Partners

The Disability Resource Centre has an outstanding record of supplying high quality information, advice and support services to disabled people in Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes over the past 30+ years.

Along with our partners, we deliver:

Advice and information services to disabled people and their families
Advice and information services to carers of disabled people
Support under our Direct Payments services
Support to enable disabled people to work
Improving health, learning and work opportunities
Fitness and wellbeing programmes

Partner News

We attended a Men’s Health Awareness event in Dunstable

Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire hosted the Men’s Health Awareness event in partnership with Chiltern Hills PCN. The Disability Resource Centre was one of over 20 organisations at the event.

Speakers at the Employer Academy Event on 26th June 2024

We received excellent feedback from participants of our Employer Academy event

90% of the people that attended the event thought it was beneficial and inspiring. It was an exciting collaboration between The Disability Resource Centre and University of Bedfordshire Employer Academy.

New Partners

We welcome the opportunity to work with new funding partners, supply partners and customers.

Dunstable Town FC

We are delighted to be working in partnership with Dunstable Town Football Club.

Dunstable Town FC Chair, Andrew Madaras said;

“We are hugely excited to be working with Mel, Lynda and all of their colleagues at The Disability Resource Centre. We know there is a demand for the type of group activities that we can provide. It’s been an exciting project to put together. We hope we can do justice and repay some of the faith that The Disability Resource Centre has trusted us with”

Melanie Hawman, CEO of The Disability Resource Centre said:

“We are delighted to have been asked to work with Andrew and his team on some very exciting projects. We both feel our combined strengths and areas of expertise will benefit the local community immensely. Together we can make a real difference to reducing health inequalities, increasing social inclusion and most of all, putting support and friendship at the heart of what we do”

Read the announcement of our partnership on the Dunstable Town FC website.

Skills for Care

The Social Care Sector Skills Agency, Skills for Care, are one of The Disability Resource Centre’s funding partners. We work closely with them to assure that the wealth of educational and training resources they produce are provided free of charge to both aspiring and experienced Personal Assistants. This in turn benefits our service users, who are individual employers, by providing qualified support workers. It adds value to the other services that we provide on behalf of local authorities, which ensure the smooth facilitation of Direct Payments.

As we continue to grow our Direct Payments offer, we are bringing in other partners to join in and grow the service that we provide to service users, local authority partners.

Recently we created a project using existing funding streams between Skills for Care, DWP and unemployed residents of Luton and Dunstable. We were delighted when we were invited to present this at a Skills for Care link-up event, which encourages partnership working to produce results for individual employers.

If your organisation would like more information about working in partnership with The Disability Resource Centre then please contact: Melanie Hawman, CEO on 01582 470900 or email: melanie.hawman@drcbeds.org.uk

Advice

We work collectively with advice partners in the local area to provide a collaborative approach to support local residents. The Disability Resource Centre is part of a number of advice groups including Bedfordshire Advice Forum and Luton Advice Network. It represents service users on the number of groups including Carers Lead Group, Joint Older People’s Forum, Luton Airport passenger group and Equality Board.

We are working with Bedfordshire Police as one of their third-party Hate Crime Reporting Centres.

We are looking for new partners

If your organisation would like more information about working in partnership with The Disability Resource Centre then please contact Clare Copleston, Operations Manager on 01582 470900 or Clare.Copleston@drcbeds.org.uk

Funding partners:

Luton Council
BLMK CCG
Skills For Care
Bedford Borough Council
Central Bedfordshire Council

Associated Partners

We have a supply chain network that includes charities, training companies and colleges. For our supply chain partners we offer excellent management; resources including training and marketing and a partnership culture of collaboration and cooperation.

Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue
Bedfordshire Police
Member of Disability Rights UK
Hey Jude Fitness

Corporate Social Responsibility

We are keen to work in partnership with companies fulfilling their Corporate Social Responsibility roles, and companies offering us charitable rates for their work.

Please contact Clare Copleston, Operations Manager on 01582 470900 or email Clare.Copleston@drcbeds.org.uk

Thank you for supporting our charity.

Share this page

We are here for you…

Phone: 01582 470 900

Email: info@drcbeds.org.uk

Sign up for our popular free newsletter

Our newsletter is packed full of the latest updates from our charity team, free events around Bedfordshire, Luton and Milton Keynes, money saving tips, stories and articles from our community of disabled people and carers, handy information from local community groups and free services you might not know about…

Free online courses for Personal Assistants in care – Only free until 31st March

Hurry – Our popular online courses for Personal Assistants (PAs) in care are only free until the 31st March 2025. Learn essential care skills online for free, including dementia awareness, duty of care, health and safety, privacy and dignity, safeguarding and more.

Come to our free Wellbeing Hub in Dunstable every week – Everyone is welcome

People in Dunstable love our free Wellbeing Hub. We’re helping people with advice managing energy costs and offering a whole host of free wellbeing activities every week. Our sessions provide practical money-saving solutions and support in a friendly, welcoming environment. Plus there are free refreshments including free tea, free coffee and free seasonal snacks. So come along to the Mayfield Centre every Tuesday and Wednesday mornings.

Lessons at The Disability Resource Centre's Care Academy

Free training for Diabetes Awareness and First Aid for PAs in care

Our Spring term at The Care Academy sees the return of some of our most popular courses. Join us for free training workshops for Personal Assistants in care for diabetes awareness and first aid.

Free training workshop on end-of-life care for Personal Assistants (PAs)

Keech Hospice is providing this free workshop for PAs. This important training will provide PAs with the skills and knowledge needed to support individuals and their families during end-of-life care with compassion and confidence.