Become an ARCO Member or Accelerator
Full details, prices, benefits and FAQs of ARCO Membership
Members shape the future of older people's housing and care in the UK
If your organisation operates an Integrated Retirement Community or is in the process of building one, you may be eligible to become an ARCO Member.
Eligibility
To be eligible for ARCO membership an organisation must operate or be building to operate/actively marketing at least one Integrated Retirement Community (IRC) that fulfils ARCO’s eligibility criteria.
An IRC Operator must maintain an onsite presence at their registered communities. Membership is not open to developers, freeholders or landlords of IRCs who do not also manage the operations and service provision in their communities directly or through another entity in their corporate group, unless the operating entity is itself a member of ARCO.
An ARCO registered Integrated Retirement Community must:
- Be primarily for older people.
- Offer self-contained accommodation that can be occupied with security of tenure.
- Enable residents to take advantage of personal care that is delivered flexibly, usually by staff based on the premises.
- Have staff available at the Integrated Retirement Community 24-hours a day.
- Make domestic services available for residents.
- Make meals available in restaurants or dining areas.
- Offer communal facilities and encourage an active social programme in the community.
- Aim to offer people a home for life and to enable them to ‘age in place’.
In addition, ARCO members must agree to abide by the ARCO Consumer Code and the Standards and Compliance Framework.
Membership Types
We have different classifications of membership depending on where your organisation is in their operator journey, however, all new Members of ARCO will join initially as a Provisional or Prospective member prior to achieving compliance on their first assessment.
ARCO Approved Operators are those Members who have been through the Standards Programme with at least one scheme and have achieved compliance against the Consumer Code before being approved by the ARCO Standards Committee and ARCO Board.
Only ARCO Approved Operators can stand for election to the ARCO Board and can carry the Approved Operator shield.
Provisional Members are operators who have a new or existing Integrated Retirement Community and who are currently going through their first assessment process to achieve compliance against the Consumer Code.
Prospective Members are operators who don't currently have an open Integrated Retirement Community but who are building to operate their first scheme/actively marketing their scheme to customers.
They will be undergoing the assessment process against the relevant sections of the Consumer Code.
The ARCO Accelerator Programme is a membership offer for future operators planning their entry into the UK IRC market. When an Accelerator begins marketing specific properties to customers (as opposed to brand awareness websites), then they will be asked to become Prospective Members. Like all Members, Accelerators are able to draw down on insight and request input from the ARCO team as they develop their offer.
If you would like to find out if you are eligible to join ARCO as a Member or Accelerator, please complete our form below.
Contact the Membership Team
If you have any questions about ARCO Membership or joining the Accelerator Programme please contact the Membership Team.