Five franchises of home care provider Bluebird Care have become entirely employee-owned offering over 229 carers the opportunities to share in the profits of the business.

The directors of Bluebird Care in Chichester, Epsom & Kingston, Reigate, Sussex Weald and Sutton, Paul and Kate Barry, hope that passing the business on to their colleagues will further encourage this ethos of pride in, and responsibility for, delivering excellent care for the local area.

Kate Barry, managing director of Bluebird Care Chichester, Epsom & Kingston, Reigate, Sussex Weald and Sutton, said: “We founded our Bluebird Care services to serve communities across Sussex, and we hope that transferring the company to our talented management and care teams will maximise our positive impact on local people who provide and receive care. We are consistently amazed by the skill and dedication of our care teams and have every faith that the care services we have built will thrive under their guidance.”

To ensure the transfer of ownership from the directors to their care team is as seamless as possible, Kate Barry will continue as managing director, and Paul will become a director of the trustee company holding the shares on behalf of staff. 

To mark the ownership transfer and the opportunities that it heralds for local communities, Bluebird Care will host five celebrations for their care assistants and customers across Sussex. These will take place in Chichester, Epsom & Kingston, Reigate, Sussex Weald and Sutton over the course of the summer.

The five Bluebird Care branches included in the ownership transfer are part of the network of Bluebird Care franchises, which provide care in the comfort of people’s own homes in over 220 locations across the UK and Ireland.