Suffolk-based enterprise agency Menta has been hailed as playing a successful role in a pioneering partnership which aims to help care homes and at-home care providers in the county cope with budget restraints.

And, amid continuing pressure on local authority budgets which is having a knock-on effect on care providers, more operators in the sector in Suffolk are being urged to tap into the support which now only has another four months to run.

Bury St Edmunds-based Menta has been commissioned by The Suffolk Brokerage, a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to rasing care standards, to offer free and impartial business advice to the county’s health and social care sector.

Louise Whitley, workforce development manager at The Suffolk Brokerage, said: “Our clients are fantastic at caring and we’d like to give them some extra help, to enable them to sustain and grow their care companies.

“Time and again we find good businesses struggling to attract sufficient high calibre staff, or having difficulties promoting their services. That’s why we commissioned Menta to provide this valuable support to care companies in Suffolk.”

Advice and support delivered by Menta have covered areas such as HR, cash flow forecasting and marketing, including improvements to company websites, photography and branding.

Margaret Holt, manager of the Willows Care Home at Lawshall, near Bury St Edmunds, said: “The advice Menta provided was invaluable. It included research into new audiences to target for recruitment, drafting words for an advertisement, a full review of our website with recommendations for improvement and a brief for the design of a new website.

“What is fantastic is that these expert services were delivered to us without any charge at all, thanks to The Suffolk Brokerage.”

Leanne Castle from Menta, who co-ordinates the support, added: “We’re able to provide business expertise to a further ten businesses and would urge care companies to get in touch with Suffolk Brokerage as soon as possible as the support is available on a first come, first serve basis.”

To express an interest in receiving business advice contact Suffolk Brokerage at 01449 720400 or email louise.whitley@suffolkbrokerage.co.uk.