The Care Show

On the 7th October 2025 I jumped on the very early morning train and headed to Birmingham for Care Show 2025.

This time I did things a little differently and chaired the Business Theatre on day 1 and spoke on a panel and a podcast on day 2, along with lots of coffees and catch ups.

The panel was alongside Martin Gould of Christie & Co and Paul Birley of Fulcrum to discuss preparing your business for sale – preparation is the key here.

Appearing on Cornerstone Care Solution’s live podcast with York Woodford-Smith was a new experience for me but York is an absolute expert and made me feel at ease – although I never think I sound like I do when it is played back!

My key takeaways from the Care Show are:

  1. Average Costs per resident per week are £868 for nursing and £729 for residential.
  2. The value of a care home business is based on a multiple of EBITDA and for a typical conversion this is 5-8X multiple and for purpose built 8-10X multiple.
  3. Between April-June 2025 1636 sponsor licences have been suspended or revoked.
  4. 44% of sponsorship licences have been refused in the year ending June 2025.
  5. Some really interesting research is being completed into how to encourage more men and young people into the care profession and looking into how neurodivergent people can help the care sector.
  6. Key tips on how to be the care provider of choice – invest in your search functions, work on your perception, integrate into your community and become obsessed with eliminating friction.
  7. Future proofing your home – the 3 pillars of compliance, cash and costs.
  8. Things to consider if you want to set up as a new provider – donate your time to a care home to try it out, are you ready to be available 24/7, stay curious, be an early adopter and look after the people who provide the care as they are the number 1.
  9. AI will not take over the world but will empower our people to do so.
  10. Lead with purpose not policy.
  11. Looking to sell – have a think about the 3 Ps – paperwork, permissions and pending issues – have you got all in order.
  12. Check your statement of purpose to ensure it covers the age range of residents you look after.

One of my favourite presentations was a mock inquest – an excellent snapshot of what would happen if you found yourself at an inquest – the session was expertly led by Sunyana Sharma.

Over and out until Care Show, London on 29th and 30th April 2026.