Home care agency · Gloucester

Merry Den

Rated Good by CQC Rating published 12 January 2021 Rating 5 years old

Typical fee here £30–£37 an hour Estimate

Free · 2 minutes · No obligation · 34,336 registered providers compared

Rated 5 years ago. CQC's last published rating for this service is from January 2021. Ask what has changed since, such as the manager or the number of people they support. See nearby services rated recently.
A carer and an older person chatting at the table at home Illustrative photo, not of Merry Den
Address
Railway House, Bruton Way, Gloucester, GL1 1DG
Run by
Merry Den Care Limited
Type of provider
Independent (private company)
Service
Home care agency, Supported living
Dementia
Not listed as a specialism with CQC; ask the provider
Registered with CQC
January 2011 (15 years)
Registered manager
Deborah Louise Smith
Company check
Active, trading since 2004 (22 years), accounts up to date (Companies House 05045869)
Last CQC check
12 Jan 2021
Typical fees Estimated
£30–£37 an hour for visiting care, weekdays; live-in £1,450–£1,770 a week. Estimate only, from published local rates. How we estimate

CQC regulated activities: Personal care

More in Gloucester: Home care in Gloucester (107) · Best rated home care agencies in Gloucester · Physical disability care at home in Gloucester · Learning disability care at home in Gloucester · Mental health care at home in Gloucester · Live-in care in Gloucester

CQC page for this service · CQC location ID 1-125905909

Introducing Merry Den

Registered with CQC as a home care agency that also provides supported living, Merry Den is based in Gloucester, run by Merry Den Care Limited. It supports adults under 65, with registered specialisms in physical disabilities, learning disabilities and mental health conditions.

Its latest CQC rating is Good overall (January 2021). It is one of 107 CQC-registered home care agencies that have an office within 7 miles of Gloucester; 56 of those are rated Good or Outstanding.

How long it has been running

CQC registration dates from January 2011, so the service has been operating for around 15 years under its current registration.

CQC has published 4 overall ratings for it (2016–2021), starting at Good; it has gone up 1 and down 1 time, and is now Good.

It has gone 5 years without a new overall rating. CQC schedules inspections by risk, so this is not a bad sign in itself, though leadership may have moved on.

CQC lists 6 reports for this location, the latest dated 12 January 2021.

The local picture

Choice is wide here: the 25 nearest other agencies are all within 3 miles, 10 of them rated Good or Outstanding, and the closest is Chosen Care Supported Living, under 0.5 miles away.

11 of the 13 nearest rated agencies have a more recent rating than this one.

It sits in Westgate ward, classed by ONS as urban (nearer to a major town or city), among the 10% most deprived neighbourhoods in England. NHS services here are planned by NHS Gloucestershire ICB.

Reading Merry Den's CQC ratings

CQC rated every one of the five key questions Good here, so there is no weak spot in the published ratings.

For leadership (Well-led), it shares its Good rating with 82 of the 128 other agencies in Gloucestershire that CQC has rated.

What it may cost

We estimate visits from Merry Den at £30–£37 an hour (visiting care, weekdays), based on published prices in the region. As an example, an hour each morning and a 30-minute evening call comes to about £350 a week.

A live-in carer typically costs £1,450–£1,770 a week locally.

Gloucestershire Council can help with costs for people with savings under £23,250, starting with a free assessment.

Key points from CQC's visit

  • Since our last inspection, improvements had been made to the development and support of staff and the management of people's risks and quality of care.
  • The new registered manager had been instrumental in implementing new systems and directing the quality of care being provided to achieve positive outcomes for people.
  • We expect health and social care providers to guarantee autistic people and people with a learning disability the choices, dignity, independence and good access to local communities that most people take for granted.
  • The service was able to demonstrate how they were meeting the underpinning principles of Right support, right care, right culture.

