Home / Buy and sell / Buy a care business

Buyers

Buy with your eyes open

Anyone can find a care business for sale. Far fewer people can tell you what the rating history really means, whether the registration will transfer, and what the staffing model will cost you in year two. That is the part we do.

  • Matched, not browsed
  • England
  • CQC and Ofsted regulated services

Who this is for

  • Existing providers adding a service or a region
  • First time buyers moving into regulated care
  • Investors backing an operator
  • Groups buying distressed or turnaround assets

If you are buying a building rather than a business, start at care property instead.

How a purchase runs with us

1

Brief

Service types, regions, size, funding mix, appetite for risk and your realistic timescale. We would rather rule things out early than waste your weekends.

2

Match

We work the register and our seller relationships. You are told about the ones that fit, with an anonymised summary first and the name once an NDA is in place.

3

Diligence

Regulatory, operational and commercial review in parallel with your solicitor and accountant. We tell you what we would walk away from.

4

Registration

The deal is only done when the regulator says so. We plan the transfer or new registration from the offer stage, not after exchange.

5

Day one

Policies, governance, manager cover and staff communications ready before completion so the service does not wobble in week one.

6

First hundred days

Optional. Occupancy, fee rates, rota cost and audit rhythm, so the thing you bought behaves like the thing you modelled.

What we look at that a generalist will not

Regulatory

  • Full inspection and rating history, not just the current badge
  • Open conditions, notices, actions and any enforcement correspondence
  • Whether the Registered Manager is staying, and whether they would be registrable elsewhere
  • Nominated individual and provider fitness for the transfer
  • Statement of purpose against what is actually delivered

Operational and commercial

  • Real staffing cost including agency, sickness and travel time
  • Fee rates by funder and when they were last uplifted
  • Occupancy or package volume trend, and referral concentration
  • Property condition against registration requirements
  • What the business needs spent on it in the first year

Fees are scoped per transaction and quoted in writing before we start. We will tell you if we think the work is not worth doing.

Questions buyers ask

Can I just browse what is for sale?

No. There is no directory here. You register a brief and we bring you what fits, which is also why sellers are willing to talk to us.

Does the CQC registration come with the business?

Not automatically. Depending on the structure it is either a change of ownership requiring a new registration or a variation. We plan that route before you offer.

Do you work with my solicitor and accountant?

Yes, and we prefer it. We cover the regulatory and operational side and hand them clean questions rather than vague concerns.

What if the service has a poor rating?

That can be the opportunity, if the cause is fixable and priced in. Our turnaround team will tell you honestly whether it is.

Do you charge buyers a registration fee?

No. Registering your brief is free. Advisory work is quoted separately once you know what you actually need.

Know what you need?

Register your brief and we will start matching.

Register your buying brief

Not sure?

Talk it through before you commit to anything.

Call 020 3856 8549