Residential care homes, nursing homes and supported-living providers run some of the most cost-heavy, tightly regulated operations in the country. Rotas have to be staffed around the clock to meet safe-staffing levels, the building and its equipment have to satisfy inspection, and a large share of your income arrives weeks after the care has been delivered. Credicorp lends to care providers that are UK limited companies or LLPs, for business purposes. We do not lend to individuals or to providers trading in a personal capacity.
Why the cash flow is difficult
The economics of care are unusually front-loaded. Your largest cost — qualified and registered staff — is fixed by your occupancy and your duty of care, not by when money comes in. Local-authority and NHS-funded placements are often paid in arrears or on extended terms, fee uplifts can lag well behind rising wage and energy costs, and occupancy moves as residents come and go. That leaves a steady, predictable gap between when you spend and when you are paid, on top of the lumpy one-off costs that running a registered service brings.
- Bridging the gap between weekly or monthly payroll and fees that settle in arrears
- Covering agency cover, recruitment and onboarding when a vacancy or sickness spike hits the rota
- Replacing or upgrading care equipment — beds, hoists, mobility aids, call systems and laundry
- Funding refurbishment, fire-safety work or accessibility improvements ahead of an inspection
- Smoothing energy, insurance and food costs through a quieter occupancy period
- Covering deposit and first costs when opening or acquiring an additional home
Compliance and capital projects
Maintaining registration with your regulator is not optional, and the spending it drives rarely lines up with your cash position. A required upgrade — new flooring, a redesigned bathroom, an improved call or sprinkler system, or works flagged by an inspection — is a one-off cost with a long-term benefit. Borrowing lets you put the work in place when it is needed rather than deferring it until retained profit catches up. The same is true of opening or acquiring a new home, where you commit to the premises, the fit-out and a full staffing rota before a single new bed is filled.
Equipment ahead of demand
Care equipment wears, and resident needs change. A new wing, a higher-dependency admission or an ageing fleet of beds and hoists can all force investment before the associated fees arrive. Spreading that cost over a structured facility keeps the kit current without draining the working capital your rota depends on — our guide to equipment and plant costs for incorporated firms looks at how this works for capital purchases.
How we lend
We assess the company's affordability and trading prospects, not the personal finances of any director or registered manager. The borrowing sits with the company or LLP and we take no personal guarantees from directors. Because so much of the strain in care is the timing gap between paying staff and being paid by commissioners, it helps to plan around your billing cycle — funding payroll between customer payments looks specifically at the wage-timing gap that defines this sector. If you also run clinical or treatment services, funding for private healthcare and clinics covers the kit and fit-out side in more depth.
Credicorp Flex and Credicorp Slice are both available. A revolving facility can suit the in-and-out rhythm of funded placements, while a structured plan can suit a one-off refurbishment or acquisition, and your account team can help you choose. Your rate and term are those shown in your offer.
Lending to a company rather than to its owners is deliberate; you can read why we lend to companies, not sole traders for the reasoning. As an exempt business lender outside the FCA consumer-credit regime, Credicorp is a lender, not a broker, and is not covered by the Financial Ombudsman Service or FSCS.
See also: Can an accountancy practice borrow from Credicorp?, Financing materials and stock purchases, How do we fund a large new contract?.