Chief executive Andrew Winstanley explains to Caring Times what makes Berkley Care Group stand out from the pack in the crowded luxury care home market.

Tell us about your background and how you joined Berkley.
Upon graduating from university, I established and developed a successful sports training business, which I grew and subsequently sold. I then moved into the hospitality industry, and specifically, high-end luxury hotels. After four years at Ralph Trustees, the largest family-owned, privately run hotel group in the UK, I moved into the adult social care sector taking up the role of regional business manager at Caring Homes Group. I brought to the role a clear commercial mindset through the application of the knowledge and understanding I had secured from my time in the luxury hotel industry as well as the theoretical and practical business understanding I gained from my MBA.

I was initially responsible for 10 homes in the London and Southeast region with overall responsibility for the care, clinical, operational, property and financial performance of the homes. A particular focus of the role was increasing home managers’ awareness of business performance and implementing key performance indicators around this. In 2011, my remit was increased to 16 homes and as of 2012 my role changed to encompass financial, business and sales responsibility for all 32 homes across the South division. In 2013 I moved to Sovereign Care as group operations director where I took direct responsibility for the operational and business performance of the group’s homes and care villages. In February 2015 I was appointed managing director of Baycroft Care Homes where I reported to the executive board with a remit to meet One Housing’s corporate plan targets through the delivery of 10 aspirational consumer-led care homes to the private market by 2019. I also established the operating brand Baycroft with direct responsibility for all stages of commissioning new care homes, including site finding and acquisition, design and development, through to reaching operational maturity, achieving occupancy targets and EBITDARM performance. Finally, in February 2020 I was recruited to my current role as chief executive of Berkley Care Group.

How many care homes do you have and what services do you provide?
We have 11 homes in our portfolio with our 12th due to open in
Leamington Spa in April.

Tell us about the geographical footprint of your homes and how this has evolved.
Our homes are located across the Midlands area and the South and
Southwest of England. Five are located in the West Midlands (including
Jubilee House), two are based in the Southwest, and five are based in the South of England. Berkley Care Group was first setup in May 2010 by Seamus Halton who quickly established a portfolio of six luxury homes designed specifically for the self-pay market. The portfolio was acquired by Korian Group in March 2021.

How do you differentiate yourselves from other luxury providers?
All our homes offer outstanding care and state-of-the-art facilities, but what really distinguishes our provision from that of our competitors is our simple, transparent, all-inclusive pricing model and our truly bespoke and tailored approach to the customer journey. In terms of pricing, we understand the worries that residents and families face when it comes to care fees. Their anxiety is only compounded if they’re uncertain how much they will pay from one month to the next. So, instead, our all-inclusive model gives residents and their families the knowledge that everything is included in just one fee.

This includes person-centred activities as well as regular trips out or a weekly visit to the in-house hairdresser and barber for a cut or blow dry,
relaxing treatments in our hair beauty salons, private dining with family
or friends, or being chaperoned to appointments or even a visit to a friend in our chauffeured car. These services are offered at no extra charge. We also pride ourselves on our commitment to customer care. We guide residents and their families throughout their journey right from the moment they step through the door. We understand that choosing and moving into a care home can be a daunting process, so we hold their hand throughout. Our staff are personal and caring in their interactions with our residents and their families. Care is bespoke and tailored to the needs and experiences of each resident. We also work hard to ensure that our homes are alive and vibrant with activity rather from the wider community in which they’re located.

What is your average weekly fee?
Our average weekly fee across all 11 homes is just over £1,500. The fees range widely with a mix of fairly independent residents with low need who see their stay in our homes as a lifestyle choice, to those with much higher physical or cognitive need that require round-the- clock support and care.

What is your current profit margin as measured by EBITDAR and how has this changed over the last year?
EBITDAR is obviously impacted depending on the service being offered and the required staffing levels and skill sets, as well as the maturity level of the homes. We had two homes in commissioning stage last year which will affect the overall EBITDAR as occupancy ramps up, but as a group we achieved an EBITDAR of 26% which is in line with our budget and expectations for the year.

What is your current level of occupancy?
Across our mature homes we are running at 91%, with our two new homes in ramp up running at 70%. Overall occupancy rate is 88%.

How challenging is the current recruitment climate?
The ongoing sector-wide recruitment challenge is undoubtedly a struggle, but fortunately our above industry-average rates of pay, matched with our generous employee benefits package, has meant our rate of staff retention is high and we are seeing strong numbers of applications for each role we advertise. Agency staffing has been required, but this has been kept to a minimum thanks to our innovative embrace of technology to, for example, encourage existing staff to refer friends and family to apply for advertised roles. Furthermore, we’ve been pioneers in the application of improvements in the understanding of neurodiversity to encourage those who might not otherwise apply for positions in the adult social care sector based on their misperceived unsuitability for roles.

