Families Launch Audacious Bid to Take Over Specialist Care Home
A group of families has launched an audacious bid to take over William Blake House, a specialist residential care home for adults with severe and complex learning disabilities in England. This move comes as the charity running the home faces potential closure after amassing huge tax debts and paying £1 million in fees to one of its trustees.
Financial Crisis and Governance Concerns
William Blake House is under investigation by regulators and faces a potential winding up order in just seven weeks. The families have expressed a loss of trust in the charity's board, accusing it of acting secretively and failing to disclose a £1.6 million unpaid tax bill. They have also raised questions about the appropriateness and legality of £1 million payments to a company solely owned by the charity's chair, Bushra Hamid.
In a statement, the parents said, "The charity belongs to the 22 residents, not to the board of trustees and the chief executive who through their actions have taken this charity from a thriving community to one at the brink of failure. These people will be gone if the care homes go into insolvency, they will walk away. Our relatives won't. This is supposed to be their secure home for life."
Parent-Led Takeover Initiative
The families, consisting of 18 households, are in the process of setting up a not-for-profit company to oversee the care services. They believe a parent-led takeover is the best solution to address the urgent threat to the charity's services and ethos, as well as to overhaul what they see as failing management that has led to near insolvency.
They stated, "Now that this group of 18 families have found each other, we have formed an incredible bond. There has been an outpouring of love and support for each other which we want to harness for the wellbeing of our beloved children. So we are taking matters into our own hands." The families can draw upon a large pool of professional expertise among their members, including legal, business, accountancy, and social care management skills.
Background of William Blake House
William Blake House is one of only a handful of specialist residential homes in England for adults with severe and complex learning disabilities. Most residents are non-verbal and require round-the-clock support and care. The home operates on Steiner principles, aiming to create a therapeutic environment where residents are treated as having potential rather than limitations, with care underpinned by an active and socially inclusive lifestyle.
Councils and the NHS spend more than £3 million annually funding its services. However, families have noted that the home's ethos has suffered in recent years, with reductions in residents' trips and activities, although the quality and safety of care have remained generally good.
Discovery of Financial Plight
The families discovered the charity's financial difficulties and potential conflicts of interest on the trustee board last autumn. They learned that the charity had been at risk of overnight insolvency multiple times due to failures in paying staff PAYE and national insurance. Its assets dwindled from nearly £1 million to £200,000 over three years, with auditors questioning its viability as a business.
One parent shared, "Many of the residents had histories of unsuitable placements, emergency placements and trauma, so finding William Blake House, which was a place we could trust, was a godsend." The families were devastated to realize the home was at risk.
Charity's Response and Regulatory Actions
The Northamptonshire-based charity has attributed its financial struggles to high agency staff costs and local authorities' failure to raise care fees in line with inflation. It plans to settle its tax debts by selling land to a developer. The charity has passed the families' proposal to its solicitors and intends to respond to the takeover bid this week.
The Charity Commission has opened a regulatory compliance case into potential governance concerns at William Blake House and confirmed receiving a serious incident report related to the charity's finances, believed to have been issued by a former trustee.
Rare but Not Unprecedented Move
A parent-led takeover of care services is rare, though the learning disability sector has a tradition of parent activism. Established charities like Mencap were founded by families seeking better care than outdated institutional services offered to their children. This bid reflects a growing trend of families taking direct action to protect vulnerable loved ones in the face of systemic failures.
