The True Cost of Home Care in Melksham

Despite having worked in healthcare for almost three decades, I had never actually stopped to think about how much it costs to provide — or pay for — home care here in Melksham, Wiltshire.

I’ll be the first to admit that when I sat five of my closest relatives down and said, “Let’s start a home care company,” I hadn’t fully considered just how much time, effort, and learning it would take to reach the point where we could genuinely support people in our community. I knew from the start that there were many areas I had little experience in, and one that became very apparent early on was finances.

Of course, I thought I had a reasonable handle on money. I’ve run a household with my husband and children for years — juggling the household bills, car finance, loans, and making sure our wages stretched far enough to cover what we needed. But this venture? This was on a completely different level.

Between the six directors, we’ve had many, many meetings and just as many discussions over the past 18 months. What we all agreed on from the very beginning was our goal: to provide home care to people in Melksham and the surrounding area that makes them feel just as valued and important as our own loved ones. But the big question was… how do we make that happen?

Melksham Homecare was never created with profit as its sole purpose. Of course, we hope the business will succeed and grow — because growth means we can support more people — but that was never the driving force. In fact, it was quite some way into the journey before we even started talking seriously about what we should charge. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t charge a penny at all… but sadly, that just isn’t an option.

We had some very honest conversations about whether we should openly display a price guide. Through our research, we found it incredibly difficult to get a clear idea of what home care actually costs. Most companies ask you to phone for a quote, and for many people that can feel uncomfortable — like you’re committing to something before you’re ready. I want our company to be different. I want transparency, so that our local community knows it can trust us.

So, back to the main question: how much does home care cost?

I’ll share what I’ve learned so far — while openly admitting that I’m still learning every single day. The fees you’re charged for care actually cover far more than I ever realised.

Yes, it includes carers’ wages — and we are absolutely determined to pay our staff a decent wage so that we can attract and retain the very best care team. But it also needs to cover insurance premiums, which are higher because we’re a new business. There are pension contributions for our employees, as well as tax and National Insurance, and the cost of covering annual leave, sickness, maternity leave, and other absences.

To even get to this stage, we had to take out a start-up business loan, which comes with repayments. On top of that, there are monthly costs for business banking, care planning software, e-learning, IT systems, mobile phone contracts, website development, CQC fees, and legal costs. Then there’s advertising, uniforms, PPE, IT equipment, stationery, DBS checks — honestly, I wasn’t prepared for the list to feel quite so never-ending.

While this might sound like a lot — and in truth, it is — every part of it exists to make sure care is safe, reliable, and delivered by people who are supported properly. We also know that home care is a significant cost, and we never forget that this is people’s own money — often saved over a lifetime.

And that’s really the heart of it.

When someone chooses home care, they aren’t just paying for time on a rota. They’re placing a huge amount of trust in the people who walk through their door, and in the organisation standing behind them. That responsibility isn’t something we take lightly.

In conclusion, we will always strive to provide home care that represents genuine value for money. We will always aim to pay our staff a competitive wage that reflects their worth. We will reinvest as much as possible back into the business so that we can continue to grow and improve. And we will always be clear and open about our costs, so you can feel confident that what you’re paying for is honest, transparent, and rooted in care — because that’s exactly how we would want our own loved ones to be treated. 

To have a look at our price guide please click on the following link: