19 minute read
Property & Professional
PROPERTY & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
How Immigration Can Help The Care Sector
By Jemima Johnstone, head of corporate immigration at Gherson Solicitors (www.gherson.com)
For care homes facing staff shortages the UK immigration system offers some solutions, but is by no means a universal panacea. And the solutions do come at a cost – in terms of both time and money.
Following the UK’ s decision to leave the EU, the government introduced a single immigration system to apply to all non-UK and Irish nationals.
For most individuals looking to come to the UK for work that means first obtaining a Skilled Worker visa, which requires them to be sponsored by a UK employer to take up a specific role.
The employer must guarantee the type of role, the salary, and that the candidate has the skills and qualifications to fill it.
The Skilled Worker scheme is not an option for every job. The government has set a minimum skill level for roles that can be sponsored –RQF Level 3. The assessment is based on the nature of the job that will be done and is shown by the Standard Occupational Classification (or SOC code) of the role.
For the care sector the key roles eligible for sponsorship are Nurses and ‘Senior Care Workers ’ . The role of ‘Care Worker ’ is not considered to be at a sufficient skill level to be sponsored. The distinction between a Senior Care Worker and a Care Worker is not precisely defined by the SOC codes or anywhere in the government’ s immigration rules or guidance, leaving employer ’ s to make the assessment.
The government has also set minimum levels for the salary that must be paid to a sponsored worker. These depend on the SOC code of their job, but there is also a baseline annual salary figure and hourly rate for all roles. For Senior Care Workers the requirement will be to pay at least £10.10 an hour and a minimum annual salary of £20,480.
Finally there are criteria that the candidates themselves must meet, including a level of English Language ability. This is met by some nationalities automatically, but applicants from non-English speaking countries – including the EU – may need to sit a secure language test to prove their ability, and this can take time to book and sit.
Sponsoring an employee also comes at a cost to the employer, in terms of money but also time.
The first step for any employer is to obtain a sponsor licence. This will last for four years, and allow them to sponsor potentially an unlimited number of eligible employees. A sponsor licence costs £536 for small companies and charities, or £1,476 for all other organisations.
Visa costs themselves are more significant, though care sector roles will often be eligible for a reduction in fees because they fall under the ‘Health and Care ’ visa heading. On average a 3 year visa for a Senior Care Worker will cost c. £1,500 for a small company and £3,500 for a larger company.
An application for a sponsor licence must demonstrate that the company applying is a legally operating UK organisation, that they have a genuine need for a sponsor licence – and will be sponsoring roles that meet the criteria of this visa route. Applicants must also fully understand their obligations and duties as a sponsor and make sure that they have systems and processes in place to deliver these. Applicants show that they meet the criteria by submitting an online form and supporting evidence, and potentially receiving a Home Office assessment visit. Having a licence also brings certain ongoing monitoring and reporting duties, with penalties if these are not met.
Licence applications are standardly processed in 8 weeks, but there is a limited priority service available. Applicants who manage to obtain a priority slot, for a fee of £500, will be assessed in 2 weeks.
Standardly visas take 3 weeks to process, though for Health and Care visas this time is reduced to c.1 week; applicants outside the EU will have to attend a biometric appointment, which can take from days to weeks to book.
With all of the above limitations and costs this may still be the best solution for care homes looking to recruit senior care staff urgently. But to obtain a licence and sponsor individuals by 11th November time is getting extremely tight.
Jemima is experienced in all areas of corporate immigration, from gaining and maintaining Sponsor Licences to recruitment advice and avoiding criminal and civil penalties. Her and her team assist with all issues pertaining to running a business in compliance with current immigration laws and hiring and maintaining migrant workers.
The Vocabulary of Leadership
By Peter Bewert, Managing Director at Meaningful Care Matters (www.meaningfulcarematters.com)
Leadership! It’ s a word that is commonly stated in many different situations. It comes up in personal, professional, social, family, and many other aspects of life. But what does it really mean and further still, what does it really do? Some would say that leaders are part of a bureaucratic chain that seeks to control the lives of us mere minions, conforming us to societal rules made by leaders who are above the leaders, and the bigger leaders beyond that… bureaucracy at its best! So, many self-help and leadership books assert we must ‘tap into the leader within ’ , well, what happens when one struggles with deciding what to have for breakfast and praying that we simply make it through the day without inadvertently telling someone to ‘ go away ’ (usually said with a more uncouth colloquial vernacular in one ’ s head and on occasions, out loud).
