Chapter Care

A Message from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett, followed by Chapter Care's best practice article

The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it is uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from Chapter Care is an attempt to do just that. We would welcome your thoughts on this or any other Parliamentary Review article.

Rt Hon The Lord David Blunkett

Rt Hon The Lord Eric Pickles

www.chaptercare.com

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

30 | CHAPTER CARE

JeffWilton-Love, Company

Director

Lauren in the field

Chapter Care is a family-owned service operating in North

Devon. They provide domiciliary care and support to

users throughout the county, including in many difficult

to access areas. Currently, they are attempting to modernise

their services through the incorporation of telecare and have

recently launched an ambitious recruitment drive to encourage

more people to enter the industry. Company director Jeff

Wilton-Love has been at the forefront of these new projects and

explains how they will benefit the sector.

Health and social care, particularly domiciliary care, are in a state of uncertainty.

A widespread lack of understanding of national demographics and practical care

work has dictated an unreasonable blanket costing on service prices. Working in

North Devon, which is sparsely populated and rural in a lot of areas, gives rise to

vastly different challenges than any other service may experience in a more urban

environment.

North Devon has an increasingly elderly demographic, in part caused by its

popularity as a retirement destination. This places greater strain on the NHS and

only increases the pressure on us to provide an outstanding service. We are striving

to achieve this and feel that we are performing well. We are searching for ways

to implement new technology that will enable us to provide a better level of care

while managing to keep costs down.

FACTS ABOUT

CHAPTER CARE

»Company Director:

JeffWilton-Love

»Founded in 2008

»Based in North Devon

»Services: Domiciliary care

»No. of employees: 50

»www.chaptercare.com

Chapter Care

31CHAPTER CARE |

BEST PRACTICE REPRESENTATIVE 2019

A depleted workforce

The care industry as a whole is a

strained sector. We have found that

workers are leaving the sector to

pursue jobs in retail and the service

industries, mostly due to the increased

pay that workers can receive for this

type of work. The amount we can pay

is dictated by the local authority, which

bases these figures on UK Homecare

Association guidelines, which suggest

that everyone should be paid at the

national minimum wage. Because of

this, we struggle to remain competitive

in the workplace market, as we are

competing against businesses that

can guarantee shifts and pay £9.88

anhour.

To combat this, we developed a

business model in which we could

pay by shift to try to address some of

this disparity. This development has

brought huge risk to the company,

however, and I believe we are the only

agency in the southwest to do this. A

huge percentage of our income goes

on staff wages, which leaves very

little for running costs, but, through

innovative finance solutions, we have

managed to cope. We believe that

everyone needs to follow our example.

The NHS Trust Local Management

Board, which we sit on, have

attempted to find a way to make this

standard procedure across the sector.

We need to draw people back into

the sector now before the situation

significantly worsens.

The challenges of rural care

Looking to the future, we are working

to extend our capabilities into hard to

reach areas. North Devon is fraught

with difficult packages of care that are

simply not viable. Travelling 20 miles

each way for a single-hour visit simply

does not make financial sense, so we

have looked at innovative ideas to

address this issue.

There are also specific areas

throughout Devon with unique

problems, and one of our next

steps is to find new ways to provide

service in these areas. The local town

of Ilfracombe serves as a perfect

example. We have a large variety

of social care packages available

but are simply unable to recruit

enough employees to implement

them. Ilfracombe is a medium-

sized seaside resort, is quite densely

populated and has an increasingly

elderly population. Travelling there is

awkward, and people are reticent to

do so. Ilfracombe is also dominated

by a large quantity of restaurants,

supermarkets and other businesses

that are able to offer higher pay. As

we are only able to pay just above the

minimum wage, this makes sourcing

recruits extremely difficult.

