Rent a Friend - Companionship startup

[Drogowit]

Hello everyone,
My first post out here, was motivated after browsing through the forums and finding a lot of friendly feedback from members, for members.

I have worked as both carer and later care supervisor both in care home and home care. I got tired of doing constant extra hours that company does not pay for (especially on-call 24/7). So I came up with an idea to start my own business while having a part-time job to slowly gain a customer base and then get into full-time employment.

Brief plan:
-Rent a virtual office,

-estabilish company mailbox (later also a website), company SIM card (have dual-sim on phone)

-set up bank account, use legal advise on requirements (I am already contacting Care Inspectorate and SSSC for Scotland if I need to register).

-Gain clients via city council and within private sector. I was thinking about charging 15-18 GBP per hour as I want to stay below common 20 pounds. I want to make business, but I find that 20gbp+ that is common in my area (North East Scotland) is a ripoff. I may be wrong tho. Especially considering I have never started a business before and need to find out how much I would have to pay in taxes and such for myself and potential employees later on.

-Estabilish working hours, I want to cover whole shire as I can use a car, find out wheter prices are fair for both clients and myself. I want to try and estabilish routes for each day, so say if I have 3 clients within 5 miles from each other and other 4 are 20 miles further east, I will try to put one group on Monday and other on Tuesday. That way I could save on petrol and time while working. I also need to consider client's requirements so I need to find the middle.

My budget is quite low (Up to 3500GBP) and therefore I want to stick to part-time job at least for a while so I can build up a reasonable amount of clients. From my knowledge area is lacking for such businesses a lot, and requirements are not many other than PVG(DBS equivalent in Scotland) check, as I do not provide actual care. Good thing is the virtual office is not expensive and will do at least temporarily, as I want to keep most of the paperwork on secure online system rather than having piles of them in the office. I also already have business insurance with public liability for my car so that is also solved.

My duties would include going with clients to park, cinema, watching tv together, simply listening to their stories and keeping them company.




Any advice on wheter this may be a sustainable option and if my brief plan makes any sense, I would be very grateful for feedback.

 

[TomJ83]

I assume that you will start as self-employed. This information can be helpful.

https://www.gov.uk/set-up-sole-trader

Also there is no obligation for you to rent a virtual office or buy a PO box. You could cut these costs.

 

[Mr D]

Doing it as agency for workers or doing it yourself?

 

[Drogowit]

I want to start off as sole trader. If ot is not obligatory to have an office, do You mean I can just use my home, or do not require address at all? I rent a property where contract states I may not use it for business purposes.

I want to do this job myself, see how it works, grow without overextension and hire more staff later on.

 

[Mr D]

Pricing quite a bit higher than staff doing harder jobs may be a problem.
Pricing under £10 an hour better?

 

[Drogowit]

Pricing quite a bit higher than staff doing harder jobs may be a problem.
Pricing under £10 an hour better?

I am not sure what do You mean, Mr D.
Councils in my area pay just over 15 GBP an hour and even then clients need to pay extra fiver to supplement private companies to provide companionship. I believe that oscillating around 18GBP an hour is a good starter for myself and that is the area I want to focus on now.

 

[TomJ83]

I want to start off as sole trader. If ot is not obligatory to have an office, do You mean I can just use my home, or do not require address at all? I rent a property where contract states I may not use it for business purposes.

I want to do this job myself, see how it works, grow without overextension and hire more staff later on.

It's not obligatory to have an office. You use your home address as your address. That's not a problem. Regarding your contract, it's not allowed to use your home to let in paying customers. This is not what you are doing, so there is no conflict with your rental agreement.

 

[Drogowit]

It's not obligatory to have an office. You use your home address as your address. That's not a problem. Regarding your contract, it's not allowed to use your home to let in paying customers. This is not what you are doing, so there is no conflict with your rental agreement.

Thank You very much for this answer, this will certainly be very helpful budget-wise to start out.

 

[TomJ83]

Thank You very much for this answer, this will certainly be very helpful budget-wise to start out.

I think you can succeed because you seem to have the passion to help people. Otherwise you wouldn't have chosen to work as a carer. I think your business idea can be turned into reality if you want it really hard.

