Work with Philip Martin
Founder of homecareOS and, independently, a business advisor to UK home care agencies. Before I built the software, I spent my MBA researching the question every owner is asking: can a home care business be made genuinely sustainable? I put those findings to work for your agency.
My MBA asked whether home care can be made sustainable
My MBA at Wrexham University culminated in original research, not a literature essay, but a survey of home care agency owners across England, analysed for what actually drives a sustainable business. I framed it around the triple bottom line: profit, people and planet.
The headline finding surprised a lot of people:
Funding alone isn't the answer. The things that decide whether a home care agency survives are margins, staff pay, travel-time economics and long-term planning, and money poured in without fixing those leaks straight back out.
That's the difference between advice from someone who's read the sector and advice from someone who's measured it. I can talk to your numbers because I've studied the numbers.
The levers that actually move a care business
The real margin is thinner than it looks
Local-authority rates look like a healthy gross margin, until mileage, pension, NI, training, recruitment, IT, insurance, PPE and regulatory cost eat it. Owners consistently told me the headline rate has to be meaningfully higher than most contracts pay to be genuinely sustainable.
Pay is the profit driver, not price
What an agency pays turned out to predict profitability better than what it charges. Cost discipline and a smart pay strategy matter more than chasing rate rises, and both are learnable.
Travel time is where money leaks
Most agencies don't properly cost travel time, and once unpaid travel is counted, effective hourly pay can quietly fall below the legal minimum. Fixing travel-time economics is one of the fastest wins available.
The VAT relief that isn't there
No VAT is charged on care itself, but agencies pay VAT on the overheads they need to deliver it (PPE, equipment, software, ICT, recruitment, utilities) and can't recover a penny. I argue care agencies should be able to claim relief on that input VAT, freeing cash to reinvest in pay and care.
The right client mix is a choice, not luck
A deliberate balance of private and local-authority clients, and knowing which to grow, is one of the clearest routes to a healthier, more resilient book of business.
An independent advisor in your corner on the business
Funding & sustainability planning
A long-term, project-managed plan for a sustainable agency, the exact subject of my dissertation, applied to your business.
Margins & pricing
Your true cost-to-serve, a defensible sustainable rate, LA-vs-private strategy, and fixing travel-time economics.
VAT & cost recovery
Where the VAT you pay on overheads is quietly costing you, and how to position for relief.
Workforce & pay
Pay strategy that genuinely aids recruitment and retention in a sector short of workers.
Operations improvement
Lean and Agile methods to strip waste out of rostering, admin and day-to-day delivery.
Growth & investment
Growth strategy, investment appraisal and ROI/risk analysis for expansion or acquisition.
Compliance ROI
Turning CQC (or CIW / Care Inspectorate / RQIA) compliance from a cost into a business case.
Change management
Landing new systems and ways of working without losing the team along the way.
Available as an ongoing retained advisor, a one-off business & funding review, or a focused sustainability plan engagement. Independent of the software, though it helps to have built it.
Why listen to me
Working on a story? I comment on care funding, commissioning and workforce. Boilerplates, background and contact details are on the press page.
Let's talk about your agency
A first conversation is free. Tell me where the business hurts (margins, pay, funding, growth) and I'll tell you honestly whether I can help.