Inspired Villages

Community spirit is a guiding principle at this large business which runs retirement villages in England. Being part of a community feels like family, it says – and it wants to offer colleagues as well as residents the best years of their lives.

Inspired Villages Group was established in 2017 in partnership with Legal & General, with a team of 25 colleagues and two villages. Now the workforce is almost 300 strong and there are seven sites, in Warwickshire, Cheshire, West Sussex, Hampshire, Kent and Devon, with more planned. Some of the properties can be rented rather than bought.

CEO Jamie Bunce says: Community is key for us, so we put great emphasis on building our relationships with the wider local area. We encourage our residents to join groups and societies outside of their Inspired community.”

There is a wide range of facilities at the villages, including restaurants and wellness centres, which means job opportunities in areas such as administration, finance, gardening and maintenance work.

Inspired works with the independent Care Quality Commission and is a member of the Associated Retirement Community Operators, which represents the UK's retirement community sector.

The demographics of the company's business model meant that the pandemic presented especially difficult challenges last year. “Daily crisis calls soon became a thing of normality,” it says. Risk assessments were carried out, with colleagues as well as residents central to all decisions; secure bubbles were created in the villages in line with public health guidelines and lockdown rules followed.