Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accomodation for under 18s 1 Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s Registered provider: Moving On (Durham) Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is owned and managed by a charity. The provider can accommodate up to one individual in 10 self-contained units where the accommodation is for the sole use of one person. At the time of the inspection, the service provided support for 10 children aged 16 to 17 years old. The service operates within three different models of support.

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provider

The first model is for the sole use of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. A support worker is available Monday to Friday, from 9am to 5pm, in this model.

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provider

The second model is for children who are part of a ‘staying close’ model of support. This service provides support for children who have previously lived in children’s homes or fostering arrangements. The provider supports children for up to three hours each week while the placing authorities’ ‘staying close team’, provides children with an additional 16 hours’ support each week.

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provider

The third model of support is for looked-after children or care leavers. The provider supports these children for up to three hours each week in dispersed accommodation.

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provider

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since the organisation was registered in December 2023.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 18 November 2024 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 20 to 22 November 2024.

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Outcome

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 2

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Summary of findings

Children’s experiences, progress and safety vary. This is because of inconsistencies in the delivery of the different models of care provided.

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Summary of findings

Children living in the ‘staying close’ model of support and the dispersed accommodation model mostly achieve positive outcomes. They receive support that is meaningful and responsive to their needs.

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Summary of findings

Unaccompanied asylum-seeking children do not consistently receive support that enables them to be safe or achieve positive outcomes. Managers and staff lack the skills and experience to understand the complex needs or the potential safeguarding risks for these children. As a result, some children have been exposed to harm. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children who move to this accommodation with high levels of independence skills and low levels of vulnerability make good progress towards adulthood. However, when new needs emerge, staff and managers do not consistently take sufficient action to ensure that they support children effectively, specifically with the needs of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. This places some children at an increased risk of harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s individual plans do not always reflect their known needs. These documents lack information about children’s lives before they moved to their accommodation. They do not capture children’s aspirations or how staff will support them to achieve their goals. Additionally, information about children’s cultural and linguistic needs is not consistently recorded. This does not enable staff to understand the context of the child’s life, and this hinders their ability to provide meaningful support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children develop positive relationships with the staff, who they describe as being flexible and supportive. For children who are part of the ‘staying close’ model, their relationship with their support staff and the manager begins several weeks before they move into their new accommodation. This helps children to develop a meaningful rapport with their support worker and begin to understand the expectations of living in a supported accommodation service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to engage in education and training, or to seek employment in an area that interests them, and they work closely with other agencies to achieve this. When children do not engage in education, training or employment, staff support them to understand and overcome barriers that inhibit their access.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children benefit from a skilled and experienced mental health worker who works responsively and flexibly to meet their needs. The mental health worker is available to support children without any waiting list. She offers support to children in their own homes. This helps children to overcome barriers they may face when accessing mental health services through other universal routes. Children spoke positively about the support they have received from the mental health worker.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children benefit from being able to choose the area and the accommodation that they want to live in. They view accommodation before they move in and are able to reject the accommodation if they feel it is not suitable. In some instances, this means that children join a waiting list for the accommodation that they feel is suitable to meet their individual needs. This approach helps children to maintain links to the communities where they have social relationships with friends and family or have education and employment opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

For children who speak English as an additional language, staff use a range of resources to ensure that children understand information and can communicate their views, wishes and feelings. For example, documents such as the young persons’ Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 4 guide is translated into the child’s native language. While day-to-day communication is enhanced through language translation applications, staff ensure they arrange interpreters when important information is being communicated to children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff are not fully aware of contextual safeguarding risks relevant for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. For this cohort of children, their safety plans do not identify risks of exploitation or radicalisation, despite some of these children being trafficked into the country. This lack of understanding places children at an increased risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children who are at risk of exploitation do not receive sufficient support to keep them safe. For some children, their emerging needs and vulnerabilities surpass the offer of support available to them. In these instances, staff and managers share their concerns with the placing authority. However, due to insufficient consideration of the suitability of the placement, risks for some children increase.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children go missing from their home, staff and managers share information with relevant agencies. However, there are occasions when, due to the staffing structure, this information is not shared for several days. Additionally, staff do not consistently take sufficient action on the child’s return to understand the reasons why the child has gone missing.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children do not consistently feel safe in their accommodation. One child requested to move to an alternative address due to feeling unsafe but did not receive the support or action needed. The child continued to experience disruption in their home for several months after the request until they reached 18 and the placement ended. The lack of action from staff and managers resulted in the child being exposed to risks for a prolonged period of time. Furthermore, staff did not support the child to access independent advocacy to progress their request to move.

