BelleVie
Model & Strategy
BelleVie is reinventing the future of care so all members of the care ecosystem are valued and supported. They offer at-home care services through an innovative operating model that empowers community-based teams of caregivers. BelleVie currently employs 100 care workers and has provided services to over 400 clients across three counties in the UK. Over the next five years, they aim to expand to over 7,500 care workers and clients, and broaden their reach to five additional counties in the UK.
The Problem
The elderly population is increasing in the UK and many parts of the world, yet countries remain ill-equipped to meet the growing demand for care. In the UK alone, elderly individuals make up approximately 20% of the population (around 11 million people), with nine in 10 expressing a preference to “age in place.” However, families frequently report difficulties in finding reliable, quality support for their loved ones at home.
Despite unprecedented demand, the care sector remains under-resourced, stigmatized, and undervalued. Care workers are generally underpaid, with effective average hourly wages below the adult minimum wage. The prevalent “time and task” care delivery model, which pays on a per-hour basis, leads to those receiving care feeling like items on a checklist and contributes to job instability and poor working conditions for care workers. As a result, nearly two-fifths of care workers leave the sector each year, leading to labor shortages and diminishing quality of care. Furthermore, only 40% of care providers use digital records, hindering the optimization of care delivery and causing broken communication across various caregivers and their families.
The Solution
BelleVie, a UK-based in-home care company, is revolutionizing traditional models of care delivery. Their innovative approach is based on empowering, fairly compensating, and valuing care workers through self-managed local teams supported by purpose-built technology. This model enables strong health and social outcomes for seniors, makes in-home care accessible, and addresses labor shortages by attracting and retaining talent in the sector. Inspired by the successful Dutch “Buurtzorg” model, which transformed nursing and personal care through patient autonomy and self-managed teams, BelleVie’s local teams of around eight care workers have the autonomy to personalize and optimize support for their clients, significantly improving the lives of both caregivers and recipients. Their bespoke Wellbeing Operating System (OS) technology platform enables and scales this model.
BelleVie aims to shift the entire home care sector away from the “time and task” delivery model to high-quality, personalized care through their unique operating approach. They plan to achieve this through organic growth and by licensing their Wellbeing OS technology platform and their innovative model to other care providers.
Trudie gained firsthand insight into the vital yet underappreciated nature of care work while employed as a caregiver to fund her education. After a successful career as a software engineer, Trudie’s desire for purpose at work led her to found BelleVie, where she combines her experience creating models of empowered, self-managing teams with a sector ready for change. Under Trudie’s leadership, BelleVie was recognized as the best UK Home Care provider in 2024.
Impact
Achieved high care worker retention rates with a 14% voluntary turnover rate which is less than half of the industry standard and 50% of new recruits are from outside of the care industry, demonstrating a model with the potential to address the recruitment and retention issues underlying the care crisis
Enhanced the quality of care, achieving a Net Promoter Score (NPS) of over 80% or higher over the last four years
