Ofsted reported on 5 August 2026 that Catalyst Care Limited and its directors, Davidson Lynch-Shyllon and Miriam Ekathor, became the first unregistered children's home provider to be successfully prosecuted by the regulator. The company and both directors pleaded guilty at Croydon Magistrates' Court on 9 March 2026 to charges of carrying on and/or managing illegal children's homes. On 4 August 2026 they were fined a total of £92,400 over three unregistered homes in Kent that, between October 2022 and April 2025, provided accommodation for nine children.

The court also ordered victim surcharges totalling £2,960 and costs of £17,250, and disqualified the two directors from carrying on, managing or holding a financial interest in a children's home. Ofsted said the directors had received repeated warnings while the homes took in over £1.7 million in payments from placing authorities. The regulator described the case as its first successful prosecution of its kind, following hundreds of warnings about unregistered provision.

His Majesty's Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver called the outcome an important milestone, and Children and Families Minister Josh MacAlister said it was a welcome start to a wider crackdown. Ofsted said it has new powers under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act, including financial penalties, and is consulting on inspection changes affecting local authorities' use of unregistered homes.