 

[Mr D]

I am not sure what do You mean, Mr D.
Councils in my area pay just over 15 GBP an hour and even then clients need to pay extra fiver to supplement private companies to provide companionship. I believe that oscillating around 18GBP an hour is a good starter for myself and that is the area I want to focus on now.

The councils pay over £15 an hour for a companion?

What do they pay carers? £25 an hour?

 

[fisicx]

It's not obligatory to have an office. You use your home address as your address. That's not a problem. Regarding your contract, it's not allowed to use your home to let in paying customers. This is not what you are doing, so there is no conflict with your rental agreement.

Are you sure about this? Many rental contracts do not allow you to run any sort of business from the address.

 

[Drogowit]

Just to be 100% sure before I launch it I will contact my landlord and the agency and discuss further details. Considering that I am always going to meet clients in their homes (as I now do in homecare), other than some address for receiving letters should not be an issue. I will not place a logo or anything on the building as well so there should not be a problem.

And even if it would not be an option, while I struggled to find any tiny office for just 1 person, there are plenty of virtual offices available accross the city.


Mr D,
From my knowledge when say I work as a carer for example for CompanyA as carer, how it works is:
Local council pays between 15.30-16.47 per hour of personal care, depending on needs, complexity and wheter it's weekend or monday to friday. This is what the council is willing to pay for the service and company agrees to do it for that money. Out of that say 15.30, they pay Carer usually around 8.62-9.47 per hour. So theoretical carer working 30h a week on 9.47 rate (who is not paid for times between visits, that is one of reasons I want to estabilish my business and fix this) will practically work for up to 38h or more, but only be paid for 30h resulting in gross income of 284.1. After taxation it would yield around 220 per week.

The issue with current model of payments is quite simple. Company takes on responsibility for what carers do, carers have usually 0-hour contracts, are required to work on weird patterns - I myself once worked for 82,5hours in a week, and remember - it does not include commuting between visits. So if one client lives in place A and other in place B and its 1 mile away and I only have my legs, thats around 25-30 minutes lost of my time NOT being paid. This is how it worked when was a carer and that how it is at least in this area. On top of that when Company charges Council for 15+gbp and carer receives Up to 9.47 but usually less, it is not viable for them considering the responsibility.

And here the Social bit comes in.
Councils out here pay around 15GBP an hour for Companionship, that is Social visits of wide sorts. Some of them I could do, some of them not considering legal requirements such as having SVQ4 + studies and registered care manager which I am not planning to do. Those requirements are needed if I would like to handle money, clean the house, do medication during social time etc.
Private Sector usually charges something around 20GBP per hour, that means if I will source a client via the City Council, Care manager covers 15.00 per hour, and then client is informed he or she needs to cover the remaining 5. That way I receive say 20GBP per hour of service.
Considering that many clients from public sector(Council) are usually very short on money, I want to reduce it for both sectors to around 18.00 per hour. It would not do me a lot of harm but on the long run I may be able to source more clients, so at th end I will end up with more money anyways to grow the business.

Private sector may be generally harder to find due to difficulties with marketing the business, but is stil doable. I have good relations with existing clients who express need of extra social. Some of them will be covered by council and some will not. I will need to utilize my contacts and advertise around for a while, especially out in the Shire where people are nearly screaming for service. I don't mind taking extra miles across the country as long as I will be able to build up contacts in there to save me running 60miles for 1 hour of service.

 

[Mr D]

There is a popular part of the private sector that charges 50 pounds an hour plus. For companionship and time only.
Would not suggest 'cheaper than an escort' as an advertising slogan.

If you can make it work, great. Think you are setting high price that will prevent a chunk of potential custom, how much is open to question.

 

[Gecko001]

I know people who have elderly family members who live on their own and the have paid for someone just to be with their relative to make sure that they do not fall when going to the bathroom etc, It is not caring as Social Services carers visit two or three times a day. They get people who the family actually know or have been recommended by friends or other relatives. I cannot see them taking on a stranger who promotes themselves.

 

[ethical PR]

Will you and staff working for you have DRB checks?
What systems and processes will you have in place to protect vulnerable clients
What references are you taking up before you employ people?

