Short answer: no. Longer answer: a bit more nuanced than that, and worth explaining properly.
If you have looked us up on the Care Quality Commission website recently, you may have noticed something that needs explaining. The CQC shows Catherine House with a Good rating from a previous inspection, and Forward Support Care Ltd as the current registered provider with no inspection reports yet against the new registration. That gap is fair to ask questions about. So here is the full picture, in plain English.
What changed in June 2024
For many years, Catherine House operated as a sole trader business under Alison Thorne. The home, the team, the people who lived here, and the standards we worked to all sat under that single legal entity. In June 2024, the decision was made to change the legal structure from a sole trader to a limited company. From that point onwards, the registered provider with the CQC has been Forward Support Care Ltd.
That is the change. A change of legal entity. Not a change of ownership. Not a change of leadership. Not a change of team. Not a change of how we work.
What didn’t change
Everything that actually matters for the people who live here, and the people who care about them.
The home is the same. The address is the same. The phone number is the same. The team are the same. The values are the same. The five people who call Catherine House home continued through the change without disruption to their care, their routines, or their relationships with our team.
Who runs the home
Laura Luxon was Home Manager at Catherine House for around two years before the registration change. When Forward Support Care Ltd took on the CQC registration in June 2024, she became Registered Manager. Laura is here every day. She knows every person who lives here, every family who visits, and every member of staff by name. That part of the job is the part that matters.
Alison Thorne, who built and ran Catherine House for over a decade, is now Director of Forward Support Care Ltd and the Nominated Individual on the CQC registration. The home she has led for so long continues, with the same standards, under a stronger corporate framework.
Why we made the change
Three reasons, all of them about long-term commitment to doing this properly.
Governance. A limited company has formal structures, registered directors, filed accounts, and statutory accountability that a sole trader does not. For a residential care provider, that is the right level of professional rigour. Commissioners can look us up at Companies House. Our accounts are public. Nothing is hidden.
Continuity. A sole trader business is, legally, the individual. A limited company is its own entity, separate from the people running it. That matters for the long-term stability of a home like Catherine House. Whatever happens to any one person, the home and the framework around it continue.
Commitment. Setting up a limited company, registering it with the CQC as a new provider, and going through the regulatory process again is not the easy option. We chose it because we are in this for the long haul.
What this means for CQC
When the registered provider changes, the CQC treats it as a new registration. That means the previous Good rating sits with the previous provider on the CQC record, and our first inspection under Forward Support Care Ltd is pending. We are not hiding from that. We welcome the inspection. We have been running this home to the same standards we have always run it to, and we are confident in what an inspector will find.
In the meantime, you can read the previous full inspection report on the CQC website, and you are welcome to come and see the home for yourself any time you would like.
What this means for you
If you are a commissioner, a social worker, or a family member: nothing about the care has changed. The team you work with is the same team. The standards we have always held ourselves to have not moved. You can keep ringing the same number, asking for the same person, and getting the same answers.
If you have questions, please call. 01823 630750. Laura or one of the team will talk it through with you honestly.