Caledonia Social Care launch on Employee Ownership Day is welcomed by cooperative movement
The launch of Alzheimer Scotland offshoot Caledonia Social Care today is being billed as a step forward for employee ownership in Scotland.
A new company, it is taking over the charity’s existing social care services across central Scotland.
With a projected £2.5 million annual turnover, it will have an initial 150 employee owners providing care to 480 clients.
The business will focus on care at home dementia specific services, while also aiming to grow into providing personal care to other older, disabled and vulnerable people.
Cooperative Development Scotland (CDS) heralded the launch on Employee Ownership Day, 30 June, and called on other businesses to explore employee ownership.
Sarah Deas, director of CDS, said: “In the last five years the number of employee owned businesses operating in Scotland has trebled and we are forecasting a deal a month on average over the next year.
“When considering their exit strategy, the motivations for a business owner to go down the employee ownership route tends to focus on a number of key areas, such as rewarding and empowering loyal employees and rooting the business in the local community.”
Alzheimer Scotland is the main investor in Caledonia Social Care but plans to hand it over fully to the newly formed enterprise in the future. This is the first time a Scottish charity has established one of its service functions as a separate entity and put it into employee ownership.
Margaret Paterson, managing director of Caledonia Social Care, said: “I am thrilled to be officially celebrating the opening of Caledonia Social Care on Employee Ownership Day. Our dynamic employee-owned business model takes forward ownership of many of Alzheimer Scotland’s previous care at home services to support people living with dementia in the community and our staff will be at the very heart of everything we do.
“Employee ownership is particularly suited to the social care sector as it is consistently shown to improve staff engagement and wellbeing, which can lead to better patient experience and outcomes. As owners, employees have a say in how the business is run, and clients and their families are reassured that the business will remain rooted in the area and be run for the benefit of local people.”
Henry Simmons, Alzheimer Scotland chief executive, said: “Following months of preparations, I believe that Caledonia Social Care has a bright future ahead in providing high-quality dementia and more generic home-care services.”
Statistics consistently demonstrate that employee-owned businesses outperform other businesses in terms of higher levels of profitability, improved business resilience during times of recession, increased productivity and enhanced employee wellbeing.
Recent research showed there are 86 employee-owned companies in Scotland, with approximately 6,800 employee-owners generating a combined turnover of around £925m.
