Built from firsthand experience of UK care — on both sides of it.
I’m Richard (Ricky) Cunningham. I have a degree in community and social care, and real, firsthand experience of how UK care services run day to day — both as a professional, and at points, as someone on the receiving end of assessment and support systems myself.
Fourteen years ago I was injured during Royal Marine training. I live with small fibre neuropathy and use a walking stick, and I’ve navigated PTSD, severe depression and severe anxiety in the years since — and still finished my degree in the middle of it.
I’m currently unemployed due to illness, and I’m building Aerinva on a limited budget — starting with grant funding, and building toward something that can genuinely change how much time social care professionals get to spend with the people they support, instead of behind a screen.
Why Aerinva exists
Anyone who has worked in — or been supported by — UK social care knows how much of a practitioner’s time goes into paperwork rather than practice. Aerinva exists to give that time back, without taking away the professional judgement that has to sit at the centre of every case record.
The wedge is UK statutory social work — local authority children’s and adults’ services — because it’s the sector I know best and where the need is most acute. The wider vision is the whole UK social care sector, built the way trusted tools should be: by integrating with the systems services already rely on, not by asking them to rip everything out and start again.
Where things stand
Aerinva is a working product — the core loop of drafting, reviewing and approving records is live, along with retention tracking and safeguarding holds. It’s early. I’m looking for social workers, team managers and local authorities willing to try it and tell me honestly what’s missing.