How do you seek to recruit and retain staff ?
As well as traditional recruitment strategies, we’re also passionate
believers in the application of technology to solve some of the challenges facing the sector. We’ve enthusiastically rolled out the use of the Care Friends app among our staff. The app works by incentivising a care provider’s existing staff to share job vacancies listed on the app, which works like a job board. In return for sharing the vacancies within their personal network, staff receive points which can then be exchanged for money. The rate of exchange is determined by the provider. At Berkley one point is equal to £1. As well as earning a point for each job advert they share across their social media network, any expressions of interest resulting from their shares of the advert earn them two points. Candidates’ progression through the various stages of the recruitment process earns staff further points. Staff have the potential to earn up to £365 if their referral results in a successful appointment. Due to the importance of attracting talent from outside the industry, an additional 50 bonus points is awarded if the individual is new to the care sector. We believe that referrals by our staff are often a more effective way to attract high-quality candidates. Evidence suggests that personal referrals not only deliver higher-quality applicants, but that those recruited also stay for longer. The system was initially implemented in two of our care homes: Blenheim House in Wiltshire and Fernhill House in Worcester. We have gradually rolled out the app across our 950 employees since May 2022. We passed the 250 sign-ups mark at the end of August 2022. So far, the system has resulted in over 100 applications to roles across Berkley Care Group. 22 new staff have joined because of the app, with more than 28 interviews currently pending and five more successful applicants waiting to start work with the group.

We are also passionate believers in staff wellbeing and satisfaction. In accordance with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we understand that employee satisfaction isn’t simply derived from levels of pay. Instead, we work hard to engage with our employees, and create a listening and feedback culture to drive engagement and wellbeing. Technological innovation supports us with this too.

Last year we began using employee engagement platform Winningtemp. The app-based platform enables us to quickly capture employee feedback through weekly ‘pulse surveys’ that typically take a matter of seconds to complete. These empower our employees to provide valuable ideas and suggestions that we can in turn use to better understand their needs and take actions to drive positive engagement and wellbeing. The technology also encourages peer-to-peer praise and recognition through the platform, helping us to develop a culture of recognition at all levels. Winningtemp automatically analyses the results in real time, translating them into actionable insights meaning we can be proactive, rather than reactive.

There are two key advantages to the software: first, it allows us to gain feedback from our employees in real time, rather than having to wait for an annual review. This means we can act on this feedback much more quickly. Second, it enables us to identify – using the software’s visual ‘heat maps’ technology – key trends more easily across the employee experience in key categories such as job satisfaction, autonomy and personal development and break this down by teams. The insights we’re gaining from the technology are helping to inform our decision-making on a regular basis. For example, through the feedback we gained, we learned that our employees wanted more formal recognition for some of their work and achievements. This led to us staging Berkley Care Group’s very first employee awards reception, called ‘B:Celebrated’ on 24 February. Held at an exclusive hotel, the event showcased the excellent work our team members perform day in and day out.

What is your minimum salary level?
It is obviously role-dependant, but we guarantee to be paying comfortably above the National Minimum Wage and also benchmarking regularly to ensure we are not only competitive with other social care providers in the locality of our homes, but also with out of sector benchmarking with restaurants, supermarkets, high street retail, etc.

Tell us about your acquisition by Korian and what benefits this has brought the business?
Berkley Care Group was acquired by Korian in 2021. The working relationship has been fantastic. Korian has provided the resources to enable Berkley to grow while also affording us the autonomy to take the nuanced decision-making that rests on our understanding of the domestic UK market. Korian acquired Berkley in the knowledge that the company is founded upon a successful business model, for example, our inclusive pricing structure. There has been no attempt to dilute this and bring it in line with its operating model across Europe. Instead, Korian has sought to complement our existing operations through the provision of additional resources and financial investment, while also providing counsel and advice on business strategy and development. We also have the huge benefit of exposure to the operating practices of the largest care provider in Europe, so we have a significant
amount of trading data and best practice from across France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain.

What digital technology do you use?
In addition to Care Friends and Winningtemp, many of our homes operate state-of-the-art technologies to support residents and the care team to make our residents even safer. Acoustic monitoring and non-intrusive, secure live feed camera technology, for example, are deployed to offer residents and their loved ones additional peace of mind every day. All our staff rostering and payroll – time and attendance – is digital, as well as our care planning and clinical compliance software so that all auditing can be achieved at any point in time from any location. We use Found through Lottie for our CRM software, so that all enquiry management is captured and that all- important customer journey is logged from the very first interaction we have.

How has your business grown over the past year and what are your ambitions going forward?
In January and April 2022 we acquired Blenheim House and Fernhill House from Majesticare, and in August 2022 we completed our acquisition of Burcot Grange, Burcot Lodge and Cedar Mews care homes from Cinnamon Care Collection. On 1 April we are opening Jubilee House in Leamington Spa, our latest purpose-built home that at full capacity will provide 78 rooms and create 150 jobs in the local area. We are continuing to work closely with Korian’s M&A team to identify further acquisition opportunities across the UK over the next 24 months in order to grow Berkley’s presence further and cement its standing as one of the leading providers of luxury care in the country.