Ofsted has won its first successful criminal prosecution of an unregistered children's home provider, in a landmark case highlighting the dangers of illegal care placements in England.
Catalyst Care Limited and its two directors, Davidson Lynch-Shyllon and Miriam Ekathor, pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates' Court in March 2026 to running three unregistered children's homes in Kent between October 2022 and April 2025. The homes housed nine children.
On 4 August 2026, the company and directors were fined a total of £92,400, plus victim surcharges of £2,960 and costs of £17,250. Both directors have been banned from running or having a financial stake in any children's home in future.
Ofsted said the directors had received repeated warnings that they were operating unlawfully, yet continued regardless, collecting more than £1.7m from local authorities in the process.
All children's homes in England must be registered with Ofsted, and running one without registration is a criminal offence. Unregistered homes fall outside regulatory oversight, meaning no guaranteed checks on staff or safety.
Ofsted is expanding its Unregistered Social Care team and has gained new powers, including financial penalties, under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act.
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