HEALTHCARE provider Active Assistance made it a quartet of awards after being named the UK’s best family business.

The Sevenoaks-based firm won the coveted Coutts prize for family businesses with a turnover between £1m and £5m.

The company has already won a national and two regional awards in the past six months.

In a category with entries from financial services, food, and manufacturing, the family saw off rivals Swann Systems, an automotive firm, and Visioncare Eye Clinic, in the final stage of the competition to land the top prize.

The presentation was made at a ceremony in Coutts’ London headquarters attended by 250 guests who were entertained by cabaret act Kit and the Widow.

Roger Pedder, chairman of the contest’s independent evaluation committee, said Active Assistance was a good example of what the Coutts Prize was looking for in a family business.

They had been impressed by the firm’s emphasis on quality and innovation, paying salaries in the top 25 per cent, setting new standards in the provision of live-in services for adults and children, support for two charities, and creating a client and staff website.

Active Assistance was not given a prize on the night but has a choice of three - a book about the business, a photographic portrait or a specially commissioned photo album - to hand on to future generations.

Mark Evans, head of family business at Coutts, said: "Up to 75 per cent of businesses in the UK are run by families and they account for a large share of the UK GDP and employment.

"They also enter each and every one of our lives far more than we realise, from the wine we drink and the cars we drive to the offices and homes we work and live in.

"Yet even today, much of their work goes largely unrecognised by society and they get very little help with tackling the unique challenges they face in areas such as business succession."

He added: "Working within a family business can bring many valuable benefits such as putting you in control of your own destiny and wealth creation but it can also bring with it many hurdles, for example training the next generation and separating ownership and management control.

Active Assistance was founded in 1992 by William Allan to provide care to people with high-level spinal cord injury (tetraplegia). It is now managed by William’s son Andrew.

* Email sarah.moriarty@coutts.com for details about Coutts 2007 Prize for Family Business.