Scope response to inews story

 Mark Hodgkinson, Chief Executive at Scope, said:

“Scope is not planning to merge with Leonard Cheshire at this time. Working in partnership is at the heart of our approach and we are always open to exploring any opportunities to better serve the needs of the UK’s 14 million disabled people and their families. 
 
“As a disability equality charity, we campaign relentlessly for a fairer society for disabled people. Key to this is working with a range of disability charities and other organisations to achieve change. 
 
“We work closely with Leonard Cheshire, amongst others, through the Disability Charities Consortium and plan to work more collaboratively in the future to drive change for disabled people.

“It is absolutely untrue that Scope has been aggressively cutting staff or that it is currently holding merger talks with Leonard Cheshire. 
 
"In the last year, Scope has made under 20 staff redundant. These were operational decisions and directly connected to how we effectively deliver our strategy. 
 
"In 2017/18, we transferred 1,600 staff as part of our decision to sell our regulated and day services. This marked a bold new direction for Scope to focus on tackling disability inequality, advocacy, information and support."