“If it matters to you, it matters to us” – meet Starling Homecare

Licensee spotlight: Starling Homecare

We sat down with Rupen Faldu, the co-founder of Starling Homecare, to find out what inspired him and his wife Victoria to launch their new business and what makes their approach to care so wonderfully personal.

Tell us a little about yourselves and your background in care

Rupen: Care has been a constant thread running through both of our lives for a long time. I founded and led a homecare provider in Hertfordshire for over a decade, and alongside that, I led health and social care training and consultancy, supporting individual care providers to major colleges and public sector partners.

Throughout much of that time, Victoria worked alongside me in a senior management capacity. Between us, the Starling Homecare management team bring nearly 40 years of combined experience delivering care in Hertfordshire. It’s not just what we do professionally, it’s deeply personal to us too.

What made you decide to launch Starling Homecare?

Rupen: After everything we’ve experienced in the care sector, the good, the challenging, the lessons learned, we felt the time was right to build something new from the ground up. Something that truly reflected our values.

We wanted to create a care service that blends genuine family warmth with the professional expertise we’ve built up over the years.

We live in Hertfordshire. This is our community. Our daughter has grown up here, we walk our five dogs here every morning! When you’re caring for people in the place you call home, it takes on a whole different meaning. You’re not just a provider, you’re a neighbour.

What does “personalised care” really mean in practice?

Rupen: It means starting with the person, not the care package. Before we ever talk about visit schedules or services, we want to understand who someone is. What do they love? What makes them laugh? What routines bring them comfort?

Those small details are everything. They transform a care visit from a task-based interaction into something that feels warm, consistent, and genuinely reassuring.

Our mission is really quite simple: to help people live comfortably and confidently in their own homes, in the way they want to live, with their independence and dignity fully intact.

We believe the small details matter — how someone likes their tea, their favourite film, the moments that shaped their life. Those details are what allow us to deliver care that feels truly personal.

What kind of care do you offer, and who do you support?

Rupen: We offer a broad range of services, because we know that needs change over time. Someone might start with a couple of 30 minute visits a week for help around the home, and over time that might evolve into something more comprehensive, all the way to full-time live-in care if needed. We can accommodate that whole journey. We don’t force people to have a minimum amount of care, as if people only need 30 minutes, why make them have longer?

We support people with personal care, dementia and Alzheimer’s care, medication management, post-hospital recovery, respite for family carers, and end of life care. Every care package is individually tailored and regularly reviewed.

I imagine staffing is key to your success. How do you select and support your care professionals?

Rupen: We take a great deal of care with hiring staff. We look primarily for values. Skills can be taught; character is harder to find. Every care professional we bring on board is fully background-checked and receives ongoing training from us, not just at the start, but throughout their time with us.

We’ve spent years in training and consultancy, so this is something we feel strongly about. The quality of care is only ever as good as the people delivering it, and we are personally invested in every single member of our team.

Have you found your community here in Hertfordshire?

Rupen: Hertfordshire has been home for many years, and we genuinely care about what happens here. We support local charities and are currently running an ageing well campaign; promoting health, connection, and wellbeing for older people in the area.

It feels like a natural extension of what we do every day. It all comes back to the same belief: if it matters to you, it matters to us. The wellbeing of this community matters to us deeply. It’s how we actually live.

We hear you’re also a published author, tell us more!

Rupen: Yes, that’s true! I wrote a book about how organisations lose, and then rediscover, their sense of purpose by putting the customer back at the heart of everything they do.
It’s something I feel passionately about, and it shapes everything we’ve built at Starling. When you lose sight of the person you’re serving, you lose everything that matters.

What would you say to a family who is just beginning to think about homecare for a loved one?

Rupen: It can be an overwhelming time for many families and that’s understandable. Part of our role is to be a trusted adviser, to help guide people on the options available and find the right path for their loved ones.

I’d suggest to have a conversation with us. There’s no pressure, no sales pitch. We just want to listen and understand what matters most. Because that’s how it all starts, with really listening.

Starling Homecare is a CQC registered, independent family-run homecare agency serving St Albans, Harpenden, Radlett and the surrounding areas.

Visit Starling’s website for more info about high quality home care in Hertfordshire.