Sue Ryder, the UK health and social care services charity, is proposing to transfer all its English homecare business to Allied Healthcare International Inc. (AHCI:NSQ), the US-quoted provider of temporary staffing services to the health care and social care industries in the UK.

It is anticipated by Allied Healthcare that there will be no care worker redundancies as a result of this transfer.

Paul Woodward, CEO of Sue Ryder, commented "we have been providing an ever improving homecare service since the early 1990s. However, following a strategic review by our executive and trustees, we have decided that it makes more sense for us to focus on, and expand, our palliative and long-term neurological care offering. Whilst many factors influenced this decision, it is important to clarify that the financial aspect was not our central rationale for moving away from the homecare market."

"We have spent time assessing which provider would be best placed to provide sustainability and continuity for service users and staff and we believe that, with their extensive homecare operation, Allied Healthcare is an excellent choice."

Sandy Young, CEO at Allied Healthcare Group, said "the transition of Sue Ryder's homecare business to Allied Healthcare is a natural fit with our core operation, whether you are a service user who wants continuity of care and support in your own home or a care worker looking to work for one of the leading homecare providers. Our relentless focus on quality and service delivery is at the heart of the services we provide. In fact, we have continued to exceed the national average in relation to CQC inspection results with over 90% of branches holding Good or Excellent status."

"We are delighted to be talking to Sue Ryder about taking over the charity's homecare services, all of which have been rated as Good or Excellent by the CQC, and we look forward to welcoming Sue Ryder's dedicated employees into the Allied Healthcare Group."

Once any agreement is reached, Allied Healthcare and Sue Ryder expect to complete the transfer in a matter of weeks. The sites involved are; Doncaster, Bournemouth, Wolverhampton, Wigan, Trafford, Lincoln, Macclesfield and Newark.

The transfer does not include Sue Ryder's Scottish homecare businesses. These operate differently to the English ones, offering specialist services to a much wider community, and are entirely in line with the charity's strategy.

Deal metrics were not made available.

After the announcement of the deal on Friday Allied Healthcare's shares, which are listed in New York, were up by +3.78% and then again up by +1.62% on Monday but down last night by -0.40% to US$2.50