This week brings us to the end of our series looking at how to start a care business. If you’ve missed any – or simply want to revisit some – the full series is outlined below. To conclude the series, we’ll take a look at where to find the further information you’re going to need to make your start-up care business a success.
- Is now the time to start a care agency?
- Setting up a care agency: the business foundations
- Starting a care agency: the key domains and providing a safe service
- Providing an effective service
- Providing a caring service
- Providing a responsive service
- Providing a well-led service
How do I start my own Care Business?
Starting up the right way
Taking the next steps
As with all start-ups, finding the right information to speed you on your way is often the hardest task. There are lots of people who offer services that will do it all for you. The problem with this is that you learn little from the exercise. It might start your business off in the right place but it leaves you without the confidence and expertise derived from learning as you go. And it’s this confidence and expertise that will help make your business a continuing success.
Here, then, are some ideas and services – usually free – that will help get you started, without doing it all for you. I say free but, of course, this excludes that most valuable of investments: time. Time is the best way to gain the information required to start-up well and to lay the foundations that are needed to build a successful business for the future.
Getting down to business
It’s in every government’s interest to help, advise and support British businesses – large or small. Finding you way around the GOV.UK website is not an easy task, however, especially as they are continuously adding to it. Below you will find the most useful pages, as well as some non-government sources:
Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy
The DBEIS website is good for finding COVID-19 business and financial support, and information for keeping your workplace safe during the pandemic. It also includes a specific page offering general help and support for your business, including help with tax and advice on writing a business plans, as well as links to sources of financial support and regional business support services.
The SBC works specifically to support small- and medium-sized businesses (i.e., those with 50 employees or fewer). It offers help and advice on invoicing, contracts and general business administration.
Information Commissioner’s Office
The ICO website includes everything you need to know to keep you on the right side of data protection law. You also register here to hold the data required by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The fee to register is currently in bandings ranging between £40.00 and £2900.00. Most fees fall between £40.00 and £60.00.
Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service
ACAS offers free, impartial advice on workplace rights, rules and best practices, including templates for employment contracts, letters, and disciplinary and grievance guides and procedures. Everything is free, except for the dispute resolution services.
Set-up to support young people between 18 and 30, the Prince’s Trust is a useful source of information for those who have never run a business, including specific support for starting a business. It offers everything from business and financial plans, and good training packs, all free and regularly updated. The Team Leader Support and Wellbeing and Resilience Packs are particularly good and relevant to the care sector.
Businessballs is a development and learning arena for businesses, their managers and employers. It covers topics such as communication, work relationships, operations management, problem solving and decision making, and leading people. It also offers leadership and management development courses, as well as accredited training programmes, and every form and template you could possible need – and more! Time spent here will be time well spent.
Education and Skills Funding Agency
The ESFA covers the apprenticeship scheme, as well as skills and employment programmes, such as Kickstart, traineeships, T-levels, etc., all of which have varying amounts of financial support packages for employers. This is one to watch! As we come out of lockdown, expect to see an acceleration of these schemes going into 2022.
When figuring out how to start a domiciliary care agency, understand the importance of CQC registration, local authority requirements, insurance, and compliance from the outset.
If you are familiar with only one website, it should be the CQC, which regulates and inspects the care sector (but you know that already!). It is full of relevant guidance, which often changes overnight, as does the CQC remit.
Conclusion: quit talking and start doing
This series of articles has been designed to help you take the first steps into setting up a care business – but we hope it’s also of use for those that have already begun the journey.
Don’t forget that W&P offers a Care Agency Business Start-up Package, which includes everything you’ll need to set up and build a successful business, as well as a range of additional services for care businesses at any stage of their development. For more information about this and anything else discussed in this series, please call us on 01305 767104.
There is lots of support and assistance out these. We hope this blog and previous posts in the series will help you find it. Now, as Walt Disney put it, quit talking and start doing!
Margaret Ross Sands
Business Support Director
Margaret has over 30 years of experience in Health & Social care having worked in various local authorities in England holding senior positions in Contracting, Commissioning, and Operationally for the LA’s own in house Care Service. She has a deep knowledge of Adult Social Care and is our main policy lead in terms of keeping up to date with the latest government legislation, case law and good practice guidance. On leaving the statutory sector Margaret… Read Margaret’s Full Bio
