Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 1 Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation Registered provider: Omega Care Group Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation is operated by a private provider that operates across the north-west of England. They can accommodate up to five individuals in self-contained units where the accommodation is for the sole use of one person, and up to 10 individuals in two shared or group-living homes that are not limited to accommodating looked after children or care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, 12 individuals were being accommodated. Six of these were looked after children or care leavers aged 16 or 17.

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provider

The service manager has been registered with Ofsted since the provider was registered in September 2023.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection began on 30 September 2024 when we announced the inspection. The inspectors were onsite from 2 October until 4 October 2024.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action. The next inspection will be within approximately 3 years.

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Summary of findings

Children enjoy living in their accommodation. Staff develop strong relationships with children, which helps children to feel supported. Children share their future aspirations with staff and receive support to achieve them.

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Summary of findings

Children said they feel listened to by staff. Children’s records include their voices and opinions regarding their support needs. However, children’s plans do not consistently include children’s voices when there is a change in their circumstances. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 2 Children make good progress. They develop skills which will help them live independently when they move into their first home.

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Summary of findings

Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and needs. As part of a multi-agency approach, they support children to keep themselves safe. This helps children to build their resilience and minimise any potential risk of harm. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said they like living in their accommodation and have strong relationships with staff. This helps children to share both their worries and achievements with staff. One child said, ‘I get on really with all the staff. For [name of staff member], I can tell her anything and she will just listen and support me through it.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to maintain and build relationships with friends and family. One child said that their older sister had been able to stay overnight at their home. This helped the child to settle into their home quickly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are creative in their approach when supporting children to live independently. They provide individualised support using workbooks, practical sessions and issue- based discussions. Staff regularly review progress with children and identify any new areas of need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to make happy memories when living in their home. One child said, ‘We have our own scrapbooks. They took a photo of me when I moved in. It is a picture of me holding my keys by the door of my flat.’ This supports children’s life- story work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff help to support children who are separated from their families and places of origin. They are sensitive to children’s cultural needs and have a good knowledge of the local area. As a result, children access local community groups and places of worship, which helps them to understand their cultural heritage and identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to access education and employment and advocate on their behalf. They take them to college events, careers advice services and job interviews. This motivates children and helps them with their future aspirations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children understand their care-leaver entitlements and generally do not experience financial difficulties because staff help them to learn to budget effectively. As part of preparing children for early adulthood, staff ensure children have passports and bank accounts and are registered with local housing services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not always consult with children about changes to their support plans. As a result, children are not consistently involved in shaping their plans, especially when they move into their new accommodation. This is a missed opportunity by staff to ensure that they fully consider children’s views when updating their plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not actively help children to access their written records. This affects children’s understanding of their experiences and progress. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 4

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff understand children’s vulnerabilities and take appropriate action to keep them safe. They work closely with other agencies to reduce risks to children and their vulnerabilities. Staff support children to access additional support, for example, services related to domestic abuse and substance misuse.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff respond quickly and effectively if children are missing from home. They follow local procedures to help children to return home safely. For one child, this has had a positive effect and they have reduced their number of missing-from-home incidents.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers take effective action when there have been concerns and allegations made against staff. Information is shared with the local authority designated officer, which has supported their investigations. As a result, children are better protected.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children said they feel safe to express how they feel when they are upset. Staff record this in children’s behaviour support plans. This helps staff to provide tailored support, and children respond well to this.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff prevent all children from having access to sharp knives and some cleaning materials, rather than basing this decision on children’s individual needs or risks. This means that all children have to ask staff for knives when preparing meals, for example. This unnecessarily restricts some children’s ability to prepare for independent living and adulthood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The nominated individual and registered service manager are experienced and skilled. Staff feel supported by them, and the registered service manager is visible across the premises. One member of staff said, ‘As a team we work amazingly with one another. All teams are supported and confident within their roles.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers complete regular audits of the service, focusing on children’s records and their progress, and health and safety. This helps them to identify good practice and areas for development across the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff share their views with leaders and managers through supervision and team meetings. However, the manager did not include feedback from staff in their quality of support review. This limits the effectiveness of the review.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers support staff’s development through in-house training. As a result, staff said that they have the skills to support children and to fully meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers generally keep policies and procedures under regular review. However, the children’s guide for one of the premises does not specify how children’s cultural needs will be supported by the service or in the community. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 5 Feedback from agencies, such as health and social care, is positive. They said that the quality of the accommodation and support, and communication from staff was good. They also said that children were happy and settled in their homes. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for monitoring and improving the quality of support provided by the supported accommodation undertaking by completing a review ("a quality of support review") at least once every six months, which must take into account—

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Requirement Due date

feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons. (Regulation 32 (1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff are consulted and their views detailed in the quality of support review. 29 November

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Requirement Due date

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

before a child arrives or upon a child’s arrival, ensure that the child is given a written guide, in an accessible format, containing information about—

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Requirement Due date

what services and facilities are available that take account of children’s needs arising as a result of cultural differences or disability;

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Requirement Due date

and which the registered person must keep under review, seeking children’s comments before revising the written guide. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(j)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all guides for children include how cultural needs will be met by the service and in the community. 29 November Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are informed of changes to their support plans and that they give children an opportunity to feed back their views and take a lead role in shaping their plans. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 35)  The registered person should ensure that children know how to access their records and be part of shaping their plans and documents. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 58)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Omega Care Group Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

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

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Sophie Corrin

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Inspectors

Tracey Sykes, Social Care Inspector Sue Garner, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Omega Care Group Supported Accommodation 9 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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