Inspected 11 December 2020; report published 12 January 2021; supporting 15 people at the time. In CQC's words, from its published findings (Open Government Licence). Read the full report.

Needs it is registered to meet

From the CQC register; ask how each need is met in practice.

Ratings for safety, care and leadership

  • SafeGood106 of 129 in Gloucestershire
  • EffectiveGood116 of 129 in Gloucestershire
  • CaringGood113 of 129 in Gloucestershire
  • ResponsiveGood115 of 129 in Gloucestershire
  • Well-ledGood83 of 129 in Gloucestershire

Source: CQC, published 12 January 2021. Under each rating: how many agencies in Gloucestershire share it.

The registered provider

Merry Den is run by Merry Den Care Limited (company 05045869), incorporated in 2004, 6 years before this service registered with CQC.

At Companies House, the company is listed as active, its accounts are filed on time, it has 8 active directors and there is no insolvency history.

Its registered business activity is care for people with learning disabilities, mental health problems or substance misuse.

It trades under the National Care Group brand, which covers 49 services run by 17 registered providers.

Rating history

  1. Sep 2016 Good
  2. Mar 2018 Good
  3. Apr 2019 Requires improvement
  4. Jan 2021 Good
  5. Today Rating 5 years old

Every overall rating on record for this location, earliest first. The latest rating is an improvement on the one before.

Published inspection reports

Location and local area

Ward
Westgate
Parliamentary constituency
Gloucester
NHS planning area
NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board
ONS area type
Urban · nearer to a major town or city
Neighbourhood deprivation
Among the 10% most deprived areas in England
Postcode district
Home care in GL1 (39)

Bigger map · Directions · © OpenStreetMap contributors

Local area facts: ONS and NHS geography via postcodes.io, Open Government Licence. Care happens at home, not here: this is where the agency is run from.

Family reviews

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How Merry Den compares

  • Rated Good. Across Gloucestershire, 88% of the 125 rated home care agencies are Good or Outstanding and 9 are Outstanding.
  • Its rating (January 2021) is more recent than 34% of agency ratings in Gloucestershire.
  • Registered with CQC in 2011, it is one of the longest-registered home care agencies in the area.
  • It lists 4 specialisms with CQC; the typical agency in Gloucestershire lists 5.

Benchmarked against all CQC-registered home care agencies in Gloucestershire (Oct 2026).

Nearest home care agencies

Guides for families

Newer ratings near Gloucester

Questions about Merry Den

Where is Merry Den based?
Railway House, Bruton Way, Gloucester, GL1 1DG. That is the office; visits happen in your own home, so confirm your area is covered.
Is Merry Den registered with CQC?
Registered, yes: location 1-125905909 on the Care Quality Commission register, listed as a home care agency and was rated Good overall in January 2021.
Can Merry Den care for someone with dementia?
No dementia specialism is recorded with CQC. Ask the provider directly if this is likely to matter.
When was Merry Den last inspected?
Its current CQC rating dates from 12 January 2021, 5 years ago. Ratings can be several years old; ask what has changed since, such as a new manager.
What type of care does Merry Den provide?
Merry Den is registered with CQC for: homecare agencies, supported living. Ask the provider which needs it can meet now and as needs change.
Who runs Merry Den?
On CQC's register the provider is Merry Den Care Limited.
How much does Merry Den charge?
No fee list from Merry Den has reached us. Visiting care typically costs around £32–£34 an hour (typical 2026 prices across England). Ask for written prices covering weekends, bank holidays and any travel or set-up charges.
How did Merry Den score on each CQC key question?
The five CQC areas: Safe: Good; Effective: Good; Caring: Good; Responsive: Good; Well-led: Good. Read Safe and Well-led first; they say most about reliability.

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In Gloucestershire

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Merry Den: rated Good by CQC, on The Care Panel

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Register data from the Care Quality Commission, refreshed Oct 2026, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Provider-written text is labelled as such. We are an independent directory, not a care provider.

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