Member Article

Be Independent joins forces with Garbutt & Elliott

Be Independent, the new York-based Social Enterprise Community Interest Company, has appointed leading Yorkshire accountants Garbutt & Elliott as its main business advisors and accountants.

Be Independent, formerly the City of York Council’s Community Equipment Loan Service (CELS) and Warden Call Service, aims to promote lifelong independence by providing support for elderly and vulnerable people in their own homes.

Chief Executive Heather Barden explained: “We aim to do this by creating a high quality, comprehensive and sustainable telecare and equipment service that redefines care delivery and helps people manage their lives and stay independent in their own homes through life enhancing equipment solutions.

“Being a social enterprise means we are a business with a social purpose - our social purpose is supporting people to live independently in their own homes for as long as possible,” she said.

She explained: “Moving from the public sector to the private sector is a massive step and a huge learning curve and it was crucial to appoint businesses advisers who understood and believed in what we are doing. Garbutt & Elliott have fitted the bill perfectly. They have been outstanding, providing quality advice and support for all areas of our fledgling business”.

Jeremy Oliver, partner with Garbutt and Elliott, who have offices in York and Leeds, commented: “Our initial support to Be Independent was provided by our accounting systems specialist Hilary Dyson. Her brief has been to help the newly-formed entity to assess its financial reporting and accounting system requirements so that it can become truly independent and separate from City of York Council.

“This has involved undertaking a detailed review to fully understand the business processes and operations and the transactions needed to be recorded around income, expenditure, stock and assets. We have also helped with the production of the initial financial and management information the Board require to organise and manage the finances of the business.

“This has been a tremendous ground-breaking experience for us, as Be Independent is the first public service to be spun out of the City of York Council. We now understand the specific needs of other potential spin-outs either out of York and other councils in our region and are able to specialise in this niche area,” said Mr Oliver.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Beaumont .