 

[Mr D]

Will you and staff working for you have DRB checks?
What systems and processes will you have in place to protect vulnerable clients
What references are you taking up before you employ people?

Just remember every single thief, murderer and abuser who has a criminal record did not have one at some point.

 

[Drogowit]

Will you and staff working for you have DRB checks?
What systems and processes will you have in place to protect vulnerable clients
What references are you taking up before you employ people?

To start with I want to keep going solo until I find sufficient customer base which I schedule to last for anything between 2 and 5 months. It may be somewhere in the middle considering that I already know some care managers and have good opinion amongst both clients and care management in the area.
I am currently working on business plan that is going to cover policies as well, but those in the initial stage may be limited as I will work alone for the first months. All policies that will require structure in the company once I hire staff will be done with advance (that is before I employ anyone). I do have knowledge on some of the policies that I had to learn within my current company so I do have draft ideas on how to write them up for my use (without personal care and so on).

Regarding DRB/DBS, I have passed DBS check in 2015 in England and after that I have passed PVG checks for Scotland since 2015. I am working on registering with SSSC (Scottish Social Services Council) just to give that extra creditability even tho it is not required as SSSC is focused on personal care. It could be a lever that would attract additional clients as they would know they are dealing with someone who is 100% clear of convictions and have adamant reputation.

There is a popular part of the private sector that charges 50 pounds an hour plus. For companionship and time only.
Would not suggest 'cheaper than an escort' as an advertising slogan.

If you can make it work, great. Think you are setting high price that will prevent a chunk of potential custom, how much is open to question.

That is an information I never seen before, I would have to verify wheter those prices apply all over the market or are more area-directed (say London). Certainly I do not aim to become a slave-wage labour force just for sake of client base, and am still looking for pricing. Nevetherless I am simply not willing to charge what I find to be immoral. This is afterall business, but with heavy influence on client's happiness as both carers and companions are those that may for example drift people away from overwhelming loneliness, depression etc.


___

I have found out specific prices that council pays to care agencies in my region:
Monday-Friday 8:00-17:00 15.29/h, 17:00-08:00 19.68/h
Saturday-Sunday 8:00-17:00 16.41/h, 17:00-08:00 20.95/h
Privately a company X charges 20,25/h regardless of time.
For most of waking nightshifts compay charges 18.08 on Monday-Friday and 19.86 on Saturday and Sunday.
It is worth noting that those are prices that include personal care, dispensing medication, going out for lunch, staying awake at nightshift and ensuring child with special needs is safe and so on. Some of the above cover shifts that are very close or same as companionship.

 

[ethical PR]

Just remember every single thief, murderer and abuser who has a criminal record did not have one at some point.

Hardly the point there are legal requirements around what training, qualifications and checks are needed when working with vulnerable adults. A DRB check is one of them.

 

[Mr D]

Hardly the point there are legal requirements around what training, qualifications and checks are needed when working with vulnerable adults. A DRB check is one of them.

No matter if someone passes every check they are not prevented from doing things.
Have worked with staff who passed every check the organisation was required to do.
Two stole from clients. One stole for a decade from the organisation too.

 

[ethical PR]

Oh dear sounds like your organisation didn't have the right systems in place if someone stole from them for ten years without anyone finding out.

 

[Mr D]

The organisation had multiple allegations from staff against the manager who was stealing. Never went anywhere as chucked out by the chair.
Who was best of friends with the manager.

Plenty of messed up organisations around who do not have decent procedures and financial security.

 

[Karllacey]

Seems like everyone has given you advice on the process but seriously...please change that name 'Rent a friend' sounds like emotional prostitution..something a little bit warmer and a little less disposable

 

[TomJ83]

Seems like everyone has given you advice on the process but seriously...please change that name 'Rent a friend' sounds like emotional prostitution..something a little bit warmer and a little less disposable

I think the name "Rent a friend" sounds catchy. A more specific name for the business could be "Friendly carers" but that's already taken. Do you have any suggestions for OP?

