UK's Largest Care Directory Set to Rapidly Expand

KENT –April 16th, 2024 Autumna, the UK’s largest and most comprehensive elder care directory headquartered in Tunbridge Wells, Kent, has witnessed turnover skyrocket by 230% as the company gears up to rapidly expand and drive significant change in the social care sector.

Photo: Debbie Harris, Managing Director and Founder of Autumna.(courtesy of Sharp Minds.agency)

The dramatic growth is a direct result of Autumna, founded by female entrepreneur Debbie Harris, witnessing increased demand from care seekers and the company’s growing reputation as the UK’s most trusted online platform.

With an ageing population, demand has risen dramatically in the elderly and social care sector with many families requiring quick solutions for loved ones. Autumna allows self-funded care seekers to locate providers within minutes and provides a transparent marketplace that makes it simple for users to find and compare care homes, home care, live-in care and retirement living developments.

Managing Director and visionary pioneer, Debbie Harris, who experienced first-hand the stress of finding the right care for her aunt, founded Autumna in 2019 to provide a solution for the elderly and offer a free directory that allows care seekers to access information on every registered care provider across the UK.

Debbie said: “Our continued expansion is largely due to our growing reputation as the UK’s most detailed independent directory with more than 26,000 care and retirement living providers. This is free to use, and unlike some other directories, we do not take referral fees, meaning our service is unbiased, transparent and trustworthy.”

Through its innovative technology and quantitative data, the disruptive company has been improving transparency and standards across the social care sector. Autumna offers a unique online assessment tool that guides families through a series of questions and quickly generates a shortlist of the right care, whilst at the same time communicating with the shortlisted care providers, matching the two together.

This user-friendly online assessment tool has significant implications. With ambulances waiting for hours at hospital front doors, and increasing pressure on hospital capacity for acute and elective services, the platform has the potential to reduce bed blocking in hospitals. It can enable discharge teams using the platform to streamline their services by giving them the tools to accurately find the right care at speed and scale. This would have a significant positive impact for both patients and the NHS.

The company has more than 3,000 people a month using the advice line and has an impressive 75% placement rate. Turnover for 2023 stood at £1.38 million, a 54% increase compared to the year prior at £902,000 and up 230% from £419,000 in 2021.

Over recent years, Autumna has been on a hiring spree. “Our growth has been delivered by recruiting and retaining a fantastic team and we are the only directory who help care seekers seven days a week,” commented Debbie.

She started the directory from her home, with nothing but a laptop to kick-start the business. Today, Autumna is a million-pound company and employs 22 staff.

“We are in the process of developing a major new initiative that we have designed to dramatically improve transparency and raise standards even further across the sector. We will be trialling a prototype in due course,” added Debbie.

About Autumna

Autumna is the UK’s largest and most comprehensive later life living and elderly care directory. Specialising in the self-funding market, it helps families and individuals make informed choices and access higher standards of care.

Proudly independent, Autumna provides completely impartial advice and does not take referral fees from providers. It aims to improve transparency and standards across the entire elder care sector.

Following its establishment in 2019, more than 2.5 million care seekers each year now access Autumna’s directory of over 26,000 care and retirement living providers.