to three of the 15 places on the Board is by the Advisory Council. This body is the voice of the people who use ELCAP′s services and is open to all users who are also members of the company.