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The 2026 growth guide

How to grow your private-pay business

Your practical starter kit for winning private-pay clients. Get simple tools and guides to grow your business – no marketing degree required.

Explore free tools

Getting started

Essential tools and calculators

Explore free interactive tools that help you make fast, smart decisions for your business

Updated with 2025-26 HCA benchmarks

Homecare rates calculator

Calculate the perfect hourly rate based on your real business costs, the official Homecare Association methodology.

Start free calculation

Birdie savings calculator

See how much Birdie can save for your business as you scale, based on real data and your business's own costs.

Calculate your savings

Built for domiciliary care in England · March 2025

Business Growth Map tool

Most agencies expand into the wrong area. Birdie's Business Growth Map uses homecare.co.uk listings, ONS population data, and council spend figures to pinpoint exactly where you should look to grow.

Open Business Growth Map
Birdie Business School

Winning Private Clients in 30 Minutes

A 3-part video masterclass delivering practical, immediately implementable strategies to grow your agency. All action, no fluff.

3 video lessons

1h 30m total runtime

3 industry experts

Rachel, Nicholas & Clementine

Start the Course

Class Syllabus

3 Episodes

Event type:
On-Demand

Episode 1: Build an elevator pitch that works

Struggling to explain what makes your agency different? Join Rachel Cork to learn a simple 5-part formula. You'll build an elevator pitch that stands out, resonates with families, and wins new clients.

Speaker:

Rachel Cork, MME Account Executive at Birdie

Find out more
Event type:
On-Demand

Episode 2: Get your team ready for growth

Growth can stall if your team isn't aligned and ready to scale. Nicholas Lee will share a practical framework to get everyone on the same page, with clear goals that make growth a shared responsibility.

Speaker:

Nicholas Lee, Founder and Director of Care Business Advisors

Find out more
Event type:
On-Demand

Episode 3: Make referrals work for you

Referrals should be your best source of new business, but are you leaving them to chance? Clementine Dugrand will show you how to build, manage and nurture a powerful referral network for a consistent pipeline of new clients.

Speaker:

Clementine Dugrand, Enterprise CSM at Birdie

Find out more
The guide

The Winning Private Clients Handbook

This downloadable guide walks you through the exact first steps to take as your move from council contracts to a more sustainable private model.

Read the full article

Four step to success

We’ve broken down the journey into four simple stages. Work through them at your own pace to build your confidence and your client list.

Step 1

Get your pricing and mindset right

Practical tools to help you price your services with confidence and prepare for the shift to private-pay

February 25, 2026

8 minutes

Beyond the hourly rate: how to define and sell your premium value homecare in 2026

Learn how to get private care clients in the UK by defining your home care value proposition. Discover proven strategies for selling premium home care services, from clinical oversight to family transparency. Practical guidance for UK agencies in 2026.

How to guide

Growth and recruitment

February 26, 2026

The hidden cost of council-funded care: how to build a sustainable agency in a broken system

Discover why £22/hour LA contracts create negative margins and how the "churn tax" of staff turnover is costing UK homecare agencies £50,000+ annually. Learn the true cost of underpriced contracts using 2026 data and find a practical path toward financial sustainability.

How to guide

Growth and recruitment

STEP 2

Find your first private clients

Simple, low-cost ways to market your agency to local families and build a great reputation.

February 26, 2026

A practical guide to finding private-pay clients in your local area

Find private-pay clients in your local area with home care demographic analysis. Use free UK government data, spot affluent neighbourhoods, analyse competitors, and connect with decision-makers to grow your homecare business sustainably.

How to guide

Growth and recruitment

February 27, 2026

Winning the 11pm researcher: a 2026 digital marketing guide for private homecare

Learn homecare marketing for private pay in 2026. Practical SEO strategies, Google Business Profile tips, and transparency tools to win private clients online.

How to guide

Growth and recruitment

March 10, 2026

5 minutes

Marketing homecare to families: why the adult child is the new face of homecare research (and how to reach them)

Marketing homecare to families in 2026? Learn why the adult child is your real buyer and the 3 trust signals that win their business.

How to guide

Growth and recruitment

STEP 3

Show why you're different

Learn how to talk about the quality of your care in a way that resonates with private clients.

STEP 4

Growth for the long-term

Make sure your new private-pay service is sustainable for the long term.

Meet your guides

Learn from the industry's best

Nicholas Lee

Founder and Director of Care Business Advisors

Founder and Director of Care Business Advisors, who has firsthand experience in preparing an agency for sustainable growth. He’s also the author of Finding Gold in Care Businesses: How to Double Your Care Company in 12 Months Without External Funding.

Clementine Dugrand

Enterprise Customer Success Manager

As an Enterprise Customer Success Manager at Birdie, Clementine's focus is on helping care providers get the most value out of Birdie's system and services. As part of her role, she has built valuable expertise on strategies for expanding in the private sector.

Rachel Cork

MME Account Executive

MME Account Executive at Birdie, who works with homecare agencies every day to help them achieve their growth goals.