Getting Care from a Long-Established Company
When we started Independent Living almost 14 years ago, there were fewer care companies than today because most support was funded by Lancashire social services, which used a small number of companies. The expansion of privately funded home care was just starting to grow in 2011. Today, in 2025, there are many companies even in smaller places like Leyland and Chorley, as the market for self-funded care has grown partly due to an increasingly large elderly population. In the last couple of years, there has been an explosion of companies.
However, not all care companies are the same! Like most sectors, if a business has been trading a long time, you can take some comfort that they have been delivering a service satisfactorily for years; otherwise, they would unlikely be successful. Companies recently established may have generated enormous publicity on platforms like Facebook, but behind the hype may have been trading for a short period of time, supported few older people, and may have few carers. Importantly, it takes the regulator time to inspect new care companies; therefore, new care companies may have registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC) but have never been subject to an inspection of their service. Indeed, some care companies trade for over two years without an on-site visit from the CQC. Independent Living has been trading for 14 years; therefore, we can tell you we have had several on-site inspections where our files have been checked, and our customers and carers interviewed about the service.
Because the CQC (regulator) has been struggling by not being able to clear the COVID Inspection backlog when they suspended on-site inspections, many companies have been established post-COVID without the same levels of scrutiny. There are unanswered questions as to whether many recently established companies are paying workers at least the National Minimum Wage (NMW), have policies and procedures, have paid for legally required social care insurance, have DBS checked employees and if they are employing people from overseas (so-called sponsorship workers) checked their right to work in the UK and provided them with the legal wage set-out by the government. Some new care companies are competing by offering customers ultra-low-priced home care, but this is often provided by charging the client for a full 1 hour, with the carer only staying a much shorter time at the client’s home. It is not always clear whether these companies are complying with company, care, immigration, and wage laws. This is not quality care, or value-for-money care.
If you are looking for care for a vulnerable loved one who may perhaps have dementia, and you are entrusting a carer to enter the home without others present, surely you want to select a well-established, trusted company like Independent Living.
If you are considering a care service for a loved one in the Chorley or Leyland area why not call Amanda or Lilian for an informal chat on 01257 696 050 during office hours.
