More than a dozen care homes across Kent have been ‘red-rated’ by the county council.

The rating means Kent County Council (KCC) has suspended its contract with the care home providers – which it commissions to run the services – and blocks anyone it would be funding being placed in the facilities.

It comes after a report earlier this year revealed Kent had the most care homes in special measures in England – according to watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which performs a similar task for the sector as Ofsted does for education.

In addition to the 16 currently suspended by KCC, a further 14 are rated ‘amber’ which advises “placements may still be made but with some restrictions”.

The ratings apply to facilities which cater for older people, those with a learning or physical disability or mental health issues.

Contract sanctions can come into force if there are serious concerns over safeguarding and adult protection, contract compliance or poor practice.

The majority of those rated ‘red’ – also known as Level 3 – do so in just one of the three categories. But one, the Little Oyster Residential Home on Sheppey, manages to fail on all three. It cares for those with physical, mental and learning disabilities and had warned in 2022 of the crisis engulfing the sector.

It had been rated ‘inadequate’ by the CQC in March and plunged into special measures.

However, a return inspection in August saw improvements had been made and it was upgraded to ‘requires improvement’ and, as a consequence, taken out of special measures.

Yet the report said: “We have identified breaches in relation to safe care and treatment, managing medicines safely, safeguarding people from harm, good governance and record keeping.”

The Park View Care Centre in Kingsnorth, Ashford, is ‘red’ rated for both its adult protection and poor practice. It too has seen a gradual improvement in its CQC inspections – lifting it out of special measures, but remains ‘requires improvement’.

Pine Lodge Care Home in Sittingbourne is red for both poor practice and contract compliance. It was branded ‘inadequate’ by the CQC following an inspection in July and put into special measures.

A spokesperson for the county council explained: “KCC has adopted a sanction process whereby if a care home is determined to be delivering poor care, a restriction or suspension will be put on the home that means no new placements will be made by KCC to that home until sustained improvements have been evidenced.

“With such a small amount of care homes in sanctions, this has not put additional pressure on the service. This also does not affect privately funded placements who can check care home quality via the KCC website and make their choice independently.

“Commissioners work closely with adult social care colleagues and with relevant agencies from health, the police and Kent Fire and Rescue Service to develop robust action plans to support homes that are rated Inadequate to make significant improvements.

“However, the CQC is not always able to prioritise a revisit to the home to determine a new rating which may delay a more favourable rating even though any quality issues and risk has been mitigated.

“Commissioners use a range of contract management tools and processes to help identify quality and safety issues and to drive improvement within all care homes. This includes a quality and risk matrix that considers a broad set of information and gives an indicator of risk which determines any required intervention and support.”

KCC says the number of red and amber-rated homes is declining.

It also points out that as the largest local authority in the country, in terms of numbers it will often come out with the highest number of ‘inadequate’ facilities.

The spokesperson added: “There are a total of 506 care homes in Kent of which 237 are for people with learning disability, physical disability, or mental health condition and 270 are for older people. Of the 270 older person’s care homes, 179 are contracted as part of the KCC Older Person’s Residential and Nursing Care Home contract. There are 196 learning disability, physical disability and mental health services on the KCC Disability Residential Contract framework across Kent and Medway.

“The total number of homes within Kent that are presently rated Inadequate by the CQC is eight, which as a percentage of the total homes equates to under 1.58% of care homes.”

Nadra Ahmed, chair of the National Care Association which represents independent social care providers, as well as a Kent Ambassador, said earlier this year: “There are two key reasons care homes are facing challenges at the moment.

“One of them is staffing and the other is funding. They are the key to the success of the service.

"If we don't have the workforce, you can give us all the money in the world, we won't be able to deliver.”

The sector was hit by Brexit and Covid – both of which contributed to many workers seeking work elsewhere. However, adult social care was put on the Shortage Occupation List in February 2022 – providing a pathway to international workers to secure work permits in the sector.

While the care home recruitment pressures are easing, according to Skills for Care – the strategic workforce development and planning body for adult social care in England – there remains an issue over levels of pay for what are demanding jobs.

Care England, which represents independent care providers, is calling on the next government to commit to a £10 billion a year funding package to boost the sector.

As it stands currently, people with more than £23,250 in savings can not receive care funded by the local authority. This figure has not increased in line with inflation since 2010/11.

“If it had,” the CQC’s most recent State of Care report, published last month, says, “more people would qualify for support.”

As part of wider reforms of adult social care, it adds, the government announced in 2022 that from October 2025 the upper threshold will be increased to £100,000.

Currently around 48% of those in care homes in the South East are self-funded – the highest proportion in the country - compared with a national average of 37%.

Others in the county rated ‘red’ by Kent County Council include St Brelades, which cares for older people, in Herne Bay. It receives a KCC ‘red’ rating for its standard of adult protection. It had been put in special measures and branded ‘inadequate’ at a previous inspection in 2022. It, like others, is now ‘requires improvement’ following subsequent unannounced visits by inspectors.

The Emily Jackson Care Home in Sevenoaks – branded ‘inadequate’ by the CQC last month is red-listed for poor practice, as was St Martins in Whitstable and Dover’s White Cliffs Lodge, while Kentwood House in Darenth – where earlier this year there was confusion over its future – receives the rating for ‘contract compliance’.

Also falling foul in the same category are St James House in Dartford (rated ‘requires improvement by the CQC), Redwalls (run by Strode Park Foundation) in Canterbury, The Cedars in Sittingbourne and Rogers House in Wigmore (which has recently been taken over by new operators and is now operating as Admiralty Care Home – it has yet to be inspected by the CQC).