Following a long career in secondary school teaching, leadership and management, I took slightly early retirement and took a (calculated!) leap of faith, investing the lump sum from my teacher’s pension, backed up by savings and opened Right at Home Harrow in June 2014, providing high quality homecare in and around Harrow.

I wanted to be my own boss, creating a thriving and successful business, but also to be part of a larger network so that I could draw on the experience and expertise of others. Right at Home UK stood out from the others that I looked at in terms of the detailed information given on the Discovery Days, the depth of the recruitment process and their evident passion for helping Franchisees to succeed.

We received our first full inspection by the Care Quality Commission in 2016 and were delighted to find that we were awarded a ‘Good’ CQC rating in all areas.

We constantly receive recommendations by existing clients and other referral sources and sometimes have a waiting list of clients.

During 2016, my office received a 2016 Top Ten in London Award, presented by an independent review site. I am very proud of this award and it is wonderful to read the positive comments that some of our clients have written about our service and about our Carers.

We are particularly proud of the work of the work that our valued carers and office team do to improve and enhance the quality of life and health of our clients.

My Registered Care Manager has been in post since the office opened and like all the office team, she goes out to visit clients as well as providing care. During 2016 I moved office for the second time, to larger premises with better working conditions for our office team. I appointed a Deputy Care Manager near the start of 2016 and she joined our Registered Care Manager and Care coordinator, making a full-time office team of three.

During this year, the work of the team was assisted by the appointment of a part time Office Manager/Adminstrator. I am now developing my office infrastructure and I am in the process of hiring a bookkeeper and Care Manager to support the work of the rest of our team. We also have a Field Care Manager who ensures that we maintain a high quality of service.

I now provide employment for fifty carers and have been proud to promote four of these to Team Leaders and one to Senior Team Leader.

At the Right at Home UK Annual Conference in September 2016, I was delighted to receive a Premier Circle Award for the office that had achieved the greatest increase in the weekly hours of care. I was particularly pleased to be the first female owner of an office that had been admitted to the Premier Circle of top performing offices and to have since remained the most successful female franchisee in a network of 40+owners.

Along with my fellow franchisees, I actively support and assist the growth of the Right at Home UK network by providing validation calls and face to face meetings with prospective new owners to share my experiences and advise them on the reality of franchising in the care sector, and specifically the benefits of being part of the Right at Home network. I am delighted to see the percentage of female Right at Home owners has risen above 25% in the last 12 months.

The brand stands out from the competition because of the emphasis on quality of care, the high-quality training opportunities for staff together with fair pay, and the support given to the franchisees.
I’d advise anyone looking at buying a franchise to find out as much as possible about the market that they are considering going into, and to find out more by talking to other franchisees.

In terms of core skills and attributes, my role requires resilience and the ability to juggle a large number of tasks, while still being able to take a strategic view, delivering creativity and vision.

I enjoy having greater control and flexibility regarding my working week; I love being my own boss and I’ve thrived on the challenge of creating something very worthwhile and very successful from absolutely nothing. The rapid expansion of Right at Home Harrow to date has exceeded my expectations. I’m very happy with the choices I’ve made and would definitely do it again.