Active Assistance provides a live-in care service for adults and children with spinal cord injuries and neurological conditions. Many of their clients are tetraplegics, requiring a consistently high-quality level of care from the carers or personal assistants. Livingbridge’s investment in 2008 allowed managing director Andrew Allan to release some value for his family, while continuing to invest in quality.
Supporting strategic decisions at a time of high growth
- After a period of rapid growth – 30% in the year we met the company – Livingbridge provided the managing director the support he needed to make strategic decisions. As he commented, “The business had grown to a point where I wasn’t really getting much independent input or advice. And it can become quite lonely, quite isolated, because you make decisions based on the information you have to hand but you don’t really have any third-party, any professional input.”
- As well as continued investment in staff training, there was increased focus on retention. A robust development, rewards and benefits strategy for personal assistants was implemented and the number of personal assistants engaged in the NVQ programme in Health and Social Care, was also accelerated, which helped with retention. The managing director said at the time, “Over a period of about 12-18 months we have reduced attrition by two thirds, and we are spending one sixth of the amount on recruitment than we were before.”
- An electronic record keeping system was launched to streamline processes, making them more secure, clear, and effective for staff and clients alike.
- Matthew Caffrey, partner at Livingbridge, says, “Active Assistance is a great example of Livingbridge supporting a family-founded business through a strong period of growth. Maintaining and reinforcing the culture of quality imbued in the business by the Allan family has been critical to creating the robust platform the business can now build on in the next phase of its growth story.”
"Our partnership with Livingbridge has been extremely important in helping us secure the continued growth and development of the business."
Andrew Allan, Managing Director
Timeline
1992
Business is founded by William Allan and a decade later Andrew Allan joins his father’s domiciliary care agency as MD
2008
Active Assistance expands nationwide enjoying 30% annual growth
Livingbridge invest in Active Assistance
2009
Active Assistance wins a UK National Training Award in the Medium Size Employers category for its personal assistant training and development programme
2010
Active Assistance supports 140 clients in England and Wales with 300 staff and a nationally recognised in-house training programme for its live-in client personal assistants
2010
Active Assistance merges with First Call Care Services, to create a national provider of live-in and live-out care to individuals with complex long-term conditions
