Pursuit Of Excellence

Home Instead Senior Care has been recognised for ethical franchising and exemplary franchisee recruitment

Home Instead is thrilled to have brought home a pair of accolades in the prestigious British Franchise Association Franchisor of the Year Awards, which celebrate best practice in the £15 billion UK franchise sector.

The company’s bespoke homecare franchise model, underlined by a commitment to excellence and ethical operations, received the silver in the top award band, the bfa’s Franchisor of the Year category.

Huge honour

A huge honour for the brand, judges were looking for a business that demonstrates a passion for, and commitment to, ethical franchising. Plus they wanted to see evidence of strong infrastructure and support for the franchisor’s network to ensure franchisees have the best possible environment in which to succeed and reach their full potential.

Ethical franchisee recruitment sits at the core of Home Instead’s ethos - a philosophy that has underpinned its growth to today’s 175-strong franchise network with a £100 million annualised turnover.

To receive the award from the bfa for Franchisee Recruitment pays testimony to its honest and ethical approach to recruiting franchisees.

Ruth Brown, head of franchise development, explains: “We are thrilled to have brought home the bfa’s Franchisee Recruitment award. We have 145 territories available across the UK. This award should speak volumes to potential franchisees that we are a credible, ethical and incredibly successful homecare brand to franchise with.

“We look for people who have an affinity with our mission - to change the face of ageing. We want franchisees who want to make a difference to society and run a successful business as part of the UK’s number one homecare franchise, a brand that literally helps change the lives of seniors and their families.”

Judges could see Home Instead’s franchisee recruitment met its award criteria - demonstrating commitment to recruiting the right franchisees for the long haul and helping them achieve success.

Ruth continues: “We have an industry leading 4:1 ratio of support to franchisees at our national office covering care quality and standards, IT and marketing, for example, together with induction, then 90 and 180-day bespoke training. Support is there in whatever form our franchisees need throughout their business life cycle.”

Home Instead was thrilled to receive royal recognition earlier this year too, receiving the Queen’s Award for Enterprise for the innovation its business model has brought to the care sector.

Joining a franchisor that holds the Queen’s Award, a pinnacle of business achievement in the UK, pays further testimony to the ethicality of the brand.

Rated outstanding

Husband and wife franchisees Mark and Vanessa McGlade invested in Home Instead’s Exeter and East Devon territory five years ago. They were driven by the desire to see quality homecare delivered in their community - care that would be good enough for their own mum or dad.

The south west couple have celebrated a hat-trick of achievements in 2016, including:

• A Care Quality Commission outstanding rating - the first homecare provider specialising in senior care to receive the rating in the south west.
• Being recognised as a ‘Top 10 most recommended homecare provider 2016’ in the south west, which is based on client reviews.
• Being part of the royally recognised Home Instead national franchise network.

Together the caring couple had a clear vision - to offer the highest quality relationship-led support for older people to remain living in their own homes and to become an employer of choice in their locality by providing fulfilling careers in care.

Married for 27 years, Mark and Vanessa currently support more than 135 clients and employ over 90 staff throughout Exeter and East Devon. They credit much of their success to hard work and a passion for delivering a caring and quality-led service.

“This hat-trick of accolades brought home in 2016 mark a pinnacle of achievement in our franchise journey,” Mark says, who served as an officer in the Royal Navy and then had a career in the defence and aerospace industry, before making the decision to invest in a franchise in the senior care sector with Vanessa.

“We set out five years ago with a vision to be the best of breed in homecare in our territory. Becoming the first homecare provider in the south west specialising in senior care to receive a CQC outstanding rating is our dream come true and marks our commitment to continuous improvement.

“Being rated in the Top 10 homecare providers in the south west and being part of a national brand that has been royally recognised with the Queen’s Award has made for an incredibly proud year.”

Vanessa, a former legal secretary and estate agent with extensive voluntary sector experience, says: “Our outstanding rating pays testimony to teamwork at our office. To everyone’s commitment to providing care that comes from the heart, care with a family feel.

“You don’t have to have a care background to become a franchisee with Home Instead, you just have to have a steadfast commitment to quality and standards, with a focus on providing care that would be good enough for your own loved ones.

“If you provide the care quality at your franchise and follow the Home Instead model with discipline and passion, the business growth will take care of itself.”

The McGlade’s followed the tried and tested Home Instead model resolutely and were also impressed with the support provided by the team of experts at national office.

“We had all the support we needed from our franchisor,” Vanessa says. “And we’re incredibly grateful to our business support manager, Nathan, who sat with us an infinite number of times and gave advice and counsel.

“When I got the call about the CQC outstanding rating, the next person I told after Mark was Nathan. I knew no one would be more thrilled.”

London first

Fellow Home Instead franchisee Clare Jefferies became the first homecare provider in London to receive an outstanding rating from the CQC for her Wimbledon and Kingston territory in February this year.

It’s a first that recognises Clare’s commitment to quality homecare provision in the country’s capital. It also marks her personal passion for Home Instead’s relationship-led care model, inspired by an incredibly moving life story.

After losing her father to motor neurone disease and her mother to cancer within seven months of each other, Clare wanted to make a stand for quality homecare provision.

Having seen an endless stream of different faces visiting her parents, carers with little time, who didn’t know her loved ones, their strengths and weaknesses, she was inspired to become part of the Home Instead franchise model.

Today, Clare has 130 elderly clients and as a local employer has a team of almost 100 CAREGivers, who deliver care the Home Instead way.

Clare says: “My parents would be so proud of the fact that the homecare company I’ve built in their memory has been officially rated outstanding by the CQC.

“Receiving the highest rating possible and becoming the first homecare provider in London to receive an outstanding rating is a dream come true for what I set out to do - to change the face of ageing.

“When my parents needed care, I often dreamed of having another me, a ‘carbon copy daughter’ who could help look after them the way I would do, with kindness and dignity. That’s the kind of care we deliver at Home Instead each day and I’m proud to be part of this franchise family.

“I’ve been supported every step of the way by national office. I knew I saw my future in homecare, but setting up a care business from scratch would have been a daunting prospect.

“Investing in a Home Instead franchise meant I had the tools and support to make a viable business opportunity in the sector I felt so passionate about being part of.”

Ruth adds: “Like many of our franchisees, Clare had experienced poor quality care and could identify entirely with our mission and through her team of CAREGivers make the carbon copy daughters she had wished for.”