As human beings, we complicate many things all too frequently and most of the time unnecessarily. Leadership is simple. The test of a good leader is whether that person inspires you to make a change to better yourself as a person. Leadership, therefore, is about engagement, interaction, relationships, and connections which are meaningful and that matter. We all have the ability to tap into the leader within. Just as we all have the ability to use our leadership to inspire and empower, or to create a feeling of disenchantment around us. Over 25 years of working in health and social care, I have learnt 4 top motivators of emotionally led leadership. If we embrace these top four principles, we will undoubtedly influence positive cultures where people are real, people are genuine, and people can connect meaningfully: 1. Know Yourself: When we know ourselves and how we like to interact and engage with others, this is the first step to authentic meaningful relationship. This is the foundation of leadership. 2. Know your communication style: Knowing the way you like to give and receive information is important. This allows us to develop our communication styles where we are not so strong and in which others may have as their preference. This allows for better understanding. 3. You are not an oracle: Being open to other ideas and ways of thinking are essential. We don ’t know everything and, sure, we can bring our best to the table, but when we truly listen to the collective thoughts and ideas of those who we engage with, that’ s how we move from good to great. 4. You have a heart for a reason: People are driven by the heart and soul of their emotions. The difference between good leaders and great leaders is understanding emotional intelligence and the impact of emotions on people and their actions. This means being open to feelings and emotions and learning to not only recognise them, but to also speak the language of feelings.
Culture is an umbrella term outlining the societal norms and behaviours which govern our behaviours. One could argue culture designs us and, in part, this is true. However, culture is shaped by the people within. Leaders have the ability to impact culture. The question is, what influence will we exert on moulding our cultures of the future? I would like to think we are all seeking for a better world for ourselves and future generations to experience. This can only come when we embrace agile, emotionally intelligent framework, and this has to come from our leadership styles in action. Feelings, actions, interactions, and knowledge will shape our cultures of the future; we are the designers of the culture we wish to see.
Good leadership begins with self. It empowers self and others to be the best version of ‘ me ’ and embrace the unique individualism that comes from the diversity of beliefs and cultural practices.
So, what are you going to influence today?
Peter Bewert is the Managing Director at Meaningful Care Matters, a leading care and organisational development group that specialises in helping health and social care providers to access a variety of support services. The group helps to facilitate the creation, reinvigoration and sustainable implementation of person-centred care cultures where people matter, feelings matter, and we are ‘Free to be Me ’ . Contact the team on admin@meaningfulcarematters.com.
PROPERTY & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
By Pinesh Mehta, investor at BGF (www.bgf.co.uk)
The care sector has been at the forefront in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. For 18 months it has faced extraordinary challenges that have stress tested the business, both financially and operationally, while placing considerable pressure on key workers and service users under their care.
COVID-19 has undoubtedly forced many providers to reevaluate their proposition, highlighting the need to invest in a service that has proved vital during the course of 2020. While some may view it as an opportunity to expand and accelerate future growth plans, others will view the pandemic as a tipping point in the company ’ s lifecycle, deciding now is the time to exit the business.
Whatever the motivation, the importance of investment capital in realising those opportunities is clear. So, in a marketplace that is worth around £16.5 billion a year and caters for the needs of over 400,000 service users , how can you make yourself an attractive proposition to investors, whether that’ s gearing up for growth, or an exit?
CONSISTENTLY GOOD CARE
If a business provides a consistently good quality of care – and, crucially, it maintains that quality as it expands –everything else follows. This is often measured by care quality user ratings from external inspectors – such as the Care Quality Commission – as well as internal data, including a serious incidents log. No matter how profitable, investors won ’t invest in a care business if it doesn ’t provide a high enough standard of care.
HAPPY, MOTIVATED STAFF
Retaining staff is a formidable challenge in an industry where roughly three in ten care workers leave their jobs each year. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, many workers are suffering from burnout, competition from other employers is high, and Brexit has made it harder to recruit from the European Union. Successful companies offer apprenticeship schemes, career progression and incremental pay rises to ensure hard-working care staff are rewarded.
CLIENTS VALUE THE SERVICE
The need for care is rising due to an ageing population and the impact of the pandemic. Yet the quality of care across the industry is mixed and there is a good deal of regional variation in terms of supply and demand. To identify excellent businesses with a reliable pipeline of future clients, investors look for high occupancy rates, as well as using average weekly fees as a benchmark.
