FUTUREPROOFING A BUSINESS

INTERVIEW

Buying and selling a business - change alongside continuity

After 19 years at the helm of AKA Case Management, Angela Kerr decided to sell her business to two of her team in an MBO. Here, Angela, alongside new directors Dawn Abernethy and Andrew Rose, share their story of completing the deal and why succession planning is key for a business owner

“I’ll be honest, when I set up I naively thought I’ll be a lone worker, working at home - I never imagined I’d need a succession plan.” Like so many others who set up in business, Angela Kerr did not foresee the growth of her venture, AKA Case Management, when she set up in 2002. Having become one of the UK’s best-known case management companies, and with Angela increasingly in demand within the profession after being appointed chair of BABICM in 2016, she knew she needed to address the issue of the long-term future of her thriving business. And the solution lay in the form of Dawn Abernethy, a longstanding member of the AKA team, alongside Andrew Rose, who at that time was a new appointment to the business. With Andrew, a BABICM director keen to progress to a senior management role in case management, and Dawn knowing the culture and ethos of the business inside out, the combination of their respective operational and financial expertise came together in March this year to complete the MBO of AKA Case Management - five years after Angela first started to formulate such plans. For the 12 months leading up to the MBO, Dawn and Andrew had been leading the business in preparation for formally taking over, to allow Angela to concentrate on developing the Institute of Registered Case Managers (IRCM), of which she is chair, while giving them the space to develop their confidence as directors and being in the background for support if needed. Under their leadership, and despite the many challenges of the pandemic, the business has grown in the past year, continuing to add new people to the team as AKA heads into a new era. “I’ve always looked to bring in the right people to the business to support what we’re delivering and have tried to equip them to do the job well - but it was about looking for the rising stars who relished a challenge, and that is something I had to start looking at seriously when I took over as chair of BABICM,” says Angela, who is remaining with AKA as a consultant. “I had been approached some time previously about whether I wanted to sell to a national business, but that wasn’t for me, it didn’t feel right. We have built an ethos here, we have certain values, we’re like a family. An MBO seemed the right option, but it was working out how that would happen. “It was great to have Dawn and Andrew - Andrew was very clear in what he wanted to achieve, and Dawn had long been a mainstay of the business. We very thoroughly, over the course of five years, really planned out all the risks and challenges and how to mitigate that.” For Andrew, previously operations manager at AKA, he was keen to progress to the next level in his career, and believed AKA was the right place for him to do that. “Whilst working in Australia, I reflected that I had hit a bit of a glass ceiling in case management in terms of what I could do to influence things,” says Andrew, whose background is in psychology, including eight years as a university lecturer. “I knew I wanted to be in a position where I could

