Carolyne Maybury from Daventry and Andrea Ellis from Fawsley have both set up businesses designed to help people with home care issues.

Mrs Maybury has set up Daventry Homecare Team, while Miss Ellis has started A and D Complete Care, and while they are separate ventures, the pair have been working closely together and sharing customers.

Miss Ellis said: “We basically do anything we can to make sure they can stay in their homes for as long as possible.

“This can mean anything from cleaning to cooking meals to helping them fill out complicated forms.”

For those thinking private home care might be too expensive, there are ways the service can be made more affordable.

Miss Ellis added: “People can actually get funding from the Government to help pay for our services. If people ask us about how we can help then we will be able to help them.”

Both businesses have been running since September and the pair are very happy with the way things are going.

Mrs Maybury said: “Running my own business is something that I have wanted to do. It is nice to have a bit of freedom when doing your work and you can start to put your ideas across and do things your way.

“It has been very pleasing so far, we have got a few people who are using our services and we are quite busy. We would like a few more customers and for more people to know that we are around.”

Miss Ellis added: “At the moment we are just looking after elderly people and if we are successful, in the future we could move into looking after disabled people.”