i want to start up a health care agency providing carers and support workers to people and organizations who need them. i am looking at starting with a staff of 6 carers and already have agreements with clients as i started looking for clients when i got the idea. i dnt feel i need a loan as i have saved enough for 3 months wages for the carers. i have the carers and have had them trained and they have all the necessary training and checks crb included.
what i want to know is can i register this as a sole trader since its a small business and or will i have to as a ltd company?
Ihave all the forms for Care Quality Commision filled and just need to know what would be the easiest way to get up and running.
Hello David

You could run your business as a sole trader but you might want to consider a limited company for the personal liability protection that if offers. If you work business to business it can help your 'cred' to be trading as a limited company. Businesses like dealing with other businesses.

You sound as if you've covered most things in your planning. The one thing you don't mention is insurance. Think carefully about the types of insurance you'll need - public liability, employers' liability and probably professional indemnity. Companies like AXA, which we've used for some time, are very good at going through exactly what's appropriate for your business.

Rebecca makes a good suggestion about speaking with Business Link. They'll be able to advise you of anything else you need to think about.

If you go down the route of setting up a limited company, you can have it formed on the same day, if you go to Companies House in London or Cardiff.

The slowest part of the process may be setting up your business bank account. If you already have a good relationship with your bank, approach them about opening a business account. They should be able to do that quite quickly. They'll ask you for your incorporation certificate if you're a limited company and they'll probably want to see some form of business plan. As you're not asking for finance, this doesn't have to be a complex document. Set out what you're going to do, who you'll do it for, how you'll reach them and what returns you'll get from it. Again, Business Link can help with the content of it.

Good luck!

Rosemary
you really have a lot to consider here, i'd strongly suggest speaking to a business link adviser (a free, but excellent service) http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/directory?r.s=e&r.lc=en

best of luck with your business idea.
Rebecca