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How well children are helped and protected

When they first arrive in their new accommodation, children receive information about who they can contact for help outside of office hours. However, when asked, not all children knew who they would contact for help in an emergency. This is particularly important for the children living with this provider due to the low levels of support they receive from staff each week. For example, when one child injured their arm, they did not seek medical attention for two days until staff attended their accommodation.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children are made aware of their responsibility for maintaining their licence agreement before they move into their accommodation. When children do not follow the rules of their agreement, staff provide support and education to help children develop their skills. In some instances, children receive warnings which may lead to termination of their placement. This helps children to prepare for adulthood and learn the skills they require to maintain their own tenancy. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager does not have an effective monitoring system that enables her to identify strengths and areas of development across the service. She does not seek feedback from children to inform her decision-making when considering improvements to the service offer. Her quality of support review was sent to Ofsted several months after it was due. It identified some shortfalls in practice. However, the manager has taken no action to address these shortfalls. This does not ensure continuous improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager does not appropriately challenge the placing authority when she identifies that children’s needs can no longer be met by the service. There are occasions when, due to a lack of available alternative provision, the manager has agreed to continue to support children in the service despite this decision potentially placing other children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The manager does not always carry out the required checks to assure herself that staff are safe and have appropriate skills and experience to work with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff do not receive training that ensures that they understand the needs and vulnerabilities of children living in the service. For example, the manager failed to recognise that staff had a limited understanding of child exploitation until several months after one child began to be exploited.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Formal supervision sessions do not provide staff with an opportunity to reflect on their working practice. When staff raise concerns in these sessions, the manager does not always take appropriate action to address these. This hinders staff’s ability to develop their skills and understanding around their roles and responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager works collaboratively with other agencies that support the children. She is present in the service and familiar to the children who access it. She shares information with other agencies, and this helps them to make informed decisions about the children. As a result, the manager has good knowledge of each individual child’s circumstances. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 6

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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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

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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

lead and manage the supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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Requirement Due date

implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with children and to keep them safe from harm;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(e)(g)) 1 March 2025

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Requirement Due date

The protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met.

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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

are enabled to keep themselves safe; 29 January 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 7 have their individual needs met;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation or any other harm, and act to reduce such risk;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with children to help them understand how to keep safe, by offering guidance and support on how to minimise any potential risk of harm. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(ii)(iii))

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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

ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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Requirement Due date

keep the child’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child’s needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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Requirement Due date

engage and work with the accommodating authority if the registered person has concerns or if the child’s support needs to be changed, including where that change may mean that the child requires more intensive support;

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Requirement Due date

in the event that the registered person or a member of staff considers that an accommodating authority or a relevant person is failing to provide the support set out in a child’s relevant plans, make representations, or, as the case may be, enable staff to make representations, to the accommodating authority or relevant person with a view to ensuring that the child’s needs are met. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(c)(f)(h)) 29 January 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any relevant person without delay if— 29 January 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 8 a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

any other individuals or organisations who or which have been notified;

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(d)(i)(ii)(f) (4)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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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

the views of children, including any feedback and complaints received;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from individual children on the impact the supported accommodation has had on the child’s life, especially regarding how well prepared the child felt for transition into supported accommodation and how well 29 January 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 9 prepared the child feels for transition out of supported accommodation;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons;

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Requirement Due date

any relevant research and developments in relation to the way in which the needs of children are best met.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of support review, the registered person must produce a written report setting out the actions the registered person intends to take as a result of that quality of support review.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the review report to the CIECSS within 28 days beginning with the day on which the report is completed, and make a copy of it available on request to each child’s accommodating authority. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2) (3))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff strive to build positive relationships with children in the setting and develop a culture of openness and trust that encourages them to be able to tell someone if they have concerns or worries about their safety or well-being. They must ensure that children understand how they can speak to an independent advocate, independent reviewing officers (IROs), their personal adviser, Ofsted inspectors or other relevant persons if they have concerns about their own safety. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 22)

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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: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Moving On (Durham) Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Forster Business Centre, Finchale Road, Durham, County Durham DH1 5HL

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Rachael Bruce

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: info@movingondurham.org.uk

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Inspector

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Moving On Supported Accommodation for under 18s 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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