"Independent" and "founder-led" get used as marketing words often enough that they can start to mean very little. We'd rather explain plainly what they actually mean for a family arranging support, rather than just claim them.
We want to be honest about the shape of this article too: we are, obviously, independent and founder-led ourselves. We're not going to pretend to be neutral. What we can do is stick to describing our own service accurately, without needing to say anything about anyone else's to make the case.
What "independent" actually changes
Select Home Care Services isn't a franchise, and isn't part of a wider group. Anita, Natalie and Nicola founded it, and they're still the people running it, so a concern you raise goes straight to the people who can do something about it.
In practice, that means decisions about your support are made locally by the people who started the business, and they have a direct, personal stake in getting your experience right.
Flat pricing, and why we built it that way
We charge £33 an hour, for every one of our nine services, weekends included — and our few holiday rates are published in full, so nothing comes as a surprise. There's no registration fee and no minimum-hours requirement.
We chose a single flat rate deliberately, because tiered pricing structures are genuinely hard for families to compare fairly when they're already under pressure making a difficult decision. Knowing the cost from the first conversation, with any mileage or expenses agreed up front, was something we felt mattered enough to build the whole pricing model around.
What our founders' backgrounds mean day to day
We want to be precise here rather than let this sound bigger than it is: our visits are practical and social, not medical. We do not provide personal care, and we're not a substitute for a registered clinical service — see our guide to what home help is for that boundary stated plainly.
What the founders' care and nursing backgrounds actually shape is how helpers are trained and how visits are checked in on — a careful, experienced eye for the kind of small change in mood, appetite or behaviour that's easy to miss if you don't know what you're looking for, and easy to dismiss if you do notice it but aren't confident acting on it. It's also, simply, why this business exists: three people who saw through their own careers how much difference this kind of support makes.
Continuity — a regular helper you get to know
We cover this in more depth in our guide to choosing a provider, but it's worth stating here too: we aim to match each client with a regular helper, and we tell you honestly how cover works if that person is unwell or on holiday. Trust grows with a familiar face.
Being honest about the boundary
Because we're not CQC-registered, we don't provide personal care such as washing, dressing or toileting, and we don't give or manage medication. This isn't a workaround or a way of avoiding oversight; it's a genuine, deliberate boundary on the service we offer. If what you need is personal or clinical care, we'll tell you plainly and point you towards a registered provider rather than stretch our service to cover something it isn't built for.
Every helper is still DBS checked before working with any client, and we carry full public liability insurance — the standards any responsible provider should meet, independent or not.
If you'd like to talk through whether this is the right fit for your situation, get in touch. We'll talk it through with you honestly, with no obligation either way.