Longevity & Care Economy
For care providers, retirement living operators and healthy-ageing brands. We build the cost of care, rota and enquiry data that margins depend on.
Our perspective
Populations in the UK, Europe and Türkiye are ageing faster than the workforce that cares for them, and a growing share of people pay for their own care, housing and health products in later life. In a care business the margin is set by rota fill, agency hours and the fee agreed for each placement, yet those figures sit in rostering, payroll and contract files that are rarely joined, so fees are often set without a measured cost of care. Consumer brands selling to older buyers face a different gap: their claims are regulated and their customers buy slowly, through family members. We build the cost, workforce and enquiry data that let operators price, staff and grow on evidence.
Market signals
01
WHO projects that by 2030 one in six people worldwide will be aged 60 or over, and that the number aged 80 or over will triple between 2020 and 2050 to 426 million.
02
On 1 January 2025, 22.0% of the EU's 450.6 million people were aged 65 or over, 2.9 percentage points more than ten years earlier. The old-age dependency ratio reached 34.5%, just over three people of working age for every person aged 65 or over.
03
Adult social care in England had 1.60 million filled posts and 111,000 vacancies in 2024/25, a vacancy rate of 7.0%, with staff turnover of 23.1%. Care workers were removed from the Health and Care Worker visa route for new overseas recruits in July 2025.
How we help clients
Cost of care and fee modeling
TF-08FinanceA cost per resident or per care hour built from rotas, payroll, agency invoices and overheads, compared with the fee for each placement or contract, so fee negotiations start from a measured figure.
Workforce planning and retention
TF-09PeopleRota fill, agency use, overtime and turnover reported by home or branch, with recruitment sources and early leavers tracked, so workforce plans respond to where the gaps are widening.
Enquiries, occupancy and self-funder demand
TF-04GrowthEnquiry capture and tracking from first call or form to assessment and admission, with the source of each enquiry recorded, so marketing spend is judged on admissions rather than calls.
Care and business system data
TF-06Technology & DataDigital care records, rostering, payroll and finance systems joined into one reporting layer, with access controls suited to health and care data.
Claims and data protection for longevity products
TF-10RiskFor supplement, device and healthy-ageing brands, a register of every product claim with its approval and evidence, and data handling for health-related customer data set up for review by the client's advisers.
Entry into retirement living and later-life services
TF-01StrategyMarket sizing and an operating model for a new later-life service, location or format, tested against local demographics, competitors and the client's own cost base.
What changes next
Recruitment turns domestic
With new overseas recruitment of care workers closed since July 2025, providers in England will depend on retaining existing staff and recruiting locally. Over the next 12 to 18 months turnover, agency use and rota fill will decide which providers can accept new admissions.
Pay set by agreement
The government's plan for a Fair Pay Agreement in adult social care would set terms across the sector. Providers will need cost models that show the effect of a negotiated rate on each contract before it is agreed, not after.
Later life becomes a consumer market
More older people and their families pay directly for care at home, adaptations, retirement housing and health products. They research online and decide slowly, so providers and brands will need enquiry tracking that follows a decision over months.
Business challenges
01
Fees agreed without a cost of care
Local authority and private fees are often set from last year's rate plus an uplift. Without a measured cost per resident or care hour, some contracts lose money and nobody can show which.
02
Agency hours that hide in invoices
Agency use is visible as a monthly cost but rarely linked to the rota gap that caused it. Recruitment decisions miss the homes or branches where the gap is structural.
03
Enquiries lost between calls
Families enquire by phone, form and visit over several weeks. When enquiries are not logged and followed up, occupancy depends on whoever answered the phone.
04
Health claims outrunning evidence
Healthy-ageing products are marketed on benefits that advertising and food law restrict. Claims written by marketing teams without a register create exposure the brand cannot see.
Where the opportunity sits
Fees backed by measured cost
A cost of care per placement gives providers evidence for fee negotiations and shows which contracts to renegotiate or exit.
Workforce data used weekly
Rota fill, agency use and turnover reported weekly by location let managers act on gaps before they become agency spend.
Admissions traced to their source
Tracking enquiries to admission shows which channels bring residents and clients, and where follow-up loses families.
How we approach it
We start read-only with rostering, payroll, agency invoices, contract and fee schedules, enquiry logs and finance data, or, for a consumer brand, with the storefront, product claims and customer data. We follow one home, branch or product line from cost to fee or from enquiry to sale, and note every manual step. Findings become a prioritized task list, each item with an owner and an acceptance check. If the client wants us to build, the same team delivers the cost models, workforce reporting, enquiry tracking and data layer, documented and left in the client's own accounts. Clinical and care practice, medical or nutritional advice, CQC registration and inspection preparation, claims approval, safeguarding, employment law and legal or tax advice stay with registered professionals, the regulators and the client's own advisers.
How our experience is evidenced
The longevity and care economy is a frontier sector where THEFOCUS applies its capabilities in cost modeling, workforce reporting, enquiry tracking and data. No anonymised engagement in this sector is published, and no results are claimed. THEFOCUS does not provide clinical, care or medical advice. LocalBoostHQ, our live service brand for local businesses, offers website, local search and advertising work suited to single-site providers.
How an engagement with THEFOCUS starts
A first conversation is about your situation. If there is a fit, we propose a scoped diagnostic with a fixed deliverable before any larger commitment.
Discuss this with us01
A working conversation
Forty-five minutes with the person who would lead the work. We ask about the decision, the systems behind it and the deadline.
02
A scoped diagnostic
Read-only access, a fixed timeframe and a written finding: what the records show, what it costs and what to change first.
03
A plan you can act on
Changes, owners, measures and exclusions in writing. The same team then builds and measures, or hands over cleanly.
- One accountable team
- The people who diagnose also build the systems and measure the result.
- Partners chosen per problem
- Independent specializts join for the parts that need them, under one contract.
- Records before dashboards
- Orders, ledgers and logs are reconciled before any recommendation depends on them.
Questions executives ask
Do you advise on care quality or clinical practice?
No. Care quality, clinical practice and safeguarding belong to registered professionals and the regulators. We work on cost, workforce, enquiry and data questions around them.
Can you help us prepare for a fee negotiation with a local authority?
We can build a cost of care per resident or per care hour from your rotas, payroll and invoices, with each assumption documented. The negotiation and any figures you submit remain yours.
We sell healthy-ageing products online. Can you help with growth?
Yes, through storefront, enquiry tracking and campaign work, with a claims register so every claim used in advertising has its approval and evidence recorded. Claim approval itself stays with your regulatory advisers.
Discuss this with us
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