START A THRIVING HOMECARE FRANCHISE WITH WALFINCH

Who is Walfinch?

Walfinch is a homecare services provider that champions an active lifestyle so that everyone can look forward to their next chapter, whatever support they need.

Via our network of franchisees and their carers, Walfinch offers all kinds of care. From weekly visits to live-in care, from companionship to complex care for conditions such as dementia, multiple sclerosis (MS), stroke rehabilitation, care after physical injuries, temporary respite care and more.

Not only do we provide exceptional care at home, but we also want to see everyone thrive, not just survive, that’s why our carers help our clients to get more out of life. Whether small steps or giant leaps, we aim to help everyone enjoy more activity, safely in their homes or further afield, for as long as possible. From the NHS to Age UK, many experts report that as little as ten minutes activity a day can make a world of difference.

That’s why we say, it’s time to thrive.

Why become a Walfinch Homecare franchisee?

Around 20% of the population is aged over 65 and the demand for care services exponentially surpasses supply. There will always be people who want to get more out of life but require homecare to make it possible. With Walfinch you could be the one to provide it.

Of course, you could set up a home care business on your own, but this is a highly regulated sector where the utmost attention to the quality of care is essential. Starting your business with Walfinch means you’ll have training and guidance every step of the way so you can provide the highest quality of care within your community.

Walfinch has ambitious plans to grow. We’re looking to redefine homecare and what it can offer.

We’re large enough to have lots of experience, but small enough to give you the individual support you’ll need to succeed.

Furthermore, we know what success looks like as our CEO Amrit used to be a franchisee himself, before he set up Walfinch, a privately owned British homecare brand. Amrit Dhaliwal’s story is a successful one. He’s a first-generation Indian entrepreneur who set out to create homecare “people want to choose, rather than choose reluctantly”.

Will you join him on his journey to be everyone’s first choice for homecare?

Dimpu Boppuri | Support Getting Registered with the CQC

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 of the registration process.

For example, Dimpu Boppuri, who runs Walfinch Milton Keynes and Bedford, worked in IT for Santander, Barclays, Mastercard, and other large financial institutions before joining Walfinch.

Dimpu got his Bachelor of Technology from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in Hyderabad in the early 2000s before getting a job with Barclays in Knutsford.

Since then, he’s had 2 children, one who loves to play cricket, and he’s had his own IT company too.

With no care experience, Dimpu didn’t know where to start when it came to getting his 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.

What type of franchisee is Walfinch looking to recruit?

Walfinch is looking for franchisees with the same ambition and drive as Amrit, but who also value the importance of wellbeing, for themselves, their carers and their clients.

As this is a service company, we value people who also recognise that the little things make a big difference.

In addition we’re looking for people who:

Are enthusiastic to grow professionally and personally.
Want to deliver the highest quality levels of care.
Are keen to build a successful care business that makes a difference to their community
Believe in the importance of thriving, not just surviving

Walfinch welcomes prospective franchisees with and without previous care sector experience as the company provides extensive initial and ongoing healthcare training and support.

As a Walfinch franchisee, you can:

Work in a rewarding sector, helping others
Support your local community by offering employment opportunities
Achieve business independence
Potentially generate £1 million in turnover by Year 5
Join a welcoming, supportive team
Enjoy your job and have fun

Walfinch Image — Poojita Patel at our annual Walfinch conference

Training and support

Care is, rightly, a highly regulated business and Walfinch always abides by – and strives to exceed – all the national regulations and standards, while making it as straightforward as possible for franchisees to achieve the highest standards.

Amrit knows first-hand that the development and support of incoming and existing franchisees is crucial to a successful care business.

A comprehensive package of training and support, along with business advice, is provided to all Walfinch franchisees.

Initial franchisee training includes:

A 10-day initial formal training programme
Help with Care Quality Commission (CQC) registration
A 90-day business launch plan
Marketing and business development training
Software training
Assistance with office set-up
Weekly support meetings
A full administrative system
An operations manual
250 business cards and 500 A5 leaflets.

Ongoing training and support includes:

45 hours of ongoing training and support annually
Recruitment workshops to help you recruit and retain the very best caregivers
Business development workshops (monthly) to help you grow your business
Compliance coaching to ensure you meet - and exceed - the highest regulatory standards
Business coaching
Periodic CQC-style inspections led by the franchisor to prepare you for the all-important official CQC inspections or care inspectorate in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Financial information

Start-up costs can vary, but the minimum investment required is £36,000 + VAT. The company also charges a management support fee (MSF) of five per cent (plus VAT).