A GROWTH-FOCUSED TEAM
Investors want to back ambitious businesses with exciting growth plans, but the management team must have the skills needed to turn ambitions into reality. Investment firms look for individuals with a track record of acquiring, developing and integrating new sites into the business. They also pay close attention to how the core estate has performed over time, as this is a good indicator of how future sites will perform.
REGIONAL CLUSTERING
Operations at a care business can swiftly become unmanageable if the business is spread over too wide an area. The key is a growth plan focused on geographica clusters; that way, regional managers can oversee operations at several sites without having to travel hundreds of miles. Clustering is easier to achieve if the business pursues a blended strategy – building up new sites from scratch, as well as acquiring existing ones.
ABILITY TO ACHIEVE SCALE
Inevitably there will be consolidation in the care industry, in which roughly three-quarters of care homes are run by single-site operators, according to EY-Parthenon. Acquiring sites is the quickest way to grow, whereas developing new sites can provide a bigger boost to the overall value of the business, but this takes longer – on average, it takes two to three years for a new site to reach maturity. If done well, more scale equals a higher enterprise multiple and a more valuable business.
LOOKING AHEAD
High acuity services is a sector that has significant investment potential in the current marketplace – particularly those providers who care for adults with learning difficulties in an area where demand continues to outstrip supply, especially for operators that provide a high quality of care. As well as offering a potential return, backing these types of businesses is clearly a good thing from a society perspective.
Pinesh Mehta is an investor at BGF – the UK and Ireland’ s most active capital growth investor. The company has invested in 28 businesses in the healthcare sector in recent years, totalling £162m of investment. These include Springfield Healthcare, Dolphin Homes, as well as The Good Care Group.
The Social Care Sector Faces The Most Unprecedented Workforce Crisis And Needs Urgent Government Support
It is clear that care providers are struggling to recruit and this is due to a combination of factors including low wages, the pandemic, Brexit-related workforce changes and the implementation of the double vaccination policy. This is against a backdrop of an increasing number of adults who need support across the country.
Aston Brooke Solicitors working in conjunction with Care England, the largest representative body for independent providers of adult social care, has urged the government to provide more support to stem the workforce crisis in adult social care.
Professor Martin Green OBE, CEO of Care England said:
“Quite simply care providers are at breaking point. The writing is on the wall and without immediate help, as given to the NHS, the social care sector will crumple and not be there to support the NHS over the winter let alone in years to come ” .
Care England wrote to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Sajid Javid, outlining the crisis in the sector and the steps required to be taken by government with immediate effect.
This included: • Expanding the social care workforce by recruiting an additional 35,000 to 70,000 workers from abroad to combat the effects of the mandatory vaccination. • Reducing the qualifying level for overseas recruitment for social care staff (£25,600). • The inclusion of all care workers to the Shortage Occupation List and reducing the salary threshold for immigration • Waiving the Immigration Skills Charge for care workers • Fast-track system to grant visas under sponsorship licenses for people working in social care • Bonuses/increase pay • Direct support to help fund those suffering from PTSD • The need for the continuation of COVID funds.
Martin added:
Following the footsteps of Care England, a ground-breaking report by Community Integrated Care has found that the social care sector losing more than 34% of its employees every year and having 112,000 vacancies presently, this research brings into stark focus the roots of an unprecedented workforce crisis.
The social care sector is anxiously awaiting the government’ s response on this pressing issue.
Aston Brooke is working tirelessly to address the recruitment crisis by assisting care providers. If any care providers require further information, please contact Mr Kashif Majeed at km@astonbrooke.co.uk
See the advert on page 27 for further information.
PROPERTY & PROFESSIONAL SERVICES Will Care Homes Face an Uncertain Future Without Further Financial Support?
Care home workers have been at the forefront of the battle against coronavirus, and the sector has faced incredible challenges throughout this pandemic.
Reduced revenue due to a drop in the number of residents; an increased need for workers; high staff turnover and the additional cost of PPE and other safety measures within care homes has had a significant impact on cash flow for these businesses.
The pandemic has highlighted just how crucial care homes are and the important role they play in supporting our loved ones at the end of their lives. However, there are fears now that without further financial support, the sector will suffer, and so will the level of care residents have access to.
As lockdown restrictions continue to ease and the country starts to reopen, do care homes really have everything they need to recover from this crisis?
