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Kensington Hall
Residential Care
4 November 2025
Potensial Limited
13 beds
Rating history
- Jul 2016
- Jan 2019
- Dec 2023
- Jan 2026
Improved from Requires Improvement to Good in 2026. CQC has rated this home 4 times since 2016.
Source: CQC inspection reports. Contains CQC data licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Costs and who runs this home
Run by Potensial Limited, which runs 23 care homes in England: 1 rated Outstanding, 21 Good and 1 Requires Improvement.
Average care home fees in the North East: £897 a week for residential care and £1,164 for nursing care (2024-25 averages). Self-funders usually pay more. See our care home costs guide.
- How to pay for a care home explains the council means test, what counts as capital and the funding you can ask to be assessed for.
About Kensington Hall
Kensington Hall is a residential care home in County Durham, providing support to people with a learning disability and autistic people. The findings below set out the CQC's most recent observations of the home.
Kensington Hall is a residential care home providing support to up to 13 people with a learning disability and autistic people, with 12 living there at the time of assessment. The CQC found people received safe, kind and person-centred care, with staff who knew them well and a positive, well-led culture. Medicines and infection control were managed safely, and previous governance concerns had been resolved.
Some improvement was still needed: the home was not always notifying the CQC of reportable events, and while people enjoyed outings and holidays, inspectors sometimes observed little meaningful activity. Families and residents spoke warmly of the home, describing staff as caring and the atmosphere as genuinely homely.
Source: CQC assessment, 27 January 2026
Specialist Care
Fees and availability
We have not verified a current weekly fee for this home. Ask for a written quote based on the room and care needed, including any extra charges.
Check current vacancies, the admission assessment and visiting arrangements directly with the home.
Care and inspection details
Checked against the CQC register on 20 September 2026. This is a check of published information, not a visit to the home.
- Registered service
- Care home service without nursing
- Registered capacity
- 13 places — this is not a vacancy count
- Registration checked
- Registered · DH6 2TG
Registered care categories
Caring for adults over 65 yrs; Learning disabilities.
These describe the registration. The home must assess whether it can meet the individual person's needs and whether a place is available.
CQC ratings in more detail
Overall rating shown by CQC: .
Assessment published 27 January 2026. Assessment date recorded: 4 November 2025.
Read CQC's assessment overview
The following is CQC's published account of its assessment, published 27 January 2026. References to “we” mean CQC. It describes findings at that time.
Date of Assessment: 10 November to 26 November 2025. We visited the home on 10 November and 18 November. The service is a residential care home providing support to up to 13 people with a learning disability and autistic people. At the time of our assessment 12 people were living at the service. We undertook this assessment to follow up on previous breaches of regulation and due to the length of time since the last assessment. We found people received safe care and were happy living at Kensington Hall.
The provider was previously in breach of legal regulation in relation to good governance. Improvements were found at this assessment, and the provider was no longer in breach of this regulation. There had been improvement to care and medicines records. The provider demonstrated a commitment to continuous improvement through their governance systems. However, some improvement was still needed as the provider was not consistently notifying CQC of all reportable events in the home. Immediate action was taken to review this, and it did not have any impact on people.
Systems were in place to keep people safe from the risk of abuse and lessons were learnt from events which occurred. At the last inspection we made a recommendation about person centred care. Although some improvement had been made, further work was needed to demonstrate people’s social needs met their goals and consistently achieved positive outcomes. People had holidays and took part in community activities. However, during our assessment we also observed times when there was little meaningful activity being supported.
We 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. The service was not consistently meeting some of the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture. The service is larger than recommended in current best practice guidance and is recognisable as a care home due to external signage. However, care was planned in a person-centred way, and the ethos and delivery of the service followed the principles of the guidance.
Regular safety checks were completed on the environment, utilities and equipment. People received their prescribed medicines at the right time and in the right way. Safe infection prevention and control practices were followed to minimise the spread of infection. People’s care plans were person centred and included best practice guidance on how to effectively support people with a learning disability and autistic people. People were supported to make informed decisions about their care through their involvement in the initial assessment of their needs, care planning and review processes. Staff treated people with kindness and respect and promoted their independence. Staff provided people with the support they needed to maintain good health and wellbeing. The culture of the service was positive. Manager’s led by example.
- Safe
- Effective
- Caring
- Responsive
- Well-led
Contains Care Quality Commission information under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Ratings and registration details can change after the date checked.
5 Questions to Ask on Your Visit
When visiting Kensington Hall, consider asking...
- 1.What happens if my relative's care needs increase significantly -- will they have to move?
- 2.How do you handle concerns or complaints from families?
- 3.What does the monthly fee cover and what will cost extra?
- 4.How do you keep families informed about their relative's day-to-day wellbeing?
- 5.What happens if my relative is unhappy here?
5 Things to Look For on Your Visit
When you visit Kensington Hall, look out for...
- 1.Do staff greet residents by name and stop to chat?
- 2.Are residents dressed, up and occupied, or sitting alone in front of a TV?
- 3.Does the home smell fresh and feel clean without being clinical?
- 4.Do residents look comfortable and at ease, or anxious and withdrawn?
- 5.Does the manager answer your questions openly or deflect?
Could the NHS fund Kensington Hall's fees?
The average nursing home costs £1,535 per week. That's £79,820 a year. NHS Continuing Healthcare could cover all of it. No means test, no contribution from you.
Location
Front Street, South Hetton, County Durham, DH6 2TG

Kensington Hall
CQC overall rating
Assessment date: 4 November 2025
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