The right franchisees have the potential to achieve turnover of £1000,000 by Year 3.

Additional Information

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.

Why is Walfinch a good investment?

This care provider delivers an essential service to a client base that is consistently growing and offers a recession-resistant business model that has the potential for significant financial returns.

It’s committed franchisees are supported by a dedicated leadership team. For their investment, franchisees get:

An exclusive territory
Comprehensive training
Access to a franchise network of like-minded fellow franchisees
Dedicated business coaching and ongoing support
Assistance with recruiting carers
Association with a prestigious brand
A tried and tested business model that has a proven success rate, significant potential financial returns and strong cash flow
Technological procedures and customer management systems that provide efficiency and retain quality.

How does the Walfinch franchise business model work?

The Walfinch franchise model’s success is driven by its values and professional standards of care, combined with the careful deployment of technology to future-proof your business in the digital age.

Franchisees benefit from technology provided to streamline most administrative tasks, so they can spend more time on building rewarding relationships with care clients and customers, which drives more business.

Franchisees’ care teams use technology that ensures care, medication and client health are carefully monitored and which allows clients’ families, caregivers and the franchisee to interact with each other.

This makes it easier to ensure care standards are always upheld and communication maintained, which leads to happier clients and more personal recommendations. Walfinch is a white-collar management franchise and there is a choice of both single-care franchises and multi-unit opportunities.

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Walfinch Financial Data

The following financial information was provided by Walfinch to give you more information about the costs associated with a Walfinch opportunity

Minimum Investment

£36,000 + VAT

Franchise Fee

£36,000 + VAT.

Management Support Fee (MSF)

5% plus VAT

Total Investment

£110,000

Funding Support

Yes

Advertising Fee

MSF

5% + VAT

Walfinch News

Walfinch Home Care Franchisee Shilpi Explains How to Combine Care and Business Success

December 11, 2023

Shilpi, whose career includes 17 years in banking, is now the Managing Director of the Walfinch home care franchise in Harrow & Brent. Here she explains how she successfully combines care and business skills.

“Banking and care look superficially very different, but they are both about understanding and meeting the needs of customers,” says Shilpi. “The commercial and team management skills I learnt in banking now help me bring genuinely personalised care to clients, while developing my carers' careers and building an award-winning business.”

Shilpi launched her home care business in 2021, and now has a team of 55 people delivering care to 28 clients. She is the third most successful franchisee in Walfinch's countrywide network of 30. Recently she and three of her carers were chosen as finalists in the London Region of the Great British Care awards, and Vaibhavi Patel won the Palliative/End of Life Care Award.

How does she do this?

Listening

“We listen carefully to what clients want, draw up detailed, personalised care plans, carefully match carers to clients to ensure that they will get on well, and make sure care is always delivered to the highest standards,” she says.

Shilpi is careful to listen to clients' families too. “We develop a close relationship with the family, so we can have two-way conversations with them, which means we can better respond to their loved ones' needs,” she says.

Developing the care team

“Supporting your team is crucial to providing the best quality care, and I am sure that this is one of the reasons why we have a low carer turnover ratio,” says Shilpi.

She takes practical action to develop the careers of her care team with training and support, and offers carers wellbeing reviews, an employee assistance programme, and access to mental health support. She believes strongly in internal promotions, and provides suitable people with the extra training required to climb the career ladder. Her care manager started as a carer and two others have been promoted to field supervisors.

To ensure staff are engaged she commissions regular staff engagement surveys. “Staff often mention the supportive and friendly work environment, and the positive attitude of colleagues and management,” she says.

Regular meetings and measurements

Shilpi backs up her philosophy with concrete actions such as regular meetings with the care team and individual carers, quarterly supervisions and monthly spot checks. “It's more than the CQC demands, but it maintains high standards and carers have told me they appreciate the support,” she says.

Combining caring and commercial attitudes

“You cannot provide top quality service without a sound, sustainable business model. I learnt that in banking and it's one of the reasons I chose to start my care business as a Walfinch home care franchisee. They understand what the combination of a caring attitude and business skills can achieve, and their support has been a vital part of our growth,” says Shilpi.

Walfinch is an award-winning UK home care franchise with 30 (and growing) local offices run by franchisee Managing Directors. Its executive team has extensive experience in home care franchising and will be delighted to talk to you about it with no obligations.