About Us

Sheffield Mencap & Gateway is an independent charity based at Norfolk Lodge in Sheffield. We support more than 500 people with learning disabilities and autism, and their families.

Our charity was established 70 years ago in 1951 by parents who wanted a better life for their children with learning disabilities. This ambition has not changed. Our vision is that all people with a learning disability and their carers in Sheffield feel valued and respected.  We believe that everyone should be supported to reach their full potential and to live the life they choose.

Put simply, we work to make lives better.

Our services for children, adults and carers are person-centred and outcomes focussed. But what does this actually mean? Well, as an example, for members of our Activity & Learning Hub, we’ll carry out an assessment to find out what they enjoy, what skills they would like to learn, how they learn best, and what they would like to do with their new skills. This helps us to give the right support and opportunities, driven towards each person’s goals.

Similarly, our sports, health & fitness services are shaped to each member who uses them. Whereas someone may want to lose weight and become fitter, another person might want to increase their confidence and self-esteem. Either way, we will work with them to find the right activity or group to get them there.

And, when working with a carer for the first time, we will spend time getting to know the person and their family to understand what their greatest challenges are. This enables us to put practical plans in place to reduce and even overcome these challenges.

The world doesn’t stand still, and neither do we. We are ambitious for the people we support and so, we are always looking to evolve our services and find new ways of helping our members to live better lives.

We innovate through collaborations with other third sector and statutory organisations, combining expertise and resources. We think creatively to develop sustainable models of support, and we respond to challenges faced by the learning disability community. You will see this through our commitment to health & wellbeing initiatives, which are helping people with learning disabilities to access the health services they are entitled to.

Our approach helps us to apply for and secure grant funding from a range of trusts and organisations. We are extremely grateful for this support and you can see some of our core supporters below.

We are governed and managed by a passionate and skilled board of trustees and a senior management team. You can find out more about the people who run our charity here.

Sheffield Mencap & Gateway is a registered Charity (1056155). You can find our latest audited accounts on the Charity Commission website. To look at our most recent Annual Reports, please click on the links below.

2018/19 Annual Report
2019/20 Annual Report
2020/21 Annual Report