Sponsored by the Royal Bank of Scotland, these unique awards are based on feedback from thousands of actual franchisees.

To be considered as a finalist, the company must previously have taken part in the Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark survey; in the survey, franchisees are asked to anonymously score the franchisor on qualities such as initial training, ongoing support, relationship with their franchisor and whether they would recommend their franchise to a prospective franchisee.

Director of Smith & Henderson, Steven Frost said: “We would like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to these franchisors who have already shown themselves to be amongst the very best in the country.

“All the finalists have received outstanding feedback from their franchisees, who completed our independent and confidential Franchise Satisfaction Benchmark survey, which uniquely identifies the franchises that live up to their franchisee’s expectations. We congratulate them on this achievement.”

Right at Home Group Director Tim Jones said: “We are extremely proud to have, again, achieved such recognition for outstanding franchisee satisfaction.

“We consider the Benchmark survey as a tool that enables us to continually improve the Franchise system, and the range and means of support that we offer our local owners.

“We achieved a 91% score in 2015 and have listened to and acted upon the feedback we received, so to see that increase to 93% this year, when we have a bigger network of local offices, is encouraging.

“I’d like to thank our brilliant owners for giving their time to populating the survey and to assure them that we remain relentless in our focus on quality and of ensuring that their business is successful and profitable; whilst developing the Right at Home brand.”

The finalists of the 2016 Best Franchise Awards will be announced during the Best Franchise Conference to be held in Milton Keynes on Thursday, November 30^th, 2016.