Children's home run by Omega Care Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 1 Registered provider: Omega Care Group Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children were living in the home at the time of the inspection. Two children spoke with inspectors about their experiences living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/04/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 24/11/2021 Interim Declined in effectiveness 09/06/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy living in the home. They are helped to develop positive, trusting relationships with staff who care about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is comfortable, clean and well maintained. Children can personalise their bedrooms and contribute to the decoration of their home. Their photos are displayed around the home. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging and pride in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to have new experiences. Staff support children to explore their interests and to learn about new activities. Through these activities, children are helped to develop their self-esteem and build their social networks. One child said, ‘This is the best place I’ve lived.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s emotional and physical health needs are well understood. Children are encouraged to remain active and are helped to develop personal care skills. When needed, staff take children to routine and specialist health appointments to ensure that their health needs are being met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in this home have excellent attendance at school. Staff communicate well with children’s schools and other professionals to ensure that children’s educational needs are being met. Staff advocate for children and will challenge other professionals when children are not receiving the best support for their education. This helps children to achieve their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to safely spend time with the people who are important to them. They are proactive in developing positive relationships with children’s family members to ensure that they can work together in the best interests of children. One family member said of staff, ‘Nothing is too much trouble.’ This helps children to strengthen their relationships with their family members and enables them to continue to benefit from these relationships into adulthood.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children feel safe living in the home. They can identify staff who can help them with their worries. Staff are consistent and warm in their responses, providing clear boundaries and nurturing care. Children understand why rules and boundaries are in place.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff have developed positive and effective relationships with key people involved in keeping the children safe. Staff are good advocates for children and challenge other professionals to better meet children’s needs. One social worker said, ‘They’ve been absolutely brilliant.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 4 Staff update children’s plans regularly. These are actively used to help children to make progress in areas they struggle with. When children have gone missing, the manager has driven five hours to collect them to ensure their safety. Effective staff responses to risks have helped to keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff have only held a child on one occasion to prevent harm to another child. When this happened, it was as a last resort. There have been no allegations of harm, but children know who to speak to if they feel unsafe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Children know how to make a complaint but have not needed to. Children say that staff and managers will listen to them if they ask for things to change or improve. This enables children to feel heard and valued.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff working with the children are appropriately qualified, and safer recruitment practices are followed. This ensures that any person employed to work at the home does not present any known safeguarding risks to children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The manager has clear oversight of incidents, and any learning is used to develop practice in the home. Records are generally well maintained and detailed. However, on one occasion, a recording shortfall meant that records did not clearly outline the steps taken by staff to keep the child safe. This reduced opportunities for the manager to evaluate practice in the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff talk to children about how to keep themselves safe. These discussions are personalised to each child and focus on topics that each child struggles with. As a result of nurturing relationships and effective work with children, children’s risks have reduced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is passionate about the care of children and is a strong advocate for them. The manager supports staff to understand the impact of children’s experiences on their emotions and behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff and managers aspire to provide the best care for children. When children struggle, the manager reflects with the staff team to think about what they can do to better support children. This keeps staff’s responses dynamic and helps to meet children’s changing needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is supportive of staff. The team feels valued and one staff member said, ‘They are always there to help without judgement.’ There is a strong sense of unity in the team, and this is led by the manager. The team feels empowered to make changes to their practice to ensure that children’s needs are being met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision and attend monthly team meetings. These are reflective in nature and are used effectively to consider aids and barriers to children’s progress. When discussing how to help children to progress, the manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 5 reflects on goals from the whole professional network to ensure that the children are supported in all areas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with regular training opportunities that are relevant to the needs of the children living in the home. This is closely monitored by the manager to ensure that training remains relevant and to identify any additional training needs. This ensures that all staff have the knowledge they require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has excellent internal monitoring systems and makes good use of independent monitoring to ensure that staff provide consistently good care to children. This oversight promotes the safety and well-being of the children living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 6

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of consistently clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Omega Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 40 to 42 Kemble Street, Prescot L34 5SQ

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Inspectors

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Sarah Gilbert, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2567272 8 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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