Part of the Legionella Data Index · curated record, last reviewed July 2026
| Defendant | Year | Region | Fine | Prosecutor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sentinel Health Care Limited Death/outbreak A 56-year-old resident died of Legionnaires' disease contracted at a Hampshire care home in 2020. In the CQC's first legionella prosecution, the company admitted failing to provide safe care and treatment. Source
|
2020 | South East England | £150k | Care Quality Commission |
|
Bupa Care Homes (BNH) Limited Death/outbreak An 86-year-old resident died of Legionnaires' disease at a Brentwood care home in 2015, months after refurbishment. The company failed to flush and disinfect the system, the manager lacked training, warnings were ignored and records were falsified. Fined £3m, reduced to £1.5m by the Court of Appeal. Source
|
2018 | East of England | £1.5m | HSE |
|
Four Seasons Health Care Limited Death/outbreak A 90-year-old resident died of Legionnaires' disease at a Kirkby-in-Ashfield care home in 2012 after the company failed to properly manage legionella in the water system. Prosecuted by the local authority. Source
|
2016 | East Midlands | £600k | Ashfield District Council |
|
Reading Borough Council Death/outbreak A 95-year-old resident died in 2012 of legionella pneumonia at a council-run intermediate-care home, where the strain in his room's washbasin tap matched his infection. Monitoring and flushing had been left to an inadequately trained handyman with no cover. Source
|
2016 | South East England | £100k | HSE |
|
Mother Redcaps Care Home A Wallasey care home had no system to manage its hot and cold water and failed to comply with an HSE improvement notice despite two extensions, putting elderly residents at risk. Source
|
2012 | North West England | £7k | HSE |
This is a curated record of significant, well-documented cases, not a complete list of every prosecution in the sector, and it skews towards fatal and heavily reported cases. Cases with no fine (a conditional discharge, for example) count as prosecutions but add nothing to the fines total. The full record, the curation rules and the correction policy are on the Legionella Enforcement Tracker.
Past prosecutions show what courts have punished; they say nothing about any individual building. The failings that recur in these cases - no risk assessment, no written scheme, no monitoring records, warnings ignored - are exactly what the baseline controls address, and our sector guide for care homes walks through them.
Free legionella risk assessment template
A structured Word document following the five-step approach in ACOP L8. Covers risk identification, written scheme, monitoring, and records. If it isn't written down, you can't evidence it.
Follows ACoP L8 and HSG274 Part 2. Free. No spam.