Utopia Care Limited - Thurrock Branch

Date of assessment: 31 October 2025 to 6 November 2025.

Utopia Care Limited – Thurrock Branch provides personal care and support to people who require assistance in their own home. This service is a domiciliary care agency. At the time of our assessment 59 people were being supported by the service. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

The assessment was completed to follow up on the last assessment to see if improvements had been made. We found the service had made improvements and are no longer in breach of regulations in person-centred care, safe care and treatment, good governance and safe and effective staffing. The registered manager had a clear structure in place, which now included a second registered manager and a care coordinator. The registered manager had systems in place to monitor the service, which provided good oversight to monitor and improve outcomes for people. This assessment was announced.

Date of assessment: 27 May to 19 June 2025. Utopia Care Ltd – Thurrock Branch provides personal care and support to people who require assistance in their own home. This service is a domiciliary care agency. At the time of our assessment 76 people were being supported by the service. CQC only inspects where people receive personal care. This is help with tasks related to personal hygiene and eating. Where they do, we also consider any wider social care provided.

This is the first assessment of the service. We carried out a comprehensive assessment. This assessment was announced.

An assessment has been undertaken of a service that is used by autistic people or people with a learning disability but is not registered as a specialist service. We have assessed the service against ‘Right support, right care, right culture’ guidance to make judgements about whether the provider guaranteed people with a learning disability and autistic people respect, equality, dignity, choices, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.

We found a breaches of regulations in relation to safe care and treatment, person-centred care, safe and effective staffing and good governance. Information relating to people’s individual risks were not always recorded, up-to-date or did not provide enough detail as to how identified risks should be managed and mitigated. Care plans did not contain enough information to ensure staff knew how to deliver appropriate person-centred care. Suitable arrangements were not in place to ensure all staff employed were safely recruited. The registered manager’s governance arrangements did not always provide assurance the service was well led. Quality assurance systems were not robust and had not identified the shortfalls we found during our inspection.

In instances where CQC have decided to take civil or criminal enforcement action against aprovider, we will publish this information on our website after any representations and/or appealshave been concluded.

We have asked the provider for an action plan in response to the concerns found at this assessment.