All's well for carers thanks to Clydesdale Bank deal

26/05/2011

A home offering respite care for adults with learning difficulties is building for the future after agreeing a finance deal with Clydesdale Bank.

The Well House at Hailsham in East Sussex has recently expanded its bed provision from nine to 13 with the opening of a four-room annexe and is now consolidating for the future.

Based in an historic house that has previously been a pub, bed and breakfast, a restaurant and boxing club, The Well House opened as a centre for respite care in 2003 after an 18-month refurbishment.

Residents are largely from inner London boroughs and the centre offers care for people suffering from autism, epilepsy and challenging behaviour.

“The new annexe was a major project for us,” said Nicky Cross, a partner at The Well House, which takes its name from an ancient well in the garden. “With it fully open and given the current economic climate, we are now really looking to consolidate what we have.

“I am sure once the economy improves we will look again at our business plan, but we are well placed for now.”

As part of that consolidation, The Well House has switched all of its banking business to Clydesdale Bank.

“It was our relationship with Business Partner Ceri Jones that led us to switch our bankers,” said Nicky. “We started working with him when he was at a previous bank and when he moved to Clydesdale we continued to talk.

“He explained how Clydesdale has a different, more personal approach than other banks and how that could help us moving forward. They also have great experience across a wide number of clients in the care home sector and so understand the challenges we face.

“It’s great that we have Ceri as our consistent point of contact. We know him and he knows us and, most importantly, knows our business and how it works. Based on that knowledge he can make decisions quickly which helps bring a sense of certainty to our banking.”

Ceri said he was delighted the Well House had decided to switch to Clydesdale.

“As a Business Partner at Clydesdale I have the freedom to work with the Credit Partners on a localised basis to make lending decisions without referring them higher up the chain,” he said

“It means as long as we are happy there is a sound business plan in place, that we can look at our members’ businesses from a position of first-hand knowledge and make decisions.

“For stable and well-run businesses like the Well House, that means that when the economy starts to improve and they are ready to make decisions about growth, we are perfectly placed to help them make the most of their opportunities.”

To find out more about The Well House, visit www.wellhouserespite.co.uk

Clydesdale Bank’s Sussex FSCs can be found at 5th Floor, Telecom House, 125-135 Preston Road, Brighton, BN1 6AF, tel 01273 544901; and 5 Peveril Court, 6-8 London Road, Crawley, RH10 8JE, tel 01293 558700.