THE NEED FOR GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
By John Rozenbroek, CFO/COO at Capify (www.capify.co.uk)
Unlike NHS-run hospitals, care homes are often privately owned businesses and therefore their revenue comes from patient fees. In an effort to help the sector in its recovery, the Government announced additional financial support for care homes, including a £600 million adult social care infection control fund. However, this funding was distributed across local authorities and deployed at their discretion, and therefore wasn ’t readily available to every care home business.
Boosting cash flow was the top priority for 57% of businesses in our recent survey, proving there is still huge demand for working capital. For adult care homes having working capital to ensure high-quality care can be given to all residents and that they have the staff needed to deliver this is absolutely key. Cash in the bank is a necessity.
On top of all of this, the pandemic has put enormous pressure on workers within the care sector and as a result, many businesses have experienced high staff turnover and sickness, leading to a shortage of key skills. The State of Health Care and Adult Social Care report gives an indication of the toll the pandemic has had on the social care workforce with 7.5% of working days lost to staff sickness, compared with 2.7% pre-COVID-19.
But it' s clear that SMEs, and especially those within the care sector are still in desperate need of finance this year despite the huge amounts of money that have been lent through the BBLS and CBILS. The Pay as You Grow scheme will provide some welcome relief for many businesses, but it does not address the fundamental issue, which is that SMEs still need finance.
The majority of the UK’ s ‘big banks ’ are much happier lending to larger businesses with a long track record of profitability. But that doesn ’t help SMEs and the impacts of the pandemic will have damaged the chances of many smaller businesses getting finance from a big bank.
That’ s where I think the fintech industry will need to step up more than ever before to help companies bridge the gap. There ’ s already been huge growth with more and more business owners looking to get finance more quickly; with a simpler approach and with more flexibility. For these reasons, I expect 2021 will be a big year for alternative lenders with the support for the care sector set to be high on the agenda.
Capify is an online lender that provides flexible financing solutions to SMEs seeking working capital to sustain or grow their business. The fintech company has been operating in the UK market for over 13 years and also has a sister company, Capify Australia, which provides similar services to Australian SMEs for over 13 years.
For more details about Capify, visit: http://www.capify.co.uk
Care Home Finance from Global Business Finance
Global assists clients throughout the U.K. who specialise in the healthcare sector to achieve their objectives of purchase, development and refinance.
We have organised over £1.8bn for clients in the past 30 years, providing clients with competitively priced funding to refinance existing debt, ease cashflow and develop businesses further.
From helping clients make their first purchase through to allowing groups to grow significantly in size we assist at every stage of your business expansion.
Every proposal is individual and deserves to be treated that way, so we hope you will allow us to be of assistance to you and call us to chat through your plans and requirements, I am sure we will be able to tailor a facility to your requirements.
Call us on 01242 227172 or e-mail us at enquiries@globalbusinessfinance.net
Owing to the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic, Charles Darrow Auctions is experiencing increasing demand from business owners looking to sell their Care Home premises by auction.
While government support continues, property availability is still low. However, market demand from buyers searching for former Care Homes for either investment purposes or alternative uses is high.
We are seeing sellers successfully take advantage of the high levels of market demand right now, rather than waiting to join what is likely to become a saturated market, with an anticipated influx of commercial property likely to be hitting the market in the first quarter of 2022.
To satisfy this demand, we are looking for entries into our next auction and will consider all types of Care Home.
Our company ethos is to achieve the best price possible by providing the most up to date accurate marketing advice to our clients.
Lucy Fuller, Auction Surveyor at Charles Darrow commented “An auction sale can often take as little as four weeks from instruction to an exchange of contracts, whereas a standard Private Treaty sale is currently taking on average four to six months to reach exchange of contracts, with no guarantee the buyer will not withdraw from the transaction at any point in the process.
Our auction process allows people to seriously commit to a purchase when bidding, as contracts will exchange instantly to the highest bidder at the fall of the gavel” .
Sadly, a lot of business owners around the UK are now in some form of financial distress and with this likely to worsen as government support is withdrawn, a quick method of sale is likely to be required by many of them before the year end.
We believe that selling by auction is truly the fastest and most certain way to complete a property transaction and we would love to have the opportunity to discuss your marketing options with you.
If we can help you, please contact the Auction team at Charles Darrow on 01626 572894 / 01626 330022 or visit www.charlesdarrow.co.uk/auctions
