Custos Care was registered with the Companies House in 2021. Our founder and Managing Director William O’Keeffe who himself is a carer, wanted to see that he and his colleagues were treated with the dignity and rewards that they deserve. Custos Care is an introductory agency which is comprised exclusively of carers. We self organise, assisting each other with shift patterns, back-ground checks, insurance, and training.
There is no other care company which follows the Custos Care model. Our mission is to put care first and profit second, and to see that both client and carer are informed and reassured by the rates and services we offer.
As a Micro-Enterprise and a Social Enterprise, profits have never been our main concern and we consult with our carers regularly on where investment is needed to improve our service. Our goal has and always will be to pay our carers fairly, and provide them with all the required training and support they need to be able to handle their job professionally and safely.
Micro-enterprises are hailed for their ability to offer a far more personalised service than larger providers, and in the care industry this is becoming especially more apparent. With mighty companies employing anywhere from one hundred to one thousand people it becomes impossible to retain a community, and to keep regular contact with each and every carer.
It is down to our modest size and capacity that Custos is able to offer our personalised approach, to not only its clients, but also to our carers. Each of our carers speak regularly with our management to ensure they feel seen and valued and this is something our carers particularly appreciate.
If you would like to learn more about Micro-Enterprises and how to support small, local, personalised care then please follow the link below that was very kindly found during research by one of our carers Margaret.
Our 2023 Christmas Lunch
As per tradition we held our annual Christmas party at Brinkleys, to share the festive cheer with some of our carers and advocates. What an afternoon it was.
Our carers that were awarded for their outstanding service to Custos care this year were: Hania Glazowska, Peter Harris, João Viegas and Aleksadra Osadcij.
Please browse through some snapshots of our afternoon as well as our official 2023 Christmas video below:
A look back on our 2022 Christmas Lunch.
What better way to see out the year than an afternoon spent feasting on a lavish three course meal at Brinkleys on Hollywood Road.
And here we are at our very first Christmas Lunch in 2021. Back when there was just a handful of us.
A Message From The Founder.
“If my mother needed care, I would much rather she were visited by someone who’s there because they want to be, and not because it’s their only option. This is sadly the case for many of the carers sent by agencies that I’ve observed over the past six years. I would want her visited by someone who’s local to her, not having just spent two hours commuting in from an eight-hour shift elsewhere. I would want her to be visited by someone who smiles, and ask her how her day is going. I’d want her carer to listen to what she had to say, and respond in kind. I’d like them to have some shared passions and areas of interest. My mother liked to paint for example, so I’d like someone who arrives with an easel, and paintbrushes, or plants some seeds in the local park with her.
Like myself, many of our carers are aspiring artists. We have an opera singer, a ballerina, playwrights, and actors, all of whom are highly emotionally intelligent individuals who have taken to this work vocationally. I began care work when I finished my BA Honours in Theatre Studies, and I have no plans to stop. I love this work and I simply want to encourage and support others to experience the same, and for loved ones to receive the personal service they deserve, at a more affordable price. I've worked for and alongside some of the biggest agencies in the country for years and I understand the current format, and it's failing us all. Let's try something different.”
- William O’Keeffe