The senior care industry is a lucrative model for those aspiring franchisee’s out there but it isn’t an easy one so, before you look at the industry to see if its viable, first you must determine whether you are up for the challenge. If you are then great, you have the opportunity to make money whilst giving back to a community of people that have paved the way for you to have the life experiences you have today. The main deciding factors for whether an industry has a good forecast is to determine if consumers will still need your product in 10 years and if the market is growing. The senior care industry is obviously something that will be needed years from now and the data from the Office for National Statistics clearly show that the target audience of people over 65 is rapidly growing, which is a great start but let’s look at those figures in more detail.

Senior Care Industry in the UK

In 2015, the UK population grew to an estimated 65.1 million which was an increase of half a million people from the year before. The last few decades have seen life expectancy increasing year on year, with females born in 2015 expected to live until 83 and for males the age is slightly lower at 79. The main reasons for this increase in life expectancy is because of the drastic improvements in healthcare and lifestyles we have seen in the UK and with these services improving each year, it doesn’t look like life expectancy will decrease in the next 10 or 200 years. The main underlying factor for population growth is down to how many people are born and die on average each year and since 1955 (with the exception of 1976) the number of deaths in the UK has been significantly lower than the number of births. All of this information correlates to the past trends and forecast of people living in the UK that are 65 years and over, as seen below:

(%) of people living in the UK who are 65 years and over

• 1975 - 14.1%
• 1985 - 15.2%
• 1995 - 15.8%
• 2005 - 15.9%
• 2015 - 17.8%
• 2025 - 20.2%
• 2035 - 23.6%
• 2045 - 24.6%

These figures show a rapid incline in the next 30 years to the previous 30 years, this is indicating that by 2045 the market for Senior Care could be close to a quarter of the UK population.

Immigration affecting Senior Care?

Immigration within the UK is a controversial matter, but if we were to ignore the politics and look at the data, it has a potential positive effect on the senior care market. From 2004 to 2015, we have seen on average 250,000 increase in population as a direct result of net migration. This is down to immigration being twice as high as emigration since the 1990’s, but the worrying link to this statistic is that it has coincided with the expansion of the EU. With Brexit being a current hot topic and free movement being the main talking point, we are unsure as to whether we can expect these figure in the years to come. The other statistic that needs to be considered is the age of migrants, with the average being 20 to 36, it means that the majority of migrants aren’t our target market. This does mean we have more potential employees but unless they decide to stay in the UK we may see a lot of these migrants never hit our target age range. The overall effect of immigration is seen as a positive for senior care but with Brexit and migrants potentially leaving, the figures aren’t as positive as they may seem.

The Senior Care Franchise

The market, as seen above, looks very positive, with average age and population increasing these are both fundamentals for the Senior Care Industry and the franchises that work around Senior care such as, Home Care Franchises, Care Home Franchises and other Senior specific Franchises.

So, if you are looking for a franchise that has a lucrative and secure future that also offers you the chance to give back to the community that raised you then Senior Care Franchises are a perfect fit.

If this does interest you then take a look at our top performing Care Franchise - Clarriots Care Franchise