 

[Karllacey]

Companion Carers, Carers 4U (common used 21st century name), Caring 4 You (actually pretty good warm)...Friends and Caring..just please do not use Rent a Friend; it actually comes across like this...."Haven't got any friends? No one interested in talking to you? Well pay us and we will listen but when your time is up....well we don't care" which is why I used the phrase emotional prostitution.

Sometimes a brand is not about being catchy it is also about being specific, about keeping an identity and about the whole philosophy top to bottom of a business. Ask any graphic designer that's why they sweat for weeks over giving a company its own individual life in a logo, in its marketing, and brand exposure.

 

[TomJ83]

Companion Carers, Carers 4U (common used 21st century name), Caring 4 You (actually pretty good warm)...Friends and Caring..just please do not use Rent a Friend; it actually comes across like this...."Haven't got any friends? No one interested in talking to you? Well pay us and we will listen but when your time is up....well we don't care" which is why I used the phrase emotional prostitution.

Sometimes a brand is not about being catchy it is also about being specific, about keeping an identity and about the whole philosophy top to bottom of a business. Ask any graphic designer that's why they sweat for weeks over giving a company its own individual life in a logo, in its marketing, and brand exposure.

I understand your point. There should be no room in a business name for people to interpret it as "Well pay us and we will listen but when your time is up....well we don't care". Your suggestions are spot on, leaving no room for negative interpretations.

 

[Max Cholmeley]

I completely agree - check the gov.uk website absolutely first, aren't they called DBS checks now btw?

 

[Drogowit]

Hello everyone!
I have decided to dig up this thread after a month... I have received the startup loan, got virtual office and few other things in place. I am officially starting today.

I understand that it will take some time before I will be able to get any clients, but I hope for some tips nevetherless.

- I am able to get private clients, where I will need proper advertising and renown. To do so, I will try and contact some of my previous clients of which I know no other company can provide the service right now, as long as I am legally allowed to provide it - That means I am strictly limited to the companionship aspect (which is my target anyways). I have ordered leaflets and few business cards that I will use for potential clients.

- I am also able to get many (if not most) of my clients via the City and Shire councils. However I have no idea how do I get approved for them. Even when I have phoned councils they said that they have no idea how to get that done, which doesn't really help. I will try and contact care managers today again.


Regarding the latter, does anyone have an idea on how I could get Care Requests from the council? I know that they send them to the companies by e-mail or try phone calls to get a package covered. I am also aware of the fact that there is a large need in my area. I simply do not know who in particular I need to contact. Even the Care Inspectorate said I am not eligible to be registered within them as I do not provide actual care but am limited to befriending aspect.

 

[Gecko001]

It is very difficult to become a supplier of any service to the public sector if you are on your own. They usually will not deal with any supplier unless you have backup staff and various resources that a single person cannot usually have. The public sector want to know that if, say you become ill, that there is someone who will take your place. They want to know that you have the resources to deal with peak demand and emergencies. etc.

There are exceptions to this philosophy, say for music teachers in schools, but in some sectors of the public sector they do make quite severe demands on suppliers meaning that unless you have a business with say at least 4 or 5 staff you will not be considered.

 

[Karllacey]

RE: route to market, I think you have gone a strange way about it. Firstly with any business, you need to ensure that your R & D is done before you commit finances and an office (and whether you actually need an office) before you move forward.

With the council work, quite often it is done via procurement portals where you need to adhere to their processes before you get the individual contract. Most councils however, do not hold a preferred contractor list anymore...however, in my experience; there is always, ALWAYS a back door. When you ring them, they pull the string on their necks - however what you read and was is fact are two different things (which is the same pretty much as most things).

Then you can look at for example hospitals/NHS trusts. Again the same applies as above and they say that you need to be Constructionline registrered as a rule of thumb and then you randomly get selected. Again this is not entirely true, random yes - although the dice are weighted.

Maybe social housing could be a point of exploring, although with these guys expect them to be difficult, objectional and sometimes rude...

Then there is local doctors surgeries, although I do not know the red tape that will be put before them without any necessary care accreditations.

Churches Trusts may also be an option, I am not a religious man and could be completely off centre here but I don't know where the line of God's care ends and human intervention starts...

