Resolve Care, the family-run provider of specialist residential care for men with learning disabilities and autism who have a forensic history, has been named a finalist in The Gerald Edelman Family Business of the Year Award at the Lloyds British Business Excellence Awards 2026.
The business was founded in 2008 by Anne Graham, a qualified social worker, and David King, a learning disability nurse, and today operates three care homes in the North East of England. Companies House records show the company, Resolve (Care Northern) Limited, was incorporated on 8 October 2008. Finalists were announced in July 2026, with winners revealed at Grosvenor House, London, on 10 November 2026.
Care where almost none exists
The market Resolve serves is small and highly specialist. Men with learning disabilities and autism who have committed serious offences have almost no access to community-based residential care with the forensic expertise to support them safely, and for most, according to the business, the only alternative is a secure hospital bed, often for years and sometimes indefinitely. Resolve was established to change that.
Graham and King lead from the front, present in the homes and guiding employees through decisions on Mental Health Act restrictions, safeguarding and forensic risk that most care providers never face. The provider is registered with the Care Quality Commission, and the sector title Learning Disability Today has reported that its established homes hold Outstanding ratings, a distinction few learning disability services have achieved under the regulator’s more recent inspection approach.
A published evidence base
What sets the business apart, the company says, is the combination of clinical expertise, a published evidence base and a family-run ethos. Its peer-reviewed Model of Care, co-authored with Dr Celia Harbottle and published in the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities and Offending Behaviour, is described by the business as the only model of its kind in community-based forensic learning disability provision.
The approach has drawn interest from overseas. According to the company, researchers conducting a worldwide search to inform Australian federal policy found nothing comparable and have since worked with Resolve to develop their own approach.
Purpose-built for the people it supports
A significant milestone came in 2025 with the opening of Roseville House, a £2 million investment that took two years to deliver. Purpose-built for the men Resolve supports, the home features soundproofed rooms to meet sensory needs, a dedicated training facility and an environment designed around residents’ specific therapeutic requirements. Further information is available on the Resolve Care website.
Graham and King’s stated aim is to shape how the sector thinks about forensic learning disability care and to influence the policy and commissioning decisions that determine how this group of men are supported. The company now awaits the judges’ verdict alongside its fellow finalists in the Family Business of the Year category.