INTERVIEW

influence and change things when needed, and being in a senior management role was the way to make that possible. The company I was with previously had just been bought out and I knew I needed a change - I knew joining Angela and AKA, who shared the same values as I have, was the right move.” While Andrew was certain of his director-level ambitions, Dawn was rather less certain when Angela first approached her about leading the business. “It was a classic case of imposter syndrome, I didn’t know whether I could do it,” recalls Dawn, previously finance manager who first began working with AKA in 2008. “Angela had kindly invested over the years in business coaching, but when the moment comes you do question ‘Can I do it?’ Thankfully Angela was there to remind me that I could, but it’s a huge thing to take on. “I really love what we do here and the ethos of the business, but until that point it never occurred to me I’d one day be running it. It was a surprise when the MBO was first mentioned, but as we progressed I was certain it was the right thing to do and to help in guiding the future of the business.” With very different areas of specialism, Dawn and Andrew work well together, adopting a joint management approach with the key decisions taken together. “Right from the start, we have had very open and frank discussions about what is non negotiable for us both. We share out the managing director role between us both, it’s very equal in that way, but we continue to take the lead in our own areas,” says Dawn. Andrew continues: “Communication and transparency are the main things. We think horribly similarly, which makes things a lot easier, and we have very honest discussions. We’ve had daily meetings since before the MBO and we don’t make any big decisions independently, even if they are in our distinct roles, out of respect for the other business partner. “Nothing really feels different in terms of our roles, we’d been doing this for a year before the MBO and we asked the staff how they felt and they said they felt the same, 100 per cent nothing had changed for them. “Angela is a huge character and personality, and you do fear what the reaction may be - and we know some other companies had approached some of our staff once they heard about the MBO. But the reality is that not only did our existing staff want to stay, but we had new people approaching us as they see we’re different to other companies. We’re ambitious and will always look at opportunities to grow when they come along.” For Angela, stepping back after owning and running AKA for almost 20 years - and having been in leadership roles for 30 - at the same time as stepping down as chair of BABICM, continues to be a challenge, she admits. “You prepare yourself for that time to come, but you don’t really know what it will be like. I must admit to feeling a little bit lost, I had to have a couple of weeks out just for decompression,” says Angela. “I’d say having a business is a bit like when you have a child and you take them through different stages of life - I suppose now, for me, it’s like they’ve gone off to university. “But I’m now chair of IRCM so am still in the industry, but in a different role and one that I do need to have time to engage with, so it is the right thing to do. And I’ll be here for Dawn and Andrew as long as they need me.” And for the new owners of AKA, the huge decision Angela has taken to pass on her business, and the trust she has invested in them is not lost on them - indeed, they have already given consideration to their own succession plans to ensure AKA continues to be in safe hands for years to come. “We talked about it even pre-MBO, we said if we are going to take this on, then what does our exit look like,” says Andrew. “For the original pioneers of businesses, who don’t know if there will be any value in what they are creating and are just doing a job, then it’s probably easy not to think of succession plans - but for Dawn and I, coming into an established business, having an exit strategy is very important.” “AKA has always been about our values and the service we deliver to people,” says Angela. “We want to maintain that as we move through the years and the changes that lie ahead, and sustaining our clients through that journey. Some of them have been there since almost the beginning and we’ll always be there for them. “People make AKA what it is, and Dawn and Andrew and the whole team have helped to build us to where we are now. It’s now in their hands for the future.”

INSIGHT

'This is an exciting time in the future of clinical rehabilitation'

For seriously injured military personnel, the options around rehabilitation are increasing further with plans for a new National Rehabilitation Centre. Matthew Tomlinson and Rachel Seddon, from the specialist military team at Slater & Gordon, discuss the importance of access to specialist support

For the majority of readers, initial treatment for their serious injury or illness will likely come from our exceptional NHS’ regional acute hospitals. When clinical rehabilitation, to assist those seriously injured is required, it is widely recognised that timely and tailored support is necessary to maximise the potential to return to a quality of life, and minimise further problems down the line. This is significant in relation to an individuals’ physical and mental health. Getting people back to a meaningful life and capability following serious injury is a major policy area in Government. Return to work rates for people experiencing serious injury and trauma in England are below rates achieved in other European countries as well as rates achieved in the Armed Forces. For seriously injured military personnel, the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre (or DNRC) in Loughborough will already be a familiar part of Defence Medical Services, which comprises, in addition to the national Defence Centre, Regional Rehabilitation Units (RRUs), Units embedded within NHS Trusts, the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine and mental health services such as the DCMH (Departments of Community Mental Health) network. The Defence Centre, or DMRC/Stanford Hall as it is known, is the state of art successor to the Ministry of Defence’s former Headley Court facility in Surrey. The facility, which is run by a Commanding Officer alongside uniformed staff and civilians employed by MoD, opened in 2018 and continues to treat and rehabilitate seriously injured members of the armed forces including those with serious neurological and spinal cord injuries. In addition, plans to develop a ‘National Rehabilitation Centre’ (NRC) on the Stanford Estate (next to the Defence Centre) are gaining momentum and will be a very welcome initiative bringing world-class clinical rehabilitation for civilian NHS patients, as well as providing a national hub for training, research and development. Recent reports suggest that, all being well, the greenlight should be given later this year for construction of this new facility, with a target for treating patients by 2024. This is an exciting time in the future of clinical rehabilitation and the NRC will extend the success of acute services and established major trauma centres by providing a national centre of excellence in both patient care and innovation. The recent and ongoing lessons of COVID-19 are showing the real value of excellent clinical rehabilitation in making a meaningful difference to an individual’s recovery and capability. For example, a specialist three-step rehabilitation programme developed at DMRC has been credited with saving the careers of military personnel with “long- Covid” (shortness of breath, fatigue, low mood and "brain fog"). The BBC recently reported that nearly all of the 150 patients that took part in the programme