You could perhaps bolt onto a hands-on roll for those telephone companies who offer advice and support e.g. Salvation Army you would need to do your R & D and to how to approach these.

Then there are nursing homes (private) but you might be treading on their toes and they could say 'that's what we do'.

Then of course there are targeted marketing leaflet drops, or you can mass mail via Royal Mail - do PPC campaigns (be very careful here though), then you got your website which you can build for next to nothing and do your own social media, directory and SEO campaigns.

My concern a lot of people go into business with a great idea and they move forward on that idea which is all good. Some success, some do not...however what they do not consider is the implications before moving forward.

It is kind of like building a house, make sure your foundations are in place before you start building....you do not start building a house without any knowledge of its foundations because it will probably fall over one way or another...otherwise you are constantly doing repair work

 

[Drogowit]

Karllacey,
Thank You so much for Your answer. Many of the above are already covered, it is mostly the aspect of contacting the council and actually getting answers from them is a bit complicated. I definitely appreciate the bit about trying out with religious societies as I was more focused on day centers, care homes and community charity groups.

I am about to join one of business networks, I hope to meet some experienced business owners and those who at least partially share the industry with me. I am about to receive all my leaflets, business cards and other marketing stuff and already have booked in few meetings within Sheltered Housing complexes across the Shire. Hopefully this will attract some regular clients.

The good news is that I have managed to get 1 ad hoc and 2 regular clients, as I was referred by my ex-clients from when I used to work for another company.

 

[ethical PR]

Just remember every single thief, murderer and abuser who has a criminal record did not have one at some point.

That doesn't stop a DBS check from being a legal requirement for those working with vulnerable adults or children, does it?

 

[Mr D]

That doesn't stop a DBS check from being a legal requirement for those working with vulnerable adults or children, does it?

No, but it is not a magic spell to prevent someone being abused or stolen from.

 

[ethical PR]

No, but it is not a magic spell to prevent someone being abused or stolen from.

Where did I say it was? I just stated it was a legal requirement.

Hopefully the OP is not operating without this.

It certainly won't be considered for contracts with statutory bodies without it.

 

[Mr D]

Where did I say it was? I just stated it was a legal requirement.

Hopefully the OP is not operating without this.

It certainly won't be considered for contracts with statutory bodies without it.

Didn't say you said it was.

 

[Nochexman]

I was thinking about charging 15-18 GBP per hour as I want to stay below common 20 pounds. I want to make business, but I find that 20gbp+ that is common in my area (North East Scotland) is a ripoff. I may be wrong tho. Especially considering I have never started a business before and need to find out how much I would have to pay in taxes and such for myself and potential employees later on.

Apologies if someone has said this already, but so far as pricing is concerned start high. You believe that your service is at least good value as the competition charging £20/hour then don't charge less - in fact, consider charging more - then consider a discount for the first ten customers of, say, 10% off. Best of luck with the new venture!

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

With all due respect, how on earth did you get a loan for being a gigalo?

I need to know!!!

Someone please tell my wife (She's 9 years older than me!!) that she should be paying me to be at her side!



Joking apart though, you're pricing is wrong. Seriously wrong, you're undervaluing the service... with all due respect, with what you're suggesting you'll be providing it's over and above that of a normal career.

Also, if you are taken on to "befriend" someone that is an absolute nightmare you will in the end want to give up... there are some oldies out there that have no concept of friendship... especially up in the T'hills where you are... all gruff and ready innit! hell even the diesel doesn't stay fresh everybody is so sour up there at times

 

[Ursicles]

From what i can see you would need a DBS for working with vulnerable adults, as well as a whole heap of policies etc in place, as well as the relevant insurances as well. Potentially you may also need CQC certification as well.

What I'm struggling with is why a person wouldn't just ask someone from the care company to provide them with companionship?

 

[simon field]

What I'm struggling with is why a person wouldn't just ask someone from the care company to provide them with companionship?

Perhaps they're too busy - you know - doing care work?

 

[Ursicles]

The companionship element is care work. Many care companies who aren't CQC registered provide this service as its not a regulated activity.

Have a look at Home Instead who are one of the biggest companies who provide just this with their companionship services.