Real stories.
Honest takes.
Customer stories, product deep dives, founder notes, and hiring insights, all built to help care providers hire better.
Employment tribunal time limits doubled: what it means for care hiring
From 1 October 2026 rejected applicants have six months to claim, not three. What care providers should keep on file, and for how long.
Right to work checks for employers: what changed in October
Right to work checks now cover workers, sub-contractors and some platforms. What the 1 October 2026 changes mean for care providers.
More than half of your screening calls happen when your office is closed
53% of AI screening calls happen outside office hours. That's the talent your team couldn't reach before — and why Lily works around the clock so you don't have to.
Midlands Care is live on Lily
Midlands Care has gone live with Lily end to end — AI screening, compliance checks, and digital onboarding, all in one place.
End-to-End Hiring Automation for Care Providers
Lily automates every stage of care sector hiring, from job posting to 3-month retention. Pay for the work Lily does. No subscription. CQC-aligned.
LilyAttract: fewer clicks, 94% pre-screen completion
LilyAttract connects the application and pre-screen into one journey. Early data shows completion jumping from 70% to 94%.
AI screening calls "It was really different, but actually it was really good."
AI screening calls often feel unfamiliar at first, but candidates are quickly surprised by how effective they are. The real issue in hiring isn’t AI. It’s slow responses and poor follow-up—and data shows faster interviews, more hires, and a better overall experience when speed improves. The metric that matters isn’t who asks the first question, but how quickly candidates get answers and opportunities.
The CV is dead. Long live the CV.
AI hasn't ruined CVs — it has exposed how little signal they were ever carrying. What that means for care providers trying to hire the right people.
Frontline hiring in hospitality: what care providers and hotels have in common
Hospitality hiring has the same pain as care: high volume, mobile-first applicants, fast decision cycles, and retention battles. Here's what both sectors can learn from each other — and where AI-led screening wins.
Career coach AI: what it is, and when it actually helps care workers
Career coach AI tools offer 24/7 career guidance, CV help, and interview prep. Here's an honest look at what they do well, where they fall short, and what matters for a care career.
AI interview platforms compared: what to look for in 2026
AI interview platforms are not all the same. Some are video-only recorders. Others are full voice AIs that conduct the conversation. Here's how to tell them apart — and what care providers should pick.
Reference check automation: how to stop chasing referees and start hiring
Reference checks are the bottleneck nobody talks about in care hiring. Here's how automation turns 14 days of chasing into 48 hours of signal — with full audit trail.
How to reduce hiring bias in care recruitment — a practical guide
Hiring bias creeps in through small, everyday decisions. Here's a practical step-by-step for reducing it in care recruitment — with structured interviews, blind screening, and auditable AI.
ATS pricing comparison: subscription vs usage-based, for UK care providers
A side-by-side comparison of ATS pricing models — per-seat, per-job, flat-rate and usage-based. Which actually works for a mid-sized UK care provider? Real numbers.
How much does an ATS cost in the UK? Real numbers, no sales calls
ATS pricing in the UK ranges from £50/month to £5,000+/month. Here's what's behind the gap, what care providers should expect to pay, and how usage-based pricing compares.
Candidate evaluation tools: what to look for, and what to avoid
Candidate evaluation tools help you score applicants consistently. Here's what the good ones do, what the bad ones miss, and what works in UK care.
Hiring process automation: a step-by-step playbook for UK care providers
Step-by-step guide to automating your hiring process — what to automate, in what order, and how to avoid common pitfalls in care recruitment.
Recruitment workflow automation: where the hours actually go
Recruitment workflow automation replaces manual steps in your hiring pipeline with software. Here's where to start, which workflows move the needle, and how to measure the impact.
Automated hiring software: what it is, what it isn't, and what actually moves the needle
Automated hiring software replaces manual recruiting tasks with software workflows. Not all automation is equal — here's what to buy and what to avoid in UK care.
Candidate screening software: a buyer's guide for UK care providers
Candidate screening software filters and assesses applicants against a role's requirements. The good ones save hours. The bad ones filter out great people. Here's how to tell them apart.
How to improve candidate experience in care recruitment
Candidate experience is how it feels to apply, not just whether they get the job. Here's a practical guide to fixing it in UK care — fewer drop-offs, more offers accepted, better retention.
What is a candidate management system? And what care providers should look for
A candidate management system stores applicant data, tracks pipeline status, and manages communication. Here's how it differs from an ATS, and what care providers actually need.
What is an AI interview? How they work, and what applicants should know
An AI interview is a structured conversation with a voice AI that asks job-relevant questions. Here's how they work, what applicants experience, and what employers should and shouldn't expect.
Interview scheduling software: what care providers should look for in 2026
Interview scheduling software replaces email tennis with automated booking. In care, the winning tool also reduces no-shows and works around shift rotas, not 9-5 calendars.
Automated resume screening: what works, what doesn't, and what care providers need
Automated resume screening uses software to filter CVs against a role's requirements. Useful for volume, risky for quality. Here's how to get it right in a UK care setting.
What is an AI recruiting platform? A practical guide for UK care providers
An AI recruiting platform automates the repetitive parts of hiring — sourcing, screening, scheduling, and compliance. Here's what it is, how it works, and what to check before you buy.
What is talent acquisition software? And what UK care providers should actually buy
Talent acquisition software is the category above an ATS — built for the full hiring lifecycle, not just tracking. Here's what it includes, what to ignore, and what care providers actually need.
The benefits of diversity in the workplace — and how fair hiring gets you there
A diverse workforce hires better, retains longer, and delivers better care. Here's the evidence — and the practical steps to get there through fair, structured hiring.
What does a recruiter actually do? Job responsibilities, explained
A recruiter sources, screens, interviews, and hires people for a role. But in UK care, the job is more like plate-spinning. Here's what a recruiter really does — and where AI now takes over.
What is an applicant tracking system (ATS)? A plain-English guide for UK care providers
An applicant tracking system (ATS) is software that stores CVs and tracks candidates through your hiring pipeline. Here's what it does, what it can't do, and why care providers need more.
From tracking recruitment to running it
Recruitment software has spent twenty years tracking hiring. The next generation of platforms — like Lily — will actually perform it. Richard Upshall, CPO at Lily, explains why that shift matters for frontline industries.
Why an ATS isn't enough for care hiring
An ATS tracks applications. It doesn't fill rotas. Here's why care providers are reaching the limits of applicant tracking — and what they need instead.
CQC-compliant hiring in care
Safer recruitment isn't admin. It's how you prove your service is safe. Here's a step-by-step guide to staying inspection-ready at every stage of the hiring process.
From 4 hires to 27 in a single month
A multi-site care provider went from 4 hires in January to 27 the next year. Here's how Lily made it happen.
Best AI recruitment tools for healthcare hiring in 2026
A honest comparison of AI hiring tools for UK healthcare and care providers — what each does, what it costs, and which fits your team.
Lily vs Paradox
Compare Lily and Paradox for care recruitment. See how pricing, compliance, screening speed, and UK care sector features stack up side by side.
How to streamline your care home hiring process
A slow hiring process costs care homes candidates, cash, and CQC confidence. Here's how to fix it step by step.
How to run fair structured interviews in care
Structured interviews reduce bias and improve hire quality. Here's how to set them up in a care setting.
How to hire care workers faster in healthcare
Healthcare hiring is slow, expensive, and losing good people. Here's a practical guide to fixing it.
How to reduce interview no-shows in care recruitment
Interview no-shows waste hours every week. Here's why they happen in care hiring and how to fix it.
How to cut candidate screening time in care recruitment
Most care providers spend 9 days screening a single applicant. Here's how to cut that to under a day.
Lily vs recruitment agencies
Compare Lily's AI hiring platform with care recruitment agencies. No placement fees, 0.83-day screening, 100% response rate. Pay for the work Lily does.
AI Hiring Compliance in 2026: What Healthcare Employers Need to Document Now
The EU AI Act makes AI in hiring a high-risk area, requiring transparency, bias monitoring, human oversight, and clear documentation. For healthcare employers, the bar is higher due to workforce diversity and regulatory scrutiny, making poorly designed AI tools a real compliance risk. The opportunity is to adopt structured, auditable AI systems that are not only compliant, but faster, fairer, and more defensible than manual processes.
The Hidden Cost of a 15-Minute Screening Call in Healthcare
A “15-minute” screening call actually consumes 35–45 minutes of recruiter time, costing tens of thousands annually in direct labour. In healthcare, the bigger cost is downstream: slow screening delays hiring, increases agency spend, and fuels burnout-driven attrition. Automating screening can cut time by ~80%, improving speed, fairness, and materially reducing vacancy-driven costs.
The NHS Hiring Crisis No One Talks About: How Slow Screening Is Making the Vacancy Problem Worse
The NHS doesn’t just have a supply problem, it has a conversion problem. Candidates are applying in volume but are being lost due to slow, manual, 9–5 recruitment processes that don’t fit frontline workers’ realities. Fixing screening speed and accessibility could materially reduce vacancies by converting existing demand into hires.
5 signs your hiring process is losing candidates before interview
If your shortlist is thin despite healthy application numbers, the problem isn't your employer brand — it's probably your process. Here are the five most common ways care providers lose candidates before they ever speak to them.
How AI phone screening works — and what it means for candidates
AI screening sounds impersonal. In practice, done right, it's more consistent and fairer than many human-run processes. Here's how Lily's screening works, and why candidates consistently rate it highly.
The real cost of agency hiring in social care
The headline rate is 15–25%. But the true cost of agency hiring goes well beyond the fee. When you factor in management time, re-placement risk, and cultural fit, the numbers look very different.
Why CQC compliance starts at the application stage
Most care providers think of compliance as something that happens after a hire. In reality, the way you run your hiring process is itself a compliance matter — and CQC inspectors are starting to look at it.