Would a companionship and practical support service help your elderly parents?

[TrishMB]

Hi, I don’t know if this is the right place to post this but I guess I’m just looking for some guidance.

I am thinking of starting up a side business where I support elderly and vulnerable people in my community. This wouldn’t be personal care or medical care but rather things like company, popping in for a cuppa and a chat, light house keeping, running errands, helping with technical support, admin tasks etc.
I have volunteered through Age UK previously as well as supporting and looking after elderly relatives and I have found it fulfilling and rewarding which is what I’m looking for as my 9-5 doesn’t give me this. I appreciate there are services out there but they seem to be more personal and medical care where they are just in and out and often different people whereas I would be a regular familiar face.

My question is do those of you with elderly parents, would this be a service that would benefit you/your parents?

I agree. The person is likely to deteriorate one way or another so the carer/PA needs to be flexible. As time went on my mother also needed help with dressing and bathing, and Home Instead were able to provide this as well. I would definitely not hand over her financial admin to a carer/PA, there is too much potential for abuse. I did not live near my mother but I could do all that remotely myself.

I would think that it would need better to be part of a larger organisation which would make it easier in terms of insurance and all the other things you legally have to put in place, rather than set up on your own. Home Instead provide what you are describing for my parent and the advantage of going with them is that as care needs increase I can stay with the same company rather than having to persuade a very stubborn parent that they need to change to a greater level of support.

I was recently quoted £38 per hour by them!

This is very similar to a personal assistant role for adults with disabilities. Many people get funding via their Local Authority for someone to support with these sorts of things. For example, a blind person might find it helpful to have someone take them to the supermarket, do visual tasks around the home like sorting through the kitchen cupboards for out of date items, helping to label things in braille, sort through their wardrobe for stained clothes, do a charity shop run, help measure up curtains, sort through the post, programme the timer on the boiler, go clothes shopping with them to help them find items they like etc. Basically anything that is hard to do if you can't see it.

Whilst there might be a personal care element involved in PA roles for say some people with limited mobility, there are plenty of people who don't need any personal care assistance at all.

Care.com is a popular website for this sort of thing.

Yes, I keep saying the same. Definitely a gap in some areas of the country.

My DM has a man that cuts the lawn, recommended by friends. He has worked locally for years. Overtime he has extended this to cutting hedges, changing lightbulbs, moving pieces of furniture and calls before he arrives to ask if any shopping is needed. She looks forward to his chats, always makes him a drink. He brings the biscuits.

Another friend of ours has a business fitting windows, ex Royal Marine. He always revisits his elderly customers, has a chat and a drink, helps with little jobs and some company.

i think trust in relationships, built slowly is vital as is serious vetting and safeguarding training.

Yes, I can well believe that. HomeInstead were good with my parent but were up to £35 a few years ago. When a carer moved agency my parent wanted to follow and we also saved money, going down to £32. There’s actually a lot of agencies offering the same services for people who self fund. Personally,
if it’s literally a chat, I wouldn’t pay that much.

Thankyou all for your feedback.
I am Northern Ireland based so we don’t have Home Instead here but I’m sure we have similar so I will look into that.
I had thought of charging £20-£25ph and offering evenings and weekends also. I guess I thought someone in the local community and a consistent person rather than various people through an agency might be better

Not necessarily tbh.

The agency that we use for my aunt does prioritise consistency, and this has been really helpful because they have been able to build a proper relationship with her. However, the carers themselves obviously have lives, and they sometimes get sick or experience bereavements etc. It's good for us to know that cover will be provided in those circumstances because we know that my aunt will still get her shopping etc no matter what. So you might need to think about how you could provide assurances around that continuity of care if something were to go wrong.

Agencies vet their employees and an independent carer would need to look at getting DBS.
Whilst working as a social worker I unearthed someone who was exploiting elderly people, so you need to cover yourself. From the clients point of view you could be just anyone.

I think that would be much cheaper than the agencies and therefore attractive. But you would have overheads including insurance and might need to arrange cover for any vulnerable clients. Lots to look into.

of course I would do the necessary background checks and obtain the correct insurance. I have already helped people in my community during Covid, doing shopping, collecting prescriptions etc and support and older neighbour by walking her dog so I guess I was just thinking of being able to offer more of the same as a paid service (I still need to earn a living)?

I like the reassurance of knowing carers are vetted and that they have cover if they are ill. I don't want to be worrying any gaps and replacements if they leave. There is one in particular that my parent likes who we have used privately for a couple of things but I wouldn't have gone to her directly.

But how do you ensure you provide cover when you are ill or incapacitated? If you are being paid to fulfil a role people will depend on you. If my mother's usual carer at Home Instead was not available I didn't have to worry because they provided cover.

I do think what you are offering is useful, but it's limited.

If she isn't doing vital care work, which she isn't planning to then if she's off sick they just go without. I'm a nanny and it's the same situation, on the very rare occasion I'm ill they have to sort it out themselves.

That isn’t the level of care the OP is planning on providing.

The support is more akin to what, in the past, and in some communities now, that family, friends and neighbours would provide.

Sadly, for many reasons this is not always possible for others to provide.

The OP has not fully defined what she'd be doing but she's suggested she is collecting prescriptions and walking dogs, and not being there would at the least be inconvenient. As a volunteer it's not an issue because you are 'doing a favour' but if you're paying you expect a level of reliability.

I'm not saying there is no call for what OP is offering, I'm just saying it limits how useful the service will be, especially when the service is already available from agencies like Home Instead.

There's nothing to suggest the OP won't be reliable. Self-employed people are often the most reliable of all because if they don't work, they don't get paid.

Yes, she might occasionally be off sick and yes that might be inconvenient, but that's life isn't it?! Sometimes something inconvenient happens! It's not a reason to not do something.

If she's not reliable/sick all the time then people won't use her service and she'll go out of business.

Yes her service will be right for some. I would never have used someone who didn't have guaranteed cover, but we all have different requirements.

My Mum has this service 3 times a week. It has saved my sister and l sanity!!

It’s an insurance nightmare. If you are charging, you need business insurance etc. I’d get a rope for one of the many care at home companies then you are fully covered but still doing what you love.

Insurance is not a deal breaker. However the elderly need to be careful about this. DH found his aunt was being financially abused by an arrangement she set up for shopping. It was not just her shopping she was paying for. DH spotted the abuse when he took over the finances as aunt got dementia. Her “expenses” were ott too. So set up a bonefide company and keep meticulous records. It can be brilliant and very helpful.