Courtesy of Radfield, Elite Franchise affirms Home Care as a great franchise option

Courtesy of Radfield, Elite Franchise Magazine affirms that an ageing population coupled with the public healthcare sector under stress, provides a great option for aspiring home care franchisees.

Given the ageing population and a public sector under stress, home-care franchises can prove a great option for aspiring franchisees

You may have noticed in recent years a sudden increase in the number of care franchises on offer in the marketplace. Whenever there is a sudden upsurge in an industry, there is always a story that sits behind it. It may be a new innovation that has hit the market, such as that seen with the rise of vape stores, or it may be the public demanding an end to expensive gym memberships causing a spike in affordable gym franchises.

A growing demand

When it comes to the care sector, the story is simple. In the UK, we have an ageing population and this is set to grow year on year with no signs of slowing. More people wish to remain living in their own homes as they start to need some additional help and support; this desire continues even as their care needs increase, meaning many will choose to receive 24-hour care at home rather than moving into a residential facility. These two factors mean that the number of people requiring care and also the volume of care that each person receives is rapidly increasing. This surge in demand for care at home has led to an overall upturn in the number of care companies operating in the UK and the number of care franchises on offer.

Is a franchise the best way?

The home-care business model works extremely well as a management franchise opportunity. It is arguably a better way for a home-care business to expand rather than organic company-led expansion of its services. The reasons for this are due in part to home-care services being very localised. Keeping your care staff working in smaller geographical areas keeps control of your operating costs. This means that the territory model associated with franchising works extremely well in the home-care sector.

With the franchise model, you also have a highly motivated franchisee at the helm of each business who is building relationships and making valuable connections in their local community which helps to drive the business forward. This is far harder to achieve for companies expanding under their own steam that don’t necessarily have the same motivation and drive from their company-owned branches.

The private-care market opportunity

It is true that the UK care sector gets more than its fair share of negative stories in the news. Whilst the government and local authorities wrangle over funding adult social-care properly, it creates huge opportunities for franchisees entering the care at home market to establish themselves as a private care agency of choice in their local community. This allows them to avoid the low paid and low quality end of the market that feeds the negative headlines in the papers each week. With franchisees able to take advantage of the growing demand for privately funded adult social care in the UK, there is a huge opportunity to create successful businesses in this sector.

Types of care franchises

There are a wide range of different types of care franchises on offer, which can make the choice for a prospective franchisee quite bewildering. On one end of the market you have franchises that, although they are operating in the care sector, are actually not involved in delivering care – these are either pure marketing opportunities or staff recruitment agencies. On the other end of the scale, you have full-service care delivery franchises, which will expect their franchisees to deliver all types of complex care across the whole sector, including disabled children and adults with behavioural problems and learning disabilities. In the middle of the spectrum, you have franchises who are delivering care to clients but that specialise in one aspect of the care sector, for example elderly care.

Making your decision

It is important for prospective franchisees to explore the range of opportunities available and decide for themselves what area of care they feel comfortable with and what level of business risk they are willing to expose themselves to. By choosing to franchise their businesses, home-care companies are allowing people with no prior experience of the care sector an opportunity to join them in this booming marketplace. With the array of choice and the huge growth opportunity that lies ahead, it is an exciting time to be starting a care franchise.

This article comes courtesy of   Radfield Home Care, the first ethically accredited B Corp in the UK health-care sector, which offers home-care franchises across the UK specialising in elderly care.