What is CASA?

CASA delivers high quality health and social care in homes. Set up in 2004, they created a social business that aims to provide a great service and support the UK workforce to prosper. CASA has always been a pioneering, positive force that contributes to the transformation of health and social care services in the UK. Over the years, the success of the business has been down to mutuality. Because their employees are also the owners, they achieve the highest quality care and low staff turnover, making the business more successful. They nurture strong commissioner relationships and none of their profit goes to external shareholders.

How was it initially funded?

Using an innovative form of quasi-equity, whereby the investor is repaid if the borrower meets various growth and impact targets, CASA has managed to raise over £400,000 in partnership with the Bridges Social Entrepreneurs Fund.

What has it accomplished?

CASA found a way to tap into people’s natural creativity and commitment by giving them a stake in their business. Their approach to workforce planning is about more than recruiting and training staff, it also means defining a positive workplace culture. Although CASA’s roots can be traced back to 1975, their mission remains the same – to be a positive ethical force in everything they do. Their social impact is far-reaching. As well as improving the quality of life for their service users, they recruit and invest in low income communities, with a great track record in helping long-term unemployed people into work. CASA currently employs over 750 people, all of whom benefit from a host of training and development opportunities.

What’s next?

Operators in the sector have long struggled with high staff turnover, which tends to have a detrimental effect on service quality. CASA seeks to counter this through an employee-owned ‘mutual’ business model. By enabling its staff to influence decision-making, access better-quality training and share in its financial success, it can offer them more rewarding jobs – which in turn reduces turnover and leads to higher quality and consistency of care for service users.