How to Start A Care Agency – Post Registration

The Steps to Starting a Care Agency

Once you have completed registration with your national regulator & are ready to start providing quality care, here are the steps that you should take to ensure you get the best start in launching your agency.

Insurance:

When providing social care, most insurance packages will not cover the different areas of risk that working with vulnerable people, medications, and so on entails. Many insurance companies provide packages for domiciliary care providers. Our start-up package for care agencies offers insurance guidance, advice for suitable insurance for your business and a list of providers.

Recruiting & Retaining Staff:

Recruiting and retaining care workers is difficult in social care in the UK, and care providers have trouble recruiting and retaining staff to deliver high-quality care. Pay is important; however, there are many other reasons why employees will stay or leave an agency.  These include the working environment, recognition, reward & development. For e.g. a clear career path is good for those who want to progress to management positions. The number of adults waiting for social care in England has risen sharply to over 500,000 as reported by the BBC. 

While employee turnover in the sector is disproportionately large compared to other industries, over 60% of those that leave a social care employer do so to join a different social care employer. This shows that people are not leaving social care altogether. Improving things like working conditions, progression, culture & lifting the ratio of actual care to paperwork & giving staff recognition for good conduct can all greatly improve retention & attract solid applicants in greater numbers.

Skills for Care estimates it costs £3642 on average to recruit a new care worker. You can also learn more about the roles and responsibilities of a care worker, as well as advice on how to get work from their career section here.  

Benefit from our advice on how to recruit & develop staff from our expert consultants. Our consultants offer a wealth of knowledge, industry experience, frameworks, models, & tools to assist you in recruiting solutions for all your needs.

Securing Business – Local Authorities:

Home care providers primarily get business through two sources. They either get it from local authorities or from private/self-funding clients. Care agencies can charge higher fees to self-funding clients and say their fees are adequate to meet their operating costs compared to underfunded local authority-funded packages. Regardless of the growth in self-funding clients, local authority-funded clients still constitute most of the social care market in the UK. 

Running a private-only service may prove more lucrative in terms of revenue, but clients will typically be more disparate & you will need to invest heavily in marketing to get their attention. Marketing is an important aspect of your business, regardless of your target clientele. You can also read more about our marketing support services over on our website.

With the number of people needing care constantly increasing & existing providers' capacity unable to meet demand, do not let yourself be deterred from entering local authority tenders as a new provider, even if you lack the current staff or track record. However, taking on more than you can deliver once the contract begins could put clients at risk. Under-performance will damage your reputation with clients and local authorities. This could lead to negative inspections or even sanctions from regulators like the CQC.

The Tendering Process:

At Care Agency Media, we specialise in health & social care tenders. Unlike other tender writing services, we are health & social care specialists with a wealth of industry experience. We only do what we know best and have the tools, resources, and expertise to help you submit expert bids to grow your business. We source, we write, & you win. If you're looking for a local authority or NHS contract, we can help you get them by assisting and supporting with the process: children and young people to adult services. Our tender strategy can be broken down into 12 key steps:

1. Tender Identification 

2. Tender analysis – ensuring feasibility against your business. 

3. Completion of the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire. 

4. Conducting research & understanding local area pricing. 

5. Organising information required for the tender. 

6. Gathering supportive documents & evidence. 

7. Tender financial planning. 

8. Writing the tender submission. 

9. Reviewing the tender documents. 

10. Submission of the tender. 

11. Provide any supporting documentation required after submission. 

12. Review & update your business policies to suit tender requirements. 

Setting up a care agency with us will ensure you feel prepared, educated & supported in your business journey. Browse some of the clients that we have supported in their business journey & see what they have to say about our services. Get in touch with us today, and we'll explain how we will assist you in making a difference in the care sector. Call our expert team on 0800 059 9908.