{"id":1134,"date":"2020-07-07T08:13:11","date_gmt":"2020-07-07T07:13:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpressmu-412230-3492474.cloudwaysapps.com\/franchise\/start-non-medical-home-health-care-business\/"},"modified":"2025-10-24T13:09:01","modified_gmt":"2025-10-24T12:09:01","slug":"start-non-medical-home-health-care-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/start-non-medical-home-health-care-business\/","title":{"rendered":"How to start a homecare business"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n \n \n <\/div>\n\n \n
\n \n
\n

Talking from experience, starting a homecare<\/a> business in the UK can be one of the most rewarding, frustrating and interesting experiences of your life.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an exciting roller-coaster ride; making quick progress at some points and having to solve problems that you didn\u2019t know existed previously at others.<\/p>\n

Non-medical homecare has enjoyed some of the limelight of late, due to the vital role it plays in people\u2019s lives up and down the country. It is a fast-evolving sector, that continues to play an ever-more important role in keeping our aging population<\/a> safe and well.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

What is non-medical homecare?<\/h2>\n

Non-medical homecare, or \u2018social care\u2019 providers help people with day-to-day tasks that they are finding difficult.<\/p>\n

This can range hugely from one shopping visit a week, to providing 24\/7 care and double-handed care visits, using moving and handling equipment and supporting people at the end of their lives.<\/p>\n

It is a big responsibility, administering medication, helping with personal care, and using specialist equipment, so it rightly has much more oversight than \u2018home help\u2019 or cleaning businesses.<\/p>\n

It also adds more value, meaning longer relationships with clients, more intensive services, and higher revenues per client.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Before jumping in to starting your non-medical home health care business, consider the following:<\/h2>\n

– It can take 6-9 months to start trading<\/h3>\n

Setting up isn\u2019t as simple as getting a website and recruiting a couple of carers. We talk later in this article about what it takes to get started.<\/p>\n

– You need to get registered with the regulator<\/h3>\n

The Care Quality Commission<\/a> (CQC) regulate the social care sector, and will inspect you before allowing you to start providing these services. They need to be assured that you\u2019ll be able to provide care in keeping with their Key Lines of Enquiry<\/a>; that your home care business is Safe, Effective, Caring, Responsive and Well-led.<\/p>\n

– You will be responsible for people\u2019s health and well-being<\/h3>\n

We\u2019ve already mentioned this, but it\u2019s important so at the risk of repeating ourselves, someone\u2019s life will be in your company\u2019s hands. Errors with medication, using equipment incorrectly, hiring the wrong people, can all have consequences to the people you support, and your reputation. You may also be legally responsible as well. It\u2019s important to start a home care company knowing the responsibility this involves, and being committed to providing a safe, quality service.<\/p>\n

– (Care) Location, Location Location <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Not every area is equal when it comes to starting a care business. You\u2019ll want to be in an area with enough population and population density to support your business. Socio-economic information and age demographics are all important factors, and that\u2019s where territory analysis comes into its own.<\/p>\n

– You\u2019re nothing without your People<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Every CQC-registered care company must have a Registered Manager; someone who is responsible for the quality of care your company provides. If you don\u2019t come from a care management background, the hiring of the right Registered Care Manager<\/a> is crucial. This person is responsible for driving quality, safety and effectiveness, as well as the ethos and culture of your company. They also need to be acceptable to CQC, who will interview them before accepting to register them.<\/p>\n

– Get your systems sorted before you start<\/strong><\/h3>\n

There will always be an element of \u2018learning on the job\u2019, but in non-medical homecare you need to hit the ground running to provide a CQC compliant service from day 1. That means you need to think about staff management timelines, how and how often you\u2019ll review your clients\u2019 care needs, what your recruitment system looks like to ensure compliance, and how you\u2019ll work out your rosters to ensure no-one gets forgotten about.<\/p>\n

– Work out your homecare business marketing strategy <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Who are you selling to? What does your brand say about you? Why you as opposed to ABC Care down the road? How are you going to connect with your potential clients? You\u2019ll need to have a plan for all these questions before getting started.<\/p>\n

– Care Policies and Procedures <\/strong><\/h3>\n

These are codified ways of working that make sure you make decisions and provide care in a standardised way. CQC will want to see a lot of these, and make sure you understand them, before registering you.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

How to start a home help business?<\/h2>\n

Starting a homecare business in the UK involves several steps, from understanding the regulatory requirements to setting up your operations. As a highly successful homecare business, we offer a franchise model which takes away most of the hard work for you, but for anyone looking to start a homecare business, you\u2019ll need to consider the <\/span>following<\/span> steps.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Research – a lot!<\/h3>\n

Immerse yourself in the sector, reading reports and resources from organisations across the spectrum, from\u00a0Skills for Care<\/a>, to\u00a0Laing Buisson<\/a>. They all provide insight into their own niche of the sector.<\/p>\n

You need to understand the market dynamics in your area. This involves <\/span>analysing<\/span> the local demand for homecare services, identifying potential clients such as the elderly or disabled and assessing your competition to find your niche. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Franchise or independent?<\/h3>\n