To try to solve this issue, we have

launched an aggressive recruitment

drive in Ilfracombe, which I intend

to manage as a separate entity or

“micro-zone”. We are also looking

Lisa, Helen and Leanne

co-ordinating care

A widespread

lack of

understanding

of national

demographics

and practical

care work has

dictated an

unreasonable

blanket

costing on

service prices

“

THE PARLIAMENTARY REVIEW

Highlighting best practice

32 | CHAPTER CARE

at the viability of a pop-up centre, as

well as working with the NHS Trust

and Devon County Council. If this

proves to be successful, this could

produce a blueprint to be followed

in other such areas throughout

thecounty.

Embracing innovation

We have recently tendered a takeover

of Allied Healthcare UK’s North Devon

office, where we ensured continuity

of care and employment for staff at a

truly difficult time. Allied Healthcare

UK were a national provider who were

closed after the CQC found them to

be financially unstable – something not

uncommon in the current economic

climate. We felt stepping in and

helping was the best solution for

everyone and, although it was a lot of

work in a short period, we have made

a real success of it.

From an investment point of view,

being a care agency is extremely

difficult. Care agencies are VAT exempt

– we cannot charge VAT, but we must

pay it and are unable to reclaim any.

This makes expansion into certain

areas virtually impossible, as we cannot

be competitive. I have recently started

to lobby for the status of care agencies

being changed from exempt to zero-

rated. I believe we could make a huge

difference in the sector with this small

change, and consequently put more

money into the care industry by doing

so. Allowing the care sector capacity

for investment into other projects in

this manner could also help to address

the disparity in recruitment.

I am positive that change can happen

and I will keep pushing to make things

better. We need to look at technology

and be open to new ways of doing

things – which we are – and utilise the

energy throughout our management

structure. I believe we can bring about

change and, to do it, we need to

focus on things at a macro-level. The

industry as a whole needs changing –

and I want to be an instrumental part

of that change.

The industry as

a whole needs

changing – and

I want to be an

instrumental

part of that

change

“

Office staff:

Tracy, Harriet, Rosie,

Jeff, Lisa, Nicky, Emma,

Juliet, Helen and Lisa

www.chaptercare.com

This article was sponsored by Chapter Care. The Parliamentary Review is wholly funded by the representatives who write for it. The publication in which this article originally appeared contained the following foreword from Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng's Foreword For The Parliamentary Review

By Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng

This year’s Parliamentary Review reflects on a tumultuous and extraordinary year, globally and nationally. As well as being an MP, I am a keen student of history, and I am conscious that 2020 would mark the end of an era. It will be remembered as the year in which we concluded Brexit negotiations and finally left the European Union. Above all, it will be remembered as the year of Covid-19.

In our fight against the pandemic, I am delighted that our vaccination programme is beginning to turn the tide – and I pay tribute to the British businesses, scientists and all those who have helped us to achieve this. But the virus has dealt enormous damage, and we now have a duty to rebuild our economy.

We must ensure that businesses are protected. We have made more than £350 billion available to that end, with grants, business rates relief and our furlough scheme supporting more than 11 million people and jobs in every corner of the country, maintaining livelihoods while easing the pressure on employers. The next step is to work with business to build back better and greener, putting the net zero carbon challenge at the heart of our recovery. This is a complex undertaking, but one which I hope will be recognised as a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Through the prime minister’s ten point plan for a green industrial revolution, we can level up every region of the UK, supporting 250,000 green jobs while we accelerate our progress towards net zero carbon emissions.

With our commitment to raise R&D spending to 2.4% of GDP and the creation of the Advanced Research & Invention Agency, we are empowering our fantastic researchers to take on groundbreaking research, delivering funding with flexibility and speed. With this approach, innovators will be able to work with our traditional industrial heartlands to explore new technologies, and design and manufacture the products on which the future will be built – ready for export around the globe.

And I believe trade will flourish. We are a leading nation in the fight against climate change. As the host of COP26 this year, we have an incredible opportunity to market our low-carbon products and expertise. Our departure from the EU gives us the chance to be a champion of truly global free trade; we have already signed trade deals with more than 60 countries around the world.

As we turn the page and leave 2020 behind, I am excited about the new chapter which Britain is now writing for itself, and for the opportunities which lie ahead of us.

Rt Hon Kwasi Kwarteng
Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy