Independent data report. Published August 2026 by Claire Ashworth. Free to cite with a link to this page.
The standard advice is to get three quotes from three different companies. Sensible enough, until you notice how few companies there actually are. Most of the stairlift names a British buyer will meet are brands rather than businesses, and a good many of them lead back to the same four owners.
Nobody publishes this. So we went through Companies House registers, group accounts and acquisition announcements and drew the map.
Key findings (UK, August 2026)
- Eleven of the best-known stairlift brands sold in Britain belong to just four owners.
- The largest is Savaria Corporation of Canada, a company listed in Toronto that few British buyers have heard of. Six brands sit under it, including Handicare, Minivator and Companion.
- Only two of the four are British companies: Stannah and Acorn. Stannah is the one still owned by the founding family, now in its fifth generation.
- Acorn and Brooks share a controlling owner. Companies House lists the same individual as holding 75% or more of both.
- TK Home Solutions and Access BDD are the same UK company, TK Access Solutions Ltd, selling to consumers under one name and to the trade under the other. Its parent is subject to a pending takeover by KONE.
- Despite all that foreign ownership, most stairlifts sold here are still built here, in Hampshire, Yorkshire, Scotland and the West Midlands.
- One familiar name has gone from the register altogether: Companion Stairlifts Limited was dissolved on 6 January 2026.
The map
Savaria: the Canadian company behind six British brands
Savaria Corporation is based in Laval, Quebec, and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker SIS. It is the biggest single presence in the UK stairlift market and almost invisible as a name, because it sells here under everyone else’s.
It got there by acquisition. Garaventa Accessibility came first, in September 2018. Then in March 2021 it completed a takeover of Handicare Group AB, the Swedish listed company, which brought with it Handicare, Minivator, Freelift, Sterling and Companion in one transaction. Handicare had itself been assembled from older firms: Minivator was a Midlands manufacturer, Freelift a Dutch one descended from businesses founded in the 1880s, and the two were merged in July 2010.
The rebranding is still working its way through. The UK company, Minivator Limited by birth and Handicare Accessibility Limited for most of the last fifteen years, was renamed Savaria Lifts (UK) Ltd on 19 January 2026. The consumer-facing Handicare websites were still carrying Handicare branding when we checked in August 2026. Treat Handicare in 2026 as a brand rather than a company.
Companion is the odd one out and worth a paragraph of its own. It never manufactured anything; its own website says so, describing itself as part of the Handicare group and stating that Handicare builds all its lifts. Companion Stairlifts Limited applied to be struck off in July 2025 and was dissolved on 6 January 2026. This was a voluntary strike-off with accounts filed on the way out, which is the pattern of a solvent group tidying up rather than a business failing. The website was still live in August 2026, still quoting the dissolved company number. We could not establish which entity, if any, now trades under the Companion name.
Acorn and Brooks
Acorn is the highest-volume British-registered maker we could find a published figure for, and it sells direct, with its own salespeople and its own installers. Brooks is an older name, founded in 1972 by Frederick Brooks, who built the first one for his wife, and it reaches customers through independent dealers instead.
They are not unrelated. Companies House records the same individual, John Stewart Jakes, born May 1956, British and resident in Monaco, as a person with significant control holding 75% or more of the shares in both Acorn Mobility Services Ltd (02593771) and Brooks Stairlifts Limited (01042173). The two share a registered office in Steeton, West Yorkshire, and the same 30 September year end. Brooks files audit-exempt subsidiary accounts under a parent company guarantee; Acorn Mobility Services files group accounts. Jakes has been a director of Brooks since 9 July 2010.
What the public record does not do is name Brooks’s parent, so we are not going to assert that Brooks is a subsidiary of Acorn. Common ownership is what the filings show, and common ownership is what we will say.
TK Home Solutions and Access BDD are one company
These two trade quite separately, one selling to the public and one supplying the trade, but both are TK Access Solutions Limited of Stockton-on-Tees, company number 01166449. The business dates back to 1976 and a Teesside firm making a lift called the Stair-El. It has been part of thyssenkrupp since 1999.
The ownership above it has moved twice and is about to move again. thyssenkrupp sold its entire elevator division to a consortium of Advent International, Cinven and RAG-Stiftung in a €17.2 billion deal that completed on 31 July 2020, and the business was renamed TK Elevator. On 29 April 2026 KONE announced a combination with TK Elevator valued at €29.4 billion, with completion expected no earlier than the second quarter of 2027. That deal is pending, not done. As things stand today the owner of record is still Advent and Cinven.
One point of confusion worth clearing up: thyssenkrupp did shut down its stairlift business in North America, back in December 2012. The UK operation was not affected and is trading normally.
Stannah
Stannah is the exception that makes the rest of the map interesting. More than 150 years old, still headquartered and manufacturing in Andover, and still owned by the Stannah family, now the fifth generation. The Companies House register for Stannah Lifts Holdings Limited lists seven family members as persons with significant control, several holding through trusts. There has been no change of ownership.
Among the four large groups it is the only one that is both British-owned and family-owned, which is not a claim about product quality but is a real difference in who the business ultimately answers to.
Where the lifts are actually built
Ownership and manufacture are different questions, and the answers here diverge in a way that flatters British industry. A Handicare lift is owned by a Canadian company and built in the West Midlands. A Vimec is owned by a Swedish company and built in northern Italy.
Andover, Kingswinford, Keighley, Bradford and Acorn’s plants in Yorkshire and Scotland between them account for a large share of everything installed in British homes. Acorn’s own trade body listing claims more than 50,000 lifts a year from its UK factories. If buying British matters to you, the good news is that it is easy to do and does not depend on picking a British-owned brand.
The full table
| Brand | Ultimate owner | Owner country | Built in | How it reaches you |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handicare | Savaria Corporation | Canada | UK and Netherlands | Dealer and direct |
| Minivator | Savaria Corporation | Canada | UK | Dealer |
| Freelift | Savaria Corporation | Canada | Netherlands | Dealer |
| Sterling | Savaria Corporation | Canada | UK | Dealer |
| Companion | Savaria Corporation | Canada | UK (does not manufacture) | Direct; company dissolved Jan 2026 |
| Garaventa | Savaria Corporation | Canada | Canada, Italy, China | Dealer |
| Acorn | John Stewart Jakes | UK company | UK | Direct |
| Brooks | John Stewart Jakes | UK company | UK | Dealer |
| TK Home Solutions | TK Elevator (Advent, Cinven) | Private equity | Netherlands | Direct |
| Access BDD | TK Elevator (Advent, Cinven) | Private equity | Netherlands | Trade only |
| Stannah | Stannah family | UK | UK | Direct |
| Platinum | NorthEdge Capital and founder | UK | UK | Dealer |
| Bespoke | Founders Burns and Finn | UK | UK | Trade only |
| Otolift | Ooms family and NPM Capital | Netherlands | Netherlands, Slovakia | Direct and dealer |
| Bruno | Bruno family | USA | USA | Dealer |
| Vimec | Investment AB Latour | Sweden | Italy | Dealer |
What this changes when you are getting quotes
None of this is a reason to distrust anyone. It does change three practical things.
Three quotes are not automatically three options. If one installer quotes a Handicare, another a Minivator and a third a Sterling, that is one manufacturer three times. Ask which manufacturer builds the lift, not just whose van turns up. Our pricing index gives you the bands to check the numbers against.
Direct and dealer are also genuinely different purchases. Acorn, Stannah, TK Home Solutions and Companion sell direct, so the price, the installer and the aftercare all come from one organisation. Brooks, Platinum, Bespoke and Access BDD reach you through independent dealers, which means the lift and the service come from different businesses, and the quality of the dealer matters as much as the quality of the lift. Neither model is better. They fail in different ways.
Then there is the long tail. A stairlift needs servicing for ten years or more, so the question of who will still be around matters. Consolidation cuts both ways here: a lift backed by a listed international group is unlikely to be orphaned, but brands do get retired after acquisitions, as the Handicare-to-Savaria renaming shows. Ask who will service the lift in year eight, and get the answer in writing. Our running costs report covers what that servicing should cost.
Names that are often mistaken for stairlift makers
A few well-known companies come up in stairlift searches without making seated stairlifts.
- Stiltz makes through-floor home lifts in Kingswinford, not stairlifts. It sits on the same industrial estate as the Savaria operation and there is no ownership link between them.
- Terry Lifts of Knutsford makes through-floor and platform lifts. It was acquired by the American family firm Bruno Independent Living Aids in late 2025.
- Wessex Lifts of Romsey made stairlifts once but phased them out in the 1990s and now builds home and platform lifts. It has been part of the Ratcliff Group since 1990.
- Age UK does not make or install anything. It is a retail partnership; the lifts are supplied by Savaria’s UK business.
Methodology and sources
Ownership was established from the Companies House register: persons with significant control, filing histories, registers of charges, and officer appointments, all read in August 2026. Where control sits above a UK company, it was traced through corporate announcements and, for listed groups, published investor material. Acquisition dates come from the acquiring company’s own completion announcements rather than press coverage.
Company numbers are given so anyone can check the primary record. Where the public record establishes common ownership but not a parent-subsidiary relationship, we have said so rather than filling the gap. Two claims are deliberately hedged: the build location for the TK Home Solutions and Access BDD range is the Dutch entity at Krimpen aan den IJssel on the balance of evidence, but TK Elevator does not state it publicly, and the date NPM Capital invested in Otolift is given as 2022 by NPM and 2023 by Otolift.
Ownership changes. This map is a snapshot dated August 2026 and the KONE combination with TK Elevator, announced on 29 April 2026, is pending rather than complete. We will revise it as deals close. If you are a manufacturer and something here is out of date, tell us via the contact page and we will correct it.
Stairlift Costs is an independent guide operated by Whito Ltd. We do not sell, install or service stairlifts, and we have no commercial relationship with any manufacturer named on this page.
Download the data: stairlift-brand-ownership-data-2026.csv (every brand, owner, company number and build location, free to reuse with attribution).
How to cite this report
Journalists, manufacturers, dealers, occupational therapists and charities are welcome to reuse any figure or chart on this page. Please credit “Stairlift Costs Brand Ownership Map 2026” with a link back here. The map can be republished unaltered under the same credit. Manufacturers are welcome to link to their own entry.
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Handicare stairlifts?
Savaria Corporation of Laval, Quebec, listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange as SIS. Savaria completed its takeover of Handicare Group AB on 11 March 2021. The UK company was renamed from Handicare Accessibility Limited to Savaria Lifts (UK) Ltd on 19 January 2026, though the consumer websites still carry Handicare branding.
Are Acorn and Brooks the same company?
They are separate legal entities under common ownership. Companies House lists the same person, John Stewart Jakes, as holding 75% or more of both Acorn Mobility Services Ltd and Brooks Stairlifts Limited, and the two share a registered office in West Yorkshire. Acorn sells direct to the public; Brooks sells through independent dealers.
Which stairlift companies are British owned?
Of the four large groups, two are British-registered: Stannah, which is owned by the Stannah family and manufactures in Andover, and Acorn, which is UK-registered and manufactures in Yorkshire and Scotland. Platinum and Bespoke are also British companies. Savaria is Canadian and TK Elevator is private-equity owned.
Are stairlifts still made in Britain?
Yes, and more than the ownership picture suggests. Stannah builds in Andover, Acorn and Brooks in Yorkshire and Scotland, Handicare and Minivator in Kingswinford, Platinum in Keighley and Bespoke in Bradford. Canadian ownership of the Handicare brands did not move manufacturing out of the UK.
Is Companion Stairlifts still trading?
Companion Stairlifts Limited was dissolved on 6 January 2026, following a voluntary strike-off application made in July 2025. That is the pattern of a solvent group reorganisation rather than a failure. The Companion website was still online in August 2026 and still described the brand as part of the Handicare group, but its published company details referred to the dissolved registration, and we could not confirm which entity now trades under the name.
Does it matter who owns a stairlift brand?
For the lift itself, not much. It matters for two practical things: whether three quotes are really three different products, and who will still be servicing the lift in eight years. Both are worth asking about directly.