‘Unscrupulous’ care home bosses disqualified

The bosses of two care homes in the Midlands have been disqualified after they diverted £500,000 of council funds and then abandoned elderly residents and staff.

Darren William Lloyd (53) and Emma Lloyd (49), have been banned for a total of eight-and-a-half years, from directly or indirectly becoming involved, without the permission of the court, in the promotion, formation or management of a company.

Darren’s brother, Adrian Jeffrey Lloyd (50), has been disqualified for five years.

Their care company, Elysian Care Limited ran two care homes – Knoll House in Penn, Wolverhampton and the Homestead, based in Stourbridge.

When the company began to struggle financially it started to fail to pay key suppliers and staff.

By September 2014, Darren, Adrian, Emma Lloyd abandoned the homes, which led to the local authorities having to step in and make emergency payments to ensure the residents were cared for.

In total, more than £500,000 of resident’s fees provided by the local authority between September 2012 and October 2014 was paid into Darren Lloyd’s personal bank account.

More than £290,000 of that amount has not been accounted for nor has it been explained whether it was spent on the running of Elysian Care or the care homes’ elderly residents.

Further enquiries confirmed that the trio abandoned the two care homes and left no funds to provide services for at least 30 residents. This meant staff had to buy essential supplies out of their own pockets, while the two local authorities had to make emergency payments to support the residents.

The trio contested the proceedings for over three years but elected to accept disqualification undertakings before their trial was due.

‘Darren, Adrian and Emma Lloyd were unscrupulous care home bosses,’ said the chief investigator for the Insolvency Service, David Brooks.

‘Not only were they culpable for diverting more than £500,000 of funds intended for the care of their residents but they abandoned the people they were responsible for and left staff and local authorities to step in and pick up the pieces,’ added Mr Books.

‘Directors are expected to operate in the best interest of the company and by removing Darren, Adrian and Emma from the corporate arena will ensure their victims will be protected from further harm.’

Photo Credit – Gimono (Pixabay)