Tim Haigh

Tim Haigh left his career as Communications Director to launch Right at Home Sutton & Epsom in 2011. He’s now one of the most experienced Franchise Owners in the network, but he’s also one of the most inspirational, having made big decisions in the last few years that have led to an Outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission and major financial growth.   

Team effort  

For Tim Haigh, some of the biggest highlights of his 13-year career at Right at Home have occurred in the last two years.    

He is the first to admit that building the business has been a hard slog, with growth remaining stagnant for a long period. But the franchise has now turned a corner, with annual turnover reaching over £1.5 million.  

“For many years, we just plateaued,” says Tim. “We got to £900,000 and stayed at that level for a long time. But, after creeping over the £1 million mark we’ve continued to grow since then.”   

Tim believes that the number one driver of this growth has been the recruitment and retention of highly skilled office staff in recent years.  

“For a long time, we didn’t have the right mix of people and that impacted the business quite a lot. Our recruitment strategies weren’t as good as they possibly could have been, but I think having the right team to operationally run the business has been key to our success,” Tim explains. 
  

Having the right team in place has not only led to financial growth for RaH Sutton & Epsom, but, more importantly, a higher standard of care and a strong reputation among the community and the wider social care sector. In January 2022, the business gained its first Outstanding rating from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).   

Outstanding reputation  

The CQC noted in its report that RaH Sutton & Epsom provides an exceptional level of care and support that frequently exceeds the expectations of Clients. But also key to the franchise’s high rating has been developing closer links with the community.  

For over 10 years, the business has been supporting Sutton South Hello – now the Hello Club – which brings isolated older adults together to help beat loneliness. Three days a week, the group brings around 70 people together to enjoy exercise, games, and arts and crafts.  

This involves co-ordinating a team of volunteer drivers, helpers and carers to ensure members can enjoy themselves in a safe environment.  

In the last year, RaH Sutton & Epsom has been looking into the future of the Hello Club and applied for charitable status. To support this, and to attract new trustees, Hello Club has also been rebranded, and a new website and print materials have been produced.   

Tim has also worked hard on building a unifying team spirit in recent years.   

“We’ve done a lot of work in bringing our carers and our office team together. We got rid of about 1,000 square feet of office space because I realised that I wanted my management team to be based in our community, rather than sat behind a desk in our office, so we’re out with our carers and our customers all the time,” he adds.   

Reducing his office space has meant that Tim’s overheads have decreased by around 70%. 

“The majority of my care management team supports carers in the field – our system is fully cloud-based and we have the mobile technology which makes this possible,” he explains.  

“The only two people who work full-time in the office now are the Registered Manager and Co-ordinator – and in fact, they also work from home when the office is used for training.” 

Although the management team is no longer physically working together in one space, this new way of working has brought the entire RaH Sutton & Epsom workforce closer together. 

“CareGivers and Clients feel better served as they see ‘management’ more often and it has definitely negated any ‘us’ and ‘them’ scenario – ie ‘carers v office’ - that we felt creeping in and seeping morale a few years back,” Tim adds. 

Emotional connection  

Tim Haigh has celebrated a lot of proud moments in recent years, but going back to when he first launched his Right at Home business in 2011, what was “equally as mind-blowing” as receiving an Outstanding CQC rating was gaining his first customer, he says.   

“That was pretty special,” adds Tim. “He was a dear old chap called Alan. We looked after him for about a year before he passed away and I got to know him really well.”  

Tim explains that his very first encounter with Alan led him to realise how important his service was to the local community.   

“We got Alan as a customer within six or seven weeks of opening,” Tim recalls. “On one particular morning we had had some really heavy snowfall, so I was getting carers ringing me to say they couldn’t get to their Clients.”   

Tim continues: “At this point I had never done any care at all, but I found myself needing to take care of Alan. So, I trudged across the fields to get to him.   

“I managed to get him up and dressed and made him breakfast. I thought, ‘this is great, I can do this’, but then as I was leaving, Alan said he didn’t feel well.   

“It was while I was supporting Alan – at a time when he really needed someone – that I emotionally connected with the business.”   

Tim adds: “I did a lot of care after that. It broke down the barriers. Inevitably as an owner you will go out and do care – that may be out of necessity, when your staffing resources are really stretched – but it really does open your eyes and brings you closer to the CareGivers. It makes you realise how skilled they are, and for them to see you doing care is important, because we’re all one team.”  

Sound advice  

So, after 12 years of running RaH Sutton & Epsom, what advice would Tim offer to new business owners joining the network?   

“Be persistent and remember that it’s a business of highs and lows, but the lows won’t go on forever. Also, know your numbers; make hard decisions early – don’t wait – and make sure you’ve got the right mix of people in your management team,” says Tim.   

“Then, once you’ve got the right people onboard, work super hard to retain them and be open and honest about what you want to achieve. If I could go back in time to when I first started, I would tell myself that,” he adds.  

Right at Home family   

Tim also believes that being a part of the Right at Home franchise network has helped him build the business to where it is today.   

“Right at Home, as a franchise, works incredibly hard for its owners. It’s got great leadership,” he says.  

“I knew Ken [Deary, founder and Chairman] when he was just a one-man band having opened his tiny pilot office in Preston. He came down to my office to download Excel to my PC and help me get up and running.   

“Support from National Office has improved immeasurably since I opened my office; the quality and number of support staff has increased hugely to the extent there is no problem it can’t help owners solve in any area - whether it be strategy, marketing, compliance or finance.” 

To find out more about how Right at Home could be the right fit for you, call Kate or Chrissie for a friendly chat on 0151 305 0770 or contact franchising@rightathome.co.uk.      

Tim Haigh  

Owner, Right at Home Sutton & Epsom