It’s great to be back in the game, say Right at Home’s newest franchisees

Homecare veterans Claire and Bill Percy are looking forward to enjoying personal and financial rewards again

Right at Home’s newest franchisees say it’s great to be back in the game, after starting their initial training at the home care company’s national office in Liverpool earlier this week.

Claire and Bill Percy, from Ipswich, built and ran a homecare company when they lived in Farnborough, Hampshire, but accepted a great offer to sell the business before relocating to Suffolk in 2018.

However, after two years the couple began to miss their old business roles.

Claire explains: “It was so personally and financially rewarding to build an ethical, outstanding rated business - we were very proud of what we had achieved by the time we sold it.

“Then after years of hard work, it was lovely to have a bit of a rest. For a while I went back into employment in the sector, but it wasn’t delivering the same kind of satisfaction. We missed being able to make a difference in our community and the challenge of creating jobs and building an outstanding team.

“We’re both feeling excited about getting back into business ownership with Right at Home, as their values and ethical approach very much match our own.”

Right at Home’s initial training gives new franchisees a thorough grounding in all aspects of running their home care franchise - from finding and employing high calibre CareGivers and building a strong back office team, to marketing their business in their local community and building a network of referral partners,

Most new Right at Home franchisees are also new to the care sector, but while Bill and Claire have industry experience, they were aware that sector regulation has moved on since they sold their business.

So for them, the company’s tailored training has focused on refreshing their compliance knowledge and bringing them up to speed with how technology now supports home care providers to be even more responsive to clients’ needs.

Bill says: “Having experienced the amount of paper a busy home care business generates, we’re delighted to see how Right at Home have embraced paperless technology. We expect our new office to be even more responsive and effective as a result.” 

CEO Ken Deary welcomed the couple into Right at Home’s network of 60-plus offices, saying: “It was a meeting of minds when we spoke to Bill and Claire, as their values are very firmly rooted in delivering first class services that have a positive impact on their clients’ lives and the wider community. 

“Their previous home care business achieved an outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission and, as Right at Home has a 100 per cent good or outstanding rating record across the network, we’re looking forward to supporting them to getting back into that position at the earliest opportunity.

“With their knowledge and experience, setting up independently was always an option. But it was great to see they recognise the value of being part of an engaged franchise network, with all the support it brings from the national office team and their peers.”