A care group plans to add 50 new staff in Perth after acquiring a rival firm.
Cera Care has completed a takeover of Mears Care Scotland with a promise to add 500 jobs across its Scottish operations, which include Perth.
The London-based group said it was keen to recruit staff who have lost work due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the retail, hospitality and aviation service industries.
The vast majority of jobs across its 12 Scottish offices will be care roles, with Perth one of the key offices selected for expansion.
Established in 2016, Cera Care combines technology with a care team to offer a variety of services to look after the elderly and people with dementia care as well as palliative and respite care.
Ranpreet Grewal, finance director at Cera Care, said: “The first half of this year has reaffirmed how vital social care is across the UK as a whole. Ultimately, we want to provide as many people as possible with access to our technology.
“This deal means we are able to create hundreds of roles across Scotland to help put people back to work, provide best in class support to the country’s elderly community and further support on the NHS during a time of unpresented pressure.
“We had set ourselves the aim of establishing a national footprint in Scotland earlier this year, and this acquisition marks a huge achievement for everyone at Cera Care.
“The infrastructure and talent we have been able to bring in as a result of this deal provides us with an ideal platform from which to continue our growth in Scotland and the rest of the UK.”
Cera has raised £70 million in debt and equity funding to support the company’s rapid national expansion.
Mears said it had completed its exit from domiciliary care with the disposal of its Scottish business.
The sale to Cera Care, which also acquired Mears’ England and Wales domiciliary care business, is for a cash consideration of £2 million and a further £500,000 in a year’s time, it told investors.
The 500 new roles in Scotland are part of a wider drive to recruit 10,000 staff across its entire UK business.
In the first half of this year, Cera provided almost two million in-home care visits.
