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Care can't wait for the council to pay.
In care, the wages go out every week — but the fees that cover them arrive on someone else's payment cycle. These plain-English notes look at how short-term finance fits a UK care company, and on every one, the company borrows, never you personally. No personal guarantee.
Few sectors run a tighter line between care delivered and care paid for than this one. A residential home meets its rota every single week; a domiciliary agency clocks thousands of visit hours a month — and a sizeable share of that income is settled weeks later by a local authority, an NHS body or a clinical commissioning arrangement on terms you don't set.
Creditcorp is the growing name for the Credicorp group, and Credicorp Limited is the lender behind it. It does one thing: short-term working capital for incorporated UK businesses. This page is a guide, not an application — when you're ready, applying happens on the lender's own site, credicorp.co.uk.
Throughout, the borrower is the company — a UK private limited company (Ltd), LLP or PLC — not the director or registered manager who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. These are not personal loans, payday loans or sole-trader finance.
Where the cash-flow gaps come from
Care providers carry a wage bill that never pauses, against income that arrives on a delay. Four pressure points show up again and again.
Staffing paid before the fees clear
This is the defining gap in care. Carers are paid weekly or fortnightly, the rota has to be met whatever the income looks like, and yet a large slice of the revenue — local-authority placements, NHS-funded packages, continuing-care hours — is invoiced and then settled weeks later. A home or agency can be profitable on paper and still run short of cash in the very week the wages are due.
Local-authority payment terms
Councils pay on their cycle, not yours. Purchase orders, monthly actuals reconciled against planned hours, queries on a single line that hold up a whole remittance — each adds days or weeks before money lands. For a provider with a high proportion of funded clients, that lag is structural, not occasional, and it has to be bridged month after month.
Compliance and CQC-driven refurbishment
Registration is conditional on standards, and standards cost money up front: adaptations after an inspection, fire and infection-control works, a wet room, nurse-call systems, flooring or a redecoration programme. The bill lands as a lump, but the return — continued registration and full occupancy — only comes once the work is signed off.
Agency cover and short-notice staffing
A sickness wave, a sudden resignation or a new admission that tips your ratios can force you onto agency staff overnight, at a premium well above your own rates. Safe staffing isn't negotiable, so the cost goes out immediately — long before the matched income for those extra hours comes back in.
Which kind of finance fits a care provider
Three shapes of short-term working capital, and how each tends to land in care. The detail — amounts, pricing, terms — lives on the products page and with the lender; we won't quote figures here.
Credicorp Flex — for the staffing-versus-fees rhythm
A revolving facility the company can draw on, repay and draw again. This is the natural fit for care: top up to meet a payroll run, draw a little more when agency cover spikes, then pay down as the council's remittances catch up. Because the gap recurs every cycle, a facility you can dip into beats arranging fresh finance each month. More on Credicorp Flex →
A Business Bridging Loan — for a known, one-off cost
A single lump sum, repaid over a short fixed term. It fits the care jobs you can put a figure on: a CQC-driven refurbishment, fitting out a new home or extra beds, a deposit on a property, or a one-off stretch while a large funded contract beds in. You know the cost and you can see the income that will clear it. More on the Bridging Loan →
Credicorp Slice — for a single supplier bill
Spread one supplier invoice over a few weeks while the supplier is paid in full today. Useful when a bill for catering, PPE, laundry, medical consumables or an equipment maintenance contract lands at an awkward point in the funding cycle and you'd rather smooth it across the weeks that follow. More on Credicorp Slice →
The company borrows — not you
Care operators carry enough personal exposure already — a registered manager's name on the registration, a director's signature on a lease, personal security pledged to a property landlord or a fee-funder. The Credicorp model is the other way round: the agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your company, so the finance itself doesn't add to what's pinned to your own name.
- No personal guarantee — the company is the borrower, full stop.
- No charge over your home — your house isn't security for the wage run.
- No personal credit check on a director — the lender looks at the business, not your own file.
- Bodies corporate only — UK Ltd, LLP or PLC, never a sole trader or an individual.
This is exempt business lending under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, not consumer credit. The full regulatory position — and the company and trade-mark detail behind the group — is set out on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
A worked example
An illustration, not a real customer — just to show the shape of it in care.
A residential care home trading as a UK limited company runs at close to full occupancy, with most of its residents funded by the local authority. The wage bill is met every fortnight without fail, but the council settles a month or more in arrears, and this quarter two remittances are held up by a query on planned-versus-actual hours. On top of that, a recent inspection flagged that the first-floor bathrooms need converting to wet rooms before the next visit.
Because the staffing gap recurs every cycle, a Credicorp Flex facility to the company lets the home draw to meet payroll and pay down once each delayed remittance arrives — without re-arranging finance each month. The wet-room conversion, being a known one-off with a clear payback in continued registration, is a better fit for a fixed-term Business Bridging Loan. Both agreements are with the company, so the owner gives no personal guarantee and puts no charge over their home.
Care funding questions
The questions care operators ask most. For anything specific to your business, the lender's team are at credicorp.co.uk.
Can my care company borrow to cover wages while we wait for local-authority fees?
Yes — the gap between paying carers each week and the council settling its invoices is the single most common reason a care provider uses short-term finance. The cost has already gone out of the door as rota hours; the income arrives weeks later on the authority's payment cycle. Credicorp Flex is built for that recurring lag, while a Business Bridging Loan suits a one-off stretch. The detail sits with the lender at credicorp.co.uk.
Will I have to give a personal guarantee or a charge over my home?
No. Credicorp lends to the company — your UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not to you as a registered manager or director. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. For care operators who have already pledged personal security to a landlord or a fee-funder, keeping the working capital itself off your own name is a real distinction.
Can I use it for a CQC-driven refurbishment or compliance work?
Yes. Bringing a home up to standard after an inspection — adaptations, fire and infection-control works, a wet room, new flooring, call systems or a fresh decoration programme — is a working-capital use with a clear payback in continued registration and occupancy. Because the cost is known up front, a fixed-term Bridging Loan often fits a compliance refurb cleanly. The lender confirms what suits your case.
Does agency staffing cover count as something I can fund?
It does. When sickness, a sudden vacancy or a new admission forces you onto agency staff at short notice, the premium lands before the matched income does. Smoothing that spike with a short-term facility keeps safe staffing ratios in place without draining the float. Credicorp Flex lets you draw as the need arises and pay down once the rota settles.
Is this a consumer loan or a payday loan?
Neither. This is business credit to a body corporate, not consumer credit, and it is not for sole traders or anyone borrowing in their own name. Under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001, lending to a UK company sits outside the consumer-credit regime. The full position is on the group site, creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
How quickly can funds reach my business account?
That sits with the operating lender, but business loans are typically released to your company bank account on the same working day once the agreement is signed. In care, where a staffing gap or a deadline from an inspector can be immediate, that speed is usually the point. Apply or check timing at credicorp.co.uk.
More general questions are answered on the FAQ, and the whole journey is on the how-it-works overview.
Related sectors
Care shares its delayed-payment, staffing-heavy cash-flow shape with its neighbours.
- Healthcare & dental — the same gap between treatment delivered and payment from plans or the NHS.
- Professional services — staff and overheads paid out while invoices for billable work wait to clear.
- Property & lettings — works between tenancies and refurbishments funded before the income returns.
Or browse the whole set on the industries hub. Company and legal detail for the group lives on creditcorpgroup.co.uk.
Ready when you are
Whatever your home or agency needs funding for, applying, drawing down and managing your account all happen on the lender's site, credicorp.co.uk.