The OakNorth blog

Read the latest industry news, find practical advice on how to grow your business and smart tips to save for the future, all here on the OakNorth blog.

Senior living

Care industry recruitment and retention: challenges and opportunities

Monday July 11th, 2022

We all know that care is a people intensive sector and staffing is widely considered to be the biggest challenge facing the sector right now. According to a report from Skills for Care, England’s social care workforce will need to increase by 490,000 (29%) by 2035 to about 2.16 million jobs, to deal with the […]

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About OakNorth Bank

Banker’s view: why I became a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors

Monday July 4th, 2022
Greg Manson OakNorth Director of Debt Finance

There are many bankers and many chartered surveyors, but very few are both. Our Director of Debt Finance Greg Manson has recently qualified as a Member of the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, and he shared with us how having the knowledge of both industries gives him an edge when making lending decisions.  I’ve been […]

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Industry news

COVID-19 and the Care Quality Commission backlog: an ongoing challenge for the care sector

Friday June 24th, 2022
Older couple at home with their pet dog

OakNorth Bank has lent several hundred million pounds to the senior living and elderly care sector since its launch in September 2015, and one of the things we often get asked about is what criteria we look for when determining whether to lend. One of these is the Care Quality Commission (CQC) ratings of the […]

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Growing your business

Senior living is going green: how the care sector is championing carbon-neutral practices

Friday June 17th, 2022

Research carried out in October last year revealed that more than a third of global consumers are willing to pay more for sustainability. So, it’s perhaps unsurprising that we’re seeing more and more of our borrowers in the senior living and care sector making investments to reduce their carbon footprints, and develop new sustainable care […]

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About OakNorth Bank

Lending through economic cycles: supporting businesses in the good times and the tougher times

Monday June 13th, 2022

We sat down with Ben Barbanel, our Head of Debt Finance, to discuss the future of lending in more uncertain times. He explained how our plan to continuously back the best businesses can remove problems that arise from the knock-on effects of a lack of funding and how data can be used to guide lending […]

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Business finance

Fund finance: Trends that will dominate the next 12 months

Thursday May 5th, 2022

Fund finance is a growing area of focus for us here at OakNorth Bank and over my six years here, I’ve been fortunate to work on some very interesting transactions in the space. Below, I’ve summarised some of the trends that I think will dominate in fund finance over the next 12 months. Liquidity I […]

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