Walfinch - Care Franchise

Walfinch Franchise

Walfinch provides personalised, high quality home care. You don’t need care experience as you don’t do the care work yourself.

Franchise Information

9/10 people say that if they need care, they’d prefer to receive it in their own home.

An alternative to care homes, Walfinch franchisees address the need to remain independent at home.

Growing Need

You’ll be providing a much-needed alternative. Over 430,000 people live in care homes in the UK. Life expectancy for care home residents between 2021 and 2022 was just 7 years for people aged 65-69. Life expectancy for non-care home residents in the same age group was over 23 years, so your services will reduce the quick deterioration observed in care homes (ONS).

Not only that, 9 out of 10 people say that if they need care, they’d prefer to receive it in their own home.

You’ll have access to a growing and under-served market. The number of over 85s in the UK, the group most likely to need home care, was 1.6 million in 2018. By 2048, this is projected to rise to 3.5 million and 5.1 million by 2066 (ONS).

You’ll be in demand. Requests for care were 6% higher in 2021 than in 2015/16 and requests exceeded 2 million for the first time ever in 2022-2023 (The King’s Fund).

Your market is far bigger than just the elderly. There were 22.2% more requests for care from the working-age population in 2022 than in 2015/16 and 900,000 additional working-age adults were living with a disability in 2021 than in 2011 (Institute for Government).

You’ll have potential clients from the start. More than half a million people were waiting for adult social care in May 2022 and the proportion of those waiting more than 6 months reached 36.5% in March 2023 which is up from 20.2% in November 2021 (Home Care Association/Institute for Government).

You’ll be in demand all year round so you’ll experience continuous growth, and you’ll have multiple sources of income because you’ll be offering a range of specialist services to lots of different age groups including hourly visiting care and 24/7 live-in care.

Regulator Registration Made Easy

Experience in care is not necessary if you want to buy a home care franchise. Most franchisees didn’t work in the care sector before joining Walfinch.

Tracy Lezar, Managing Director of Walfinch Kingston and Weybridge, is South African and worked in various sales and marketing roles before joining Walfinch.

Tracy and her aunt, Kathleen Plough, were looking at businesses opportunities together when they stumbled across Walfinch.

They very quickly decided to move to the UK to set their franchise up.

However, with no experience of care and regulations in the UK, Tracy didn’t know where to start when it came to getting her home care business registered with CQC.

This is where Walfinch come in. When you join, you’ll be supported by an experienced Quality and Compliance Manager whose job is to get you registered with your regulator as quickly as possible so you can start trading and focusing on growing your business.

Tracy is now in the top 5 earners at Walfinch and holds the most live-in care packages in the network.

Tracy and Kathleen at the Walfinch annual conference

What training and support does Walfinch provide franchisees?

Even though Sarah has been working in care for a while, most Walfinch franchisees do not come from a care background. This is why your training is extensive and ongoing:

Initial Training:

• 5 day face to face programme for 2 directors, followed by 5 days online.
• Support registering your business with your regulator
• Help recruiting your first Registered Manager
• 8-week compliance training programme, with weekly 1 hour sessions
• Help finding your first office
• Business plan and launch strategy
• Support setting pay and charge rates

Ongoing Training:

• Annual support calendar including 10-12 online workshops, 3 face to face regional meetings for you, 3 for your Registered Manager, and an annual conference
• Support during regulator site visits
• Assistance buying additional territories
• Guidance on recruiting the right people
• Regularly reviewing KPIs to help you hit your targets
• Weekly marketing surgery
• Assistance selling your business when you’re ready

Dr Jane Townson OBE, CEO of the Homecare Association, giving a talk at the Walfinch annual conference

Become a multi-unit franchisee

Our goals is for you to own more than 1 territory so you can meet your professional, personal, and financial goals.

Sarah Wickham was one of our first franchisees.

Sarah completed her NVQ Level 4 in the late 80s because she wanted to become a Registered Manager and she spent 25 years working in this role for some large care companies.

Sarah is a keen rugby fan and was the President of Southwold Rugby Club between 2017 and 2020.

Business development is everything at Walfinch and our aim is to help you become a multi-unit franchisee over time. To do this, we've invested in great people. Our Senior Franchise Support Manager helped grow another care franchise to over 200 locations before joining Walfinch.

Sarah now runs 3 Walfinch franchises, being our first multi-unit franchisee.

Sarah Wickham being interviewed at the Walfinch annual conference

The “Mum Test”

Everything we do at Walfinch is based around the “Mum Test” which is something Founder and CEO, Amrit Dhaliwal, came up with when he was a home care franchisee

When deciding what care is best, how it should be delivered and who should deliver it, we always ask ourselves: “Would I like this for my own mum?” If the answer is no, we think again.

We believe that high quality care starts with our teams of carers – so we prioritise and support them with above-average pay and working conditions, which attracts and retains the best people. 8/10 carers remain with us year-on-year which is much higher than the care sector average.

How much does it cost to become a Walfinch franchisee?

• Walfinch franchises cost £33,000 plus VAT.
• The company also charges a management support fee (MSF) of 5% (plus VAT).

Walfinch National Support Team at the annual conference

What’s the earning potential of a Walfinch franchisee?

On average, Walfinch franchisees exceed £1 million in turnover by year 4, with a healthy profit margin of around 20%.

FAQ

How long will it take to launch from the time I sign the franchise agreement?

Normally 3 – 4 months depending on things like CQC registration, finding an office and recruiting carers.

Yes. We will provide a business plan template and this will allow you to adjust key figures to ensure that it is ideally suited to your territory.

Are there any other costs I can expect?

Yes, other costs to budget for include a local office, local advertising, computer, office rent and working capital. Working capital will depend on how much money you need to draw from the business during the set-up of the business.

What is my expected break-even and how long should it take me to reach it?

The time to reach break-even is governed by how long it takes to find carers and clients for your business but our experience is that it normally takes anything from 12-18 months to achieve profitability.

Do I need any healthcare training or background to join Walfinch?

No, but a background in business and an understanding of how a business operates is desirable.

Will you help me find clients?

Yes, we train you to find your first 100 local contacts in your territory and provide training on the business development system. This enables you to find and retain key contacts in your area, who will keep referring clients to you.

How will I know what to charge clients?

Completing a local business plan will clarify the charges which reflect a fair hourly cost for Walfinch services. We help you with a territory review to understand pricing in the territory. This allows you to pay carers well and make a fair profit.

Is this opportunity full time or part-time?

Walfinch is a full-time management franchise opportunity. Initial franchisee training provides you with the know-how and support to set up and run a care business, as well as giving you an understanding of the care sector.

Are locations available? Could you help me choose a location?

We have territories available across the United Kingdom with strong demand for home care. It is possible to own and run more than one franchise with us.