The next step is to think about whether to start a homecare franchise<\/a>\u00a0or start up on your own. Factors that inform this decision will be your experience, budget, timeframe, and personality. You can take our\u00a0homecare franchise quiz<\/a> to get a feel for whether it will work for you.<\/p>\n

If you decide to go independent, you\u2019ll need to decide on your business structure (sole trader, partnership or limited company) and register with HMRC. Crucially, register with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to legally operate, which involves submitting an application, preparing for inspections and complying with the CQC\u2019s Fundamental Standards. <\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll also need to secure the necessary <\/span>licences<\/span> and insurance, including public liability, employer\u2019s liability and professional indemnity, as well as developing essential policies for safeguarding, GDPR compliance, health and safety and complaint handling to meet legal and regulatory requirements. When you choose to work with a franchise, most of the hard work here has already been done for you.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Shortlist and make contact<\/h3>\n

If you decide franchising could be for you, have a look on directory sites and online to get a feel for what\u2019s out there. Choose a shortlist, and make initial contact. They\u2019ll be able to provide you with a lot more info about their particular\u00a0franchise packages<\/a> as well as more general advice about starting up a care company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Visit franchisors<\/h3>\n

Make a list of your priorities before visiting a few franchisors, to meet face to face and see their set-up. Do your due diligence by looking at CQC reports and talking to their franchisees.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Business planning<\/h3>\n

Start writing your business plan. Some franchisors will help with this, some won\u2019t. You can then use your business plan to apply for business funding. We work with franchise funding partners that can help with this process.<\/p>\n

Developing a comprehensive business plan is essential. Your plan should clearly outline your business model, whether it\u2019s domiciliary care, live-in care or specialised care services. It should also include detailed information on the services you will offer, pricing strategies, marketing approaches, financial projections, and staffing requirements. <\/span><\/p>\n

Additionally, planning for the necessary training for your staff will help ensure you meet the standards required for high-quality care. If you decide to go down the franchise route with GoodOaks, we have done this many times across the UK so we can help make your business plan a successful one.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We’ve put together more information on creating a successful business plan here<\/a>, which includes a template to get you started.<\/p>\n

\n

Look for offices and a manager<\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve got funding in place, or at least a decision in principle, start looking for your office location and registered manager, both of which you\u2019ll need to get your registration application in to CQC.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Countersigned DBS check<\/h3>\n

Apply for your own countersigned DBS check if you are planning to be the\u00a0Nominated Individual<\/a> with the CQC, as this can take a few weeks or months.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Details, details<\/h3>\n

Plan your marketing, branding, recruitment offers, etc so you can hit the ground running, and get ready for the CQC registration interview. Also, research insurance needed \u2013 CQC will check this.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

CQC Inspection<\/h3>\n

Once you\u2019ve done the CQC registration inspection, you\u2019ll be notified in a few weeks whether you\u2019ve been successful, or whether you have been successful conditional of some changes or clarifications to your business plan.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

What do I need to start a homecare business?<\/h2>\n

Care has relatively low \u2018barriers to entry\u2019; there are no big equipment costs, you don\u2019t need to buy or lease a big building and you can structure your homecare business in a way that overheads generally grow alongside your revenue growth.<\/p>\n

There are some minimum requirements however. Here\u2019s a checklist of what you need to start a homecare business:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Time – <\/strong>You\u2019re generally going to need to put time into your business to ensure it\u2019s a success. As with any start-up, you can count on long days, calls coming in at weekends, and unexpected developments!<\/li>\n
  2. Money<\/strong> – Although you can get up to 70% funding, funders will want you to put some \u2018skin in the game\u2019. Depending on your business plan, you will need \u00a320,000 \u2013 \u00a370,000 to put into your business.<\/li>\n
  3. A DBS (Criminal Record) Check<\/strong> – CQC will check that directors of care companies are \u2018fit people\u2019. This doesn\u2019t mean that you need to necessarily have a clean DBS check, but bear in mind that your past will be scrutinised to ensure you are not a risk to your clients.<\/li>\n
  4. A Caring Nature<\/strong> – If you don\u2019t naturally care about people and providing a good service, and are really looking for a hassle-free business, care isn\u2019t for you. Our franchise partners report that as well as the financial rewards, the sense of achievement they get from a job well done is a crucial motivator.<\/li>\n
  5. Be Willing and Able to Manage People<\/strong> – Care is a real people-business. To properly scale and grow your business, you\u2019re going to recruit and manage an ever-growing team. Some people hate managing and working closely with others, whilst some thrive on the contact with others. If you\u2019d rather lock yourself away in a dark room rather than organising a team of dispersed carers, starting a home care business might not be for you.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
    \n
    \n

    In conclusion, there is a lot to think about when it comes to setting up a non-medical homecare company in the UK. Research, preparation, and good choices about the people and organisations to work with are key to a successful and sustainable home care start-up. If you\u2019re interesting in finding out more about how GoodOaks can help you to set up your homecare business, visit our homecare franchise<\/a> website.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n \n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/section>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":3090,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-franchise"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5648,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134\/revisions\/5648"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodoakshomecare.co.uk\/franchise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}