Children's Home run by Sunlight Children’s Care Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 1 Registered provider: Sunlight Children’s Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to three children who may require support with social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in 2023. She is dual registered with another setting of the same provider.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of inspection.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 December 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/12/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite some changes within the staff team, core members have remained in the children’s lives. Staff are caring and nurturing in their approach to children. Over time, this has enabled trusted and positive relationships to develop. Children share their worries with staff and know that staff will respond in a caring way.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with family. This ensures that, where possible and appropriate, they maintain important relationships. Children are encouraged to have experiences like their peers, including time with friends and sleepovers. As a result, children call this their home and see the staff as their family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Feedback from professionals and parents outlines the nurture and care the children receive. A parent said, ‘They are just brilliant. They are so good to him, and our relationship is so good as well.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the children with developing their independence in line with their age and abilities. This helps children to develop and grow into young adults. Staff keep in mind this is not only learning independence skills but preparing children emotionally for adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has a warm and welcoming feel. It is filled with fun and laughter from staff and children. However, some areas of maintenance and decoration require attention. Some areas are cluttered, which prevents children from making full use of their surroundings.

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

Staff support children with managing their feelings and emotions. When children are upset, staff provide them with comfort and reassurance. This helps to diffuse and reduce potential incidents.

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

When incidents occur, staff sometimes use physical restraint to protect children and others. These are for the shortest time possible and in proportion to the risk. However, practice following the use of restraint requires improvement. Delays to the manager’s oversight and a lack of reflection impact the opportunity to learn and improve care for children.

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

Staff support children to take age-appropriate risks. Children feel secure and safe in relationships with staff. When children return home from being missing from home, they feel able to talk about this with staff without fear of judgement or blame. This supports children to prepare for adulthood and educates them about the risks of going missing from home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 4 Despite a reduction in the number of missing-from-home events, some of these continue to be significant. On one occasion, staff were not aware a child had left the home in breach of imposed bail conditions. Items of concern were found in the child’s bedroom following this incident. Learning and reflection occurred, but staff failed to update the child’s risk assessment to reflect changes to the safety plans. Missed opportunities to discuss this incident with the child meant that further support was not offered.

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

Children use e-cigarettes in the home with the knowledge of staff. One child stores theirs in their bedroom, charging them overnight, which could pose a fire risk. Children receive inconsistent messages about the rules and expectations surrounding this harmful activity. A lack of structured guidance and boundaries around this places the health of children at risk and does not adequately support them to understand the risks associated with vaping at a young age.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is enthusiastic. They provide children with care and nurture. Managers have created a culture of safe and caring relationships that has filtered throughout the staff team. They lead an enthusiastic and motivated team of staff who report feeling supported by their leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff speak highly of the management team, telling the inspector there is a good sense of team morale and a shared vision for the care of children. Staff receive regular and reflective individual supervision discussions and group team meetings. This supports the workforce to work together collaboratively and to achieve their goals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager seeks training for staff to meet the children’s individual needs. This includes working with external agencies to use their knowledge to develop staff to have a greater understanding of children’s needs. Not all staff achieve the required qualification for working with children in residential care in the necessary timescales. This prevents staff from continuing their professional development and limits opportunities for upskilling the workforce.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Systems are in place for management oversight. This has been impacted by the introduction of a new online system. Some documentation relating to a child’s allegation has been missed because of this change. This resulted in a delay to the manager’s oversight of the matter because a clear record was not in place. The provider does not always notify Ofsted of serious incidents. This prevents the regulator from having effective oversight of safeguarding matters. Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. 27 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 6 (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that specific plans for keeping children safe are kept up to date and all staff are aware of what actions to take. Following specific concerns from children, actions need to be taken by staff and the management team to reduce the risk of harm. This also relates to the home environment, which should be kept clean and maintained to a good standard.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and 27 December 2024 Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 7 within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) 27 December 2024

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that all staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5) and are suitably trained and qualified in their role. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12) Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 8

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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: 2762777 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sunlight Children’s Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 8, Trinity Place, Midland Drive, Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands B72 1TX

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Inspector

Eleanor Quanbrough, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2762777 10 regulates and inspects 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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