The firm has two consultants, each bringing formidable skills to the table.
Having graduated in law at University College London in 1979, from 1982 Tom worked in the care industry in both the public and private sectors. He started as a care assistant in a hostel for learning-disabled adults and ultimately became manager of a large local authority care home in Essex. He later worked in Hertfordshire, first as a front line inspector then as a Regulation Manager for the NCSC and CSCI, before forming the Care Standards Consultancy in 2005 with the aim of helping hard pressed care providers survive and prosper in an increasingly turbulent and uncertain environment.
Tom specialises in advising on management and regulatory matters, including compliance with the Essential Standards of Quality and Safety, quality assurance and how to handle relationships with the Care Quality Commission, local authority commissioners and multi-agency safeguarding teams.
Tom’s long experience as a care practitioner, provider, regulator and consultant has given him a unique perspective on the realities of modern care home management and regulation as well as the ability to prioritise practical action points designed to improve service delivery and secure good quality ratings. A lively personality, he retains a firm commitment to high standards of service provision tempered by a healthy scepticism regarding the sometimes disproportionate and highhanded approach of regulators and commissioners.
Chris Mileson qualified as a solicitor and worked as an in-house lawyer for EMI Music Publishing for over twenty years, ultimately managing the in-house legal department and serving on the board of directors. He and Tom Cooper both studied law at University College London in the 1970s where they became good friends, collaborating on various business and leisure projects over the years. Chris also spent time with Tom in his work in care homes and once Tom set up The Care Standards Consultancy Chris decided that he would like to become professionally involved in the firm. He also has personal experience and knowledge of what it is like to look after someone in need of care as he has a close relative with autism. He is married to a social worker who has herself worked in residential care and so Chris has seen first hand the hard work and long hours that are required of staff working in the care sector.
Both practitioners feel that Chris’s determined ‘can-do’ attitude and the outstanding analytical, legal and management skills he developed as a serious player in the fiercely result-driven music business add an invaluable extra dimension to the firm’s mission to help care providers deal with the minefield of regulation, bureaucracy, political correctness and other red tape that they encounter in their dealings with CQC, social services and other local authority departments.