Recently, Sunderland Home Care has begun a new initiative, Independent Futures, in partnership with Sunderland City Council and the Local Health Authority – a significant development that could prove to be a massive success for the company and will strongly benefit those in the community who are in need of complex and intensive support. The initiative is designed for people with learning disabilities and/or challenging behaviour and introduces a different approach to support based on a very successful model in Kilmarnock called Partners for Inclusion. The aim of Independent Futures is to gradually make the receiver of support less reliant on support services, helping individuals to become more independent by supporting them in making day-to-day decisions and living in their local community. Initially, this will often be 24 hour support in each individuals home, although this will decrease as the aims of the initiative are gradually achieved.