Visiting Angels : BFA CEO Pip Wilkins Meets Visiting Angels MD Dan Archer

Pip Wilkins, CEO of the British Franchise Association (BFA), interviews Dan Archer, MD of Visiting Angels UK, in this BFA-hosted franchise leadership conversation. Dan walks Pip through the brand's three-year UK arc, the international footprint behind the UK launch, and what makes Visiting Angels operationally different from the rest of the UK home-care sector. On the international platform: Visiting Angels has been operating internationally for years before its UK launch. The brand operates in five countries with just over 700 franchisees globally — meaning UK partners join a mature, internationally-tested franchise operating system rather than a UK-only experiment. Dan brought the brand to the UK because he saw a structural gap in UK home-care: lots of operators talking about the care delivered, very few focusing on the people delivering that care. On the carer-centric vision and mission: Visiting Angels' UK vision is to make caregivers the most important people in the business — explicit in operational decision-making, recruitment, retention, pay, and career development. The brand's stated mission is to become the UK home-care sector's employer of choice by 2022, working to change society's perception of carers and elevate how the role is valued. On execution and proof-of-concept: Dan opened the brand's first UK office in Sheffield (the third poorest county in the UK) in November 2017 — taking the view that if the model works in a low-affluence territory, it works almost everywhere. The Sheffield office now delivers 2,000 hours of care per week with 102 care staff. Franchising launched late 2018; 15 UK franchised offices are now live or going live. A useful watch for prospective UK Visiting Angels partners weighing the brand's track record.