The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has placed East Anglia Domiciliary Care Branch in special measures after it was rated Inadequate following reports of financial abuse.

The home care organisation, run by Ambient Support, supports people with a learning disability, some of whom are autistic, to live in their own homes in Norfolk and Suffolk.

CQC inspected the service, which was previously rated Good, after receiving reports of potential financial abuse from partner organisations and individuals as well as being self-reported by the provider.

While financial crimes are not within CQC’s regulatory powers, the reports raised concerns about other areas of people’s care. Inspectors shared concerns they found about financial abuse with local authority safeguarding teams. Some staff members were found to have spent people’s money inappropriately, such as buying staff refreshments, stationery and personal protective equipment.

Stuart Dunn, CQC deputy director of operations in the East of England, said: “We were deeply concerned to find a culture in which people weren’t cared for as individuals and their human rights weren’t always respected. This was partly because of a serious shortage of staff with the right training to meet people’s needs, which also meant care wasn’t always safe.”

The inspection found staff lacked training on how to care for autistic people and people with a learning disability, and did not always support people to set goals or make as many choices as possible in their lives. Leaders did not always investigate or learn when things went wrong, and did not always listen to concerns raised by staff.

“We found staff stopping people from leaving their homes, locking their doors, and performing intimate personal care on people who could not consent,” said Dunn. ” Managers hadn’t always recorded best interest decisions for these actions or assessed people’s mental capacity as required by law.”

People didn’t always have control over what happened in their own home, he said. “Two people shared a bedroom in another person’s home due to flooding since January. Intended as a temporary solution, it extended for several months, negatively impacting all three people. The provider didn’t involve people in these decisions and failed to complete mental capacity assessments or best interests assessments.”

The service, which was previously rated Good, has dropped from Good to Inadequate for “being safe and well-led”, while its ratings for “effective”, “caring”, and “responsive” have dropped from Good to Requires Improvement.

CQC issued the provider a warning notice related to the management of the service, to focus attention on making immediate improvements. The service is now in special measures which means it will be kept under close review and re-inspected to check on the progress of these improvements.

Mark Milton, chief executive of Ambient Support, said: “We reported ourselves to the CQC and Norfolk County Council safeguarding team concerning issues we identified at several of our learning disability supported living services in Norfolk in January 2024. CQC inspectors subsequently visited these local services and confirmed serious failings in the care and support provided.”

He added: “Immediately following our self-reporting, Ambient’s quality team began work with our operational services to restructure local management and to implement an urgent action plan that addresses all the issues raised. This is being done in close partnership with the local authority, the CQC and other stakeholders to keep them fully appraised of the actions being taken.

“We are very sorry and fully acknowledge that, in this instance, Ambient has not lived up to our charities values and our commitment to provide a high-quality service. The safety and wellbeing of the people we support continue to be our number one priority and we are doing all that is needed, and more, to rectify the issues highlighted in the CQC’s report.”