The Foundation is delighted that founder trustee Farouq Sheikh has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) for his work in specialist social care in the business sector, as part of Her Majesty The Queen’s birthday honours list.
Farouq Sheikh founded CareTech with his brother Haroon Sheikh in 1993. From a single small care home, the company has grown into one of the largest and most respected providers of specialist care services in the UK. The Group now operates more than 550 residential facilities and specialist schools around the UK, employs more than 10,000 staff and supports over 5500 service users. Committed to the highest standards of care and care governance, CareTech provides its highly-acclaimed Care Pathway to over 4,500 adults and children with complex needs as well as Assistive Technology solutions. The Group has also recently expanded to the UAE as part of wider international growth plans.
“I am proud and humbled to receive this award. I accept it with deep appreciation on behalf of my brother, Haroon, and I as well as all of the CareTech family who have supported us on our journey. Together, we have jointly created one of the leading UK care home providers, CareTech. The success of CareTech continues to gain momentum, as does the good work of the CareTech Foundation. As a family, we will continue to play our part in helping local and global communities.”
Farouq Sheikh
In 2017, the CareTech Charitable Foundation was launched as the first corporate foundation in the social care sector. This grant-making foundation works to support and champion the social care sector, care workers and those living in care.
In its first three years, the CareTech Foundation has already supported some 275,000 beneficiaries, having already committed £1.5 million in grants which are expected to leverage the same again from other donors. The Foundation has also supported 170 individuals in need through its Hardship Fund, provided match-funding for CareTech employee fundraising to 50 charities, as well as made grants to another 40 local community projects nominated by CareTech staff. Thanks to the one million shares in CareTech recently settled in the Foundation, and CareTech’s growth, the Foundation is set to grow significantly in the years ahead.
“My brother and I have always striven to provide the best possible support to some of the most vulnerable members of our communities. We had a simple vision of providing a level of care to our service users that we would want for our own family. To have grown the company as we have, enabling us to support so many individuals directly through the company and, more recently through the work of the CareTech Foundation, is enormously gratifying. I cannot tell you how proud I am of my brother for the rightful recognition of his part in our journey together.”
Haroon Sheikh, CEO of CareTech and Chair of the COSARAF Foundation,
In addition to his role as a trustee of the COSARAF Foundation, Farouq is personally involved a wide range of other charitable causes. Farouq is a founder trustee of the CareTech Foundation, a Board member of HRH The Prince of Wales’ Mosaic youth mentoring initiative at The Prince’s Trust. Farouq is also a founder Enterprise Fellow of The Prince’s Trust.
“This prestigious award is thoroughly deserved recognition of the impact that Farouq has made to the social care sector and I and the trustees of the Foundation couldn’t be more pleased for him.”
Jonathan Freeman, CEO of the COSARAF Foundation