UK: Highland carers buy their business

Inverness firm, Highland Home Carers, has made the move to employee ownership. Highland Home Carers provide a range of services, including nursing care and respite care, to enable people who need care to continue to remain in their own homes. With backing from the Baxi Partnership – a trust-owned fund supporting employee buyouts – the business became employee owned last year and now the first share certificates have been issued. Nick Boyle, who founded the business in 1994, says: ?An employee buyout was attractive for a variety of reasons – it enables staff retention which means that our service users can enjoy quality and consistency in their care, and it rewards the people that have helped up develop the success of the business. Also, one of the unique elements of dealing with the Baxi Partnership is that employees received free shares rather than have to find money to purchase them. This has enabled those who aren’t high earners to become shareholders.? www.highlandhomecarers.com