BEST PRACTICE SPONSOR 2020
THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW
Highlighting best practice
52 | CARE MORE
We opened at the end of 2015,
with an annual turnover of around
£110,000. This year our turnover is
£2.5 million. Our branches in Sutton
and Croydon are supported by 52
domiciliary carers, over 100 bank staff
and 151 customers.
A company of two halves
Having bought ourselves out of a
franchise, we made the decision to
split the company in two this year.
This allowed us to distinguish the
supply of staff for care homes from
the domiciliary care we provide. The
decision to separate the two has
motivated the staff in the two separate
companies and allows them to work in
line with their own systems. By using
their own equipment and working
in their own space, they are able to
provide precisely the kind of service
their specific role requires.
We recognise the fact that there is
a huge demand for providers like us
to offer care in people’s own homes.
We appreciate the way in which sub-
standard care can impact the entire
industry by damaging the reputation
of more reputable care providers,
which we consider ourselves to be.
As such, we recognise the importance
of investing in our staff and paying
our carers well, supplying some with
cars to ensure they provide the best
possible quality of care they can.
Industry challenges
There are a number of challenges
within our industry and the first we
face is recruiting staff. The skills gap
impacts us, and due to the fact a
number of our carers visit people in
their homes, it is preferable they are
able to drive in order to move around
with ease. The majority of those we
service are within a five-mile radius,
which is simply too far to travel
without a vehicle of some kind. We
also require a level of flexibility that can
be challenging, and at times we need
our staff to end late and start early.
We also find cash flow a difficult issue.
In order to attract and maintain staff
we pay them on a weekly basis, and
during periods when we are paid late
as a company, this can create issues.
At a time when the cost of labour is
rising, we find ourselves increasingly
squeezed on all sides. This is coupled
with the fact that we do not get
paid for all the care we provide, as
In the future, we would
like to open more
branches
Our priority is
to ensure that
whoever we
are treating
gets
exceptional
service, above
and beyond
what is
considered
normal for the
industry
“
“
53CARE MORE |
sometimes we are not sent written
confirmations of short-notice change
requests, which then lead to disputes
on payments which we always have to
concede and make a loss.
We also believe that the introduction
of Universal Credit has been to the
detriment of our service. In instances
where a carer is on this benefit, they
are only legally able to work 16 hours
a week before it is cut. This proves
an issue, especially when we consider
that parents on this benefit are already
unable to work on school holidays or
on weekends and can only work 16
hours a week while their children are
at school.
We are also impacted by the reduction
in social funding, which encourages
social services to cut call times and to
attempt to change double calls into
single ones. This puts additional strain
on our staff and does not provide
sufficient time for us to act in those
instances where an increase is required
for the safety of the customer.
The increasing age of our population
means that we require more complex
training for our staff in order to cope
with a variation in needs. Work that
was once the responsibility of district
nurses now falls to us, and, with no
additional funding provided, we are
not suitably compensated for this
change in role; however, we do take
on board that the councils are under
extreme financial pressures, and so we
take on these additional roles to better
our reputation and service levels to our
customers and bolster our relationships
with councils and CCGs.
Future plans
In the future, I hope to see us open
more branches, at least extending to
Surrey and Sussex.
We also hope to improve the work
we do in terms of efficiency, moving
towards an increasingly digital
workplace. Having already made the
transition to electronic monitoring,
we hope to expand our IT usage as
it advances, so that we can make
our services more efficient and
environmentally friendly.
Overall, our ambition lies in continuing
to provide the services we do at
present, maintaining our great
customer service and extending our
profile over the coming years.
We recognise
the importance
of investing in
our staff and
paying our
carers well,
supplying
somewith cars
to ensure they
provide the
best possible
quality of care
they can
“
“
Quality assurance and
customer satisfaction
drive everything
Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett
Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles
