Walfinch offers an alternative to care homes. We know that more than 9/10 people say that if they need care, they would prefer to receive it in their own home. Walfinch franchisees help address this need by offering home care to clients in a caring professional way with integrity, excellence, teamwork and fun.
Industry Sector(s)
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About Walfinch
Walfinch provides personalised, high-quality home care. You don’t need care experience as you don’t do the care work yourself.
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.
You’ll be providing hourly visiting home care, as well as 24/7 live-in care so you’ll have multiple streams of revenue.
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.
Your Time, Your Terms
When you buy a franchise, you have full control of your own time.
Ian Thompson, who runs Walfinch Welwyn and Bishop’s Stortford, and who is in Walfinch’s top 5 for turnover, worked in the financial sector before joining Walfinch.
Ian wanted to spend more time with his wife and 3 young boys but he worked long hours in London as an equities trader.
Since joining Walfinch he’s been around for a lot more of their football matches and those moments which previously he wasn’t.
Not only has Ian grown his Walfinch franchise to well over £1m in turnover, he’s also able to spend a lot more time with his family.
What training and support does Walfinch provide franchisees?
Most Walfinch franchisees do not come from a care background, so 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 recruit 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.
“I will always, always recommend Walfinch and the support they’ve given me and the ongoing support they give both Kathleen and I both Kathleen and I in our business every single day.”
Tracy Lezar, Managing Director, Walfinch Kingston and Weybridge
Regulator Registration Made Easy
One of the biggest challenges when you’re setting up a home care business is getting your business registered with your regulator.
If you haven’t done this before, it can be a long and laborious process. Most franchisees didn’t work in the care sector before joining Walfinch, so didn’t have any experience with the registration process.
For example, Idris Nasar, who runs Walfinch Newcastle East, worked for a family flooring company and was an independent financial trader before joining Walfinch.
With no care experience, Idris didn’t know where to start when it came to getting his home care business registered with CQC.
This is where Walfinch comes 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.
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?
Start-up costs can vary, but the minimum investment required is £100,000+VAT. This includes a franchise fee of £33,000+VAT.
You will need at least £39,600 of your own money to invest before borrowing.
The company also charges a management support fee (MSF) of 5% (plus VAT).
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%.
What locations is Walfinch looking to operate in?
The company has franchises available across the UK.
What are the franchise terms of agreement and renewal?
The franchise agreement lasts for 10 years and comprises two five-year periods.
Turnover projections for years 1-5:
For further information get in touch!