INSIGHT

were able to return to work within three months. The plans for the NRC appear to offer a unique opportunity to drive new rehabilitation products and technologies and improve accessible state of the art rehabilitation. The NRC would provide patient care focused primarily on treating patients within the NHS East Midlands region with the potential to treat patients referred from elsewhere in the country similar to the Defence Rehabilitation Model. Already, the Defence establishment is acquiring new knowledge through, for example, Computer Aided Rehabilitation Environment and the cohort of patients treated at both the NRC and the Defence facilities must widen the opportunities for clinical research. The NRC facility itself aims to be transformative, leading in the testing and development of future treatments and techniques and the positives that can be derived from the Defence Rehabilitation Model and its collaboration with Defence Medical Services looks likely to bring about meaningful changes to injured individuals’ pathways. Good rehab after serious injury is often described as ‘like a relay race’. Taking for example, the experience of our client, Soldier X. X was paralysed from the midchest down and would be graded T4 complete ASIA A paraplegic. He suffers from residual neuropathic pain, increased tone, spasms, impaired sensation and loss of power below the mid-chest and loss of visceral function. He has to self-catheterise and manually evacuate the bowels, and within a few years of injury, developed a syrinx, which is, along with syringomyelia, likely to further progress. In the immediate aftermath of the injury, he went through numerous intensive and emotionally difficult stages of rehabilitation, including treatment at Stoke Mandeville NSIC. During X’s Naval Service Recovery Pathway with Hasler Company, and numerous inpatient stays at DMRC Stanford Hall, he has been able to access tailored rehabilitation which has included hydrotherapy, 1:1 specialist physiotherapy and psychotherapy, and he has had the opportunity to complete successful trials of the ReWalk exoskeleton. DMRC Stanford Hall has the feel of a military establishment in one sense and of somewhere very conductive to rehabilitation in a relaxed and personal manner. It has buildings and spaces specially designed to aid the recovery process including gyms, a range of swimming and hydrotherapy pools, a gait lab and “all the elements essential for its clinical purpose”, that is, to rehabilitate the most seriously injured members of the Armed Forces and also, importantly, return those who have been injured in the course of training back to work. He is making good progress with his physical rehabilitation but acknowledges his ongoing challenges in terms of bowel and bladder care, sexual health and fertility, pressure sores, syrinx management, and mental health and so continuity and quality of care remains vital both now and beyond his medical discharge. In due course, Soldier X will likely engage with the Recovery Career Services which was launched as part of the Defence Recovery Capability back in 2013 with the mission of getting injured and sick personnel competing in the civilian employment market. What the current Defence Rehabilitation Model seems to do very well is integrate all aspects of recovery including medical care, welfare, housing, education, reskilling, work placements, employment issues and opportunities. Whilst this remains an ideal care model and one that is decades ahead due to the combined efforts of the Services and the Service charities responding to carefully tailored individual recovery plans setting out a recovery pathway, if the NRC development plans can keep momentum, it presents a very exciting, and similarly patient-led opportunity to build the right environment for successful rehabilitation.

For more information about Slater & Gordon’s specialist work with the military, visit www.slatergordon.co.uk