Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 1 Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited Registered provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

A private provider operates this supported accommodation service. The provider can accommodate up to 12 individuals in two shared or group living homes that are limited to accommodating looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service provided supported accommodation for 11 young people and eight of these children are aged 16 to 17 years old.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted when the organisation was registered in August 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.

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Summary of findings

Most children are positive about their experiences and progress; however, some children are not in education, training or employment.

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Summary of findings

Some staff understand children’s needs well, but not all staff have the necessary skills and experience to support children.

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Summary of findings

The children’s living environments are maintained to a good standard. Overall, children speak positively about their accommodation. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s progress in education and training and their employment opportunities are mixed. Some children have made measurable and meaningful progress but others have not. Staff do not always review children’s educational achievements with them to identify any potential barriers to their learning, and they do not consistently help children to access employment or training opportunities. This is a missed opportunity to support children’s development towards their future independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not ensure that children’s records are up to date or that they capture their experience and progress. For example, not all staff review children’s independence and support plans to ensure that all relevant information is contained about the children’s goals, aims and objectives. This oversight means that this has the potential of limiting information and misrepresenting the child’s progress towards independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s accommodation is comfortable and decorated to a good standard. However, managers do not always ensure that these environments are homely. For example, the custom use of window restrictors across the service is not proportionate to any potential risks to children. Also, children are not given a front door key to access their home. This does not create a welcoming or supportive environment or prepare children for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Most children develop skills for independence, such as cooking and budgeting. However, staff are not consistent in ensuring that children regularly have focused discussions about important topics to develop their independence, such as keeping safe, social media and building positive relationships. This lack of forward thinking does not help children achieve their long-term goals or develop all of the skills they need to support them into adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff work with children to ensure that their physical and mental health needs are met, and they support children to attend relevant health appointments. When children experience periods of crisis, staff and managers respond appropriately. In these circumstances, staff provide bespoke support for children to meet their needs. This leads to better placement stability. One child said, ‘I love the staff; they are amazing, really helped me overcome some big obstacles at the beginning of the year.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff have a good awareness and understanding of the importance of children’s identity and their linguistic needs. They are considerate and promote children’s cultures. For example, when children speak English as an additional language, staff help them to enrol on to English courses and support their attendance. Staff use electronic translation tools and interpreters to support communication, and when needed, they ensure that documents used to explain daily routines to children are available in their preferred language. This helps children to quickly settle into their home. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 3 Children’s placements are planned. When making decisions, managers consult with children and consider their needs as well as the needs of those already living in the accommodation. These arrangements support children’s stability in their accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff collaborate closely with other professionals and agencies to ensure that the support provided to children is coordinated. One child’s social worker said, ‘When children arrive, the induction is comprehensive and tailored on the child’s individual needs and they do that really well… they know the needs of the children.’ Another professional said, ‘Staff have formed good relationships with [name of child] and have experience in understanding and supporting their mental health.’

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How well children are helped and protected

There are missing-from-care protocols in place in case children go missing from the service. However, on one recent occasion, staff did not implement these protocols to ensure that the child was quickly located. Furthermore, leaders and managers did not identify this shortfall as part of their oversight of the service. This potentially places children at an increased risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Managers and staff work with other professionals to consider reasonable precautions and mitigations to reduce the risk of harm when assessing children’s individual needs and vulnerabilities. However, staff do not ensure that this information, detailing children’s known or emerging risks, is included in their plans. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that children’s plans are tailored to their needs and support their journey to independence.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers ensure that staff complete specific training to help them to support children effectively and to improve their knowledge. However, not all of the core staff team has been trained in the therapeutic approach used across the service to support children. This means that not all staff are equipped with the additional knowledge and skills that they need to consistently promote children’s safety.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children said that they feel safe and that staff support them. Staff recognise the importance of building trusting relationships with children so that when they have any concerns about their safety, they are able to speak to staff about these and work with staff to look at how to reduce any risks.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children understand their rights and know how to make a complaint. Managers ensure that any concerns are quickly investigated and addressed. This assures children that any issues they raise are taken seriously.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers follow safer recruitment procedures. They ensure that the recruitment of all staff is scrutinised and thorough. Managers complete vetting checks as part of any initial application. This helps to ensure that staff working directly with children are assessed as suitable to do so. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children experience inconsistent staffing levels, which impacts on the support that they receive. The manager uses agency staff across the service to support children. A member of staff said, ‘High staff turnover gives children a level of uncertainty with unfamiliar faces, and when inexperienced staff are introduced, children can worry about this.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The manager has yet to establish effective monitoring systems to sufficiently scrutinise the service to identify any areas for development and ensure that the service operates in accordance with the statement of purpose. Currently, these monitoring systems are inconsistent and do not support the evaluation of children’s experiences or the quality of support that they receive. This shortfall continues in the provider’s quality review of the service. For example, the manager did not seek children’s views or those of other professionals to support improvements to the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Some staff said that they are supported by the senior managers and have positive relationships with these leaders. However, formal staff supervision is variable. For example, inexperienced staff do not always receive regular supervision in line with the service’s induction programme. Furthermore, the manager does not always use supervision effectively to monitor staff’s progress. This does not ensure that staff practice is monitored or reviewed to ensure that they are able to meet children’s needs. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 5

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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 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

ensure that the supported accommodation undertaking has sufficient staff to support and accommodate children safely and effectively;

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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)(d)(g))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that internal monitoring systems support managers to evaluate and continually develop the service. 10 January 2025

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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

keep the child’s support under review, taking into 10 January 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 6 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

ensure that children are supported to access education, training or employment. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(c)(m))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s records are updated to reflect their progress.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children accommodated by the supported accommodation undertaking from going missing, and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working for the supported accommodation undertaking, in relation to a child who is, or has previously been, missing. (Regulation 21 (1)(a)(b)) 10 January 2025

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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 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. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 10 January 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff take reasonable precautions and make informed professional judgements based on children’s individual needs, Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 7 circumstances and level of autonomy, when identifying a particular risk or following a particular course of action. In particular, staff should ensure that children’s risk assessment documents are up to date and address any known vulnerabilities, and that they detail what action staff should take to address the risk. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 21)  The registered person should ensure that supported accommodation settings are nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of children, and they will always be homely and welcoming environments. Given the high level of independence of the children who live in supported accommodation, it is not

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Recommendations

expected that staff would impose limits on privacy and access. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 29)  The registered person should ensure that the workforce plan sets out how staff will support children, including whether for example this is through on-site or floating support or a combination. This should include the staffing levels and how staff respond flexibly to unexpected events to promote continuity of support. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 47)

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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 conducted 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: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 42 Wolverhampton Street, Dudley DY1 1DT

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Joanne Porter

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Inspector

Patrick McIntosh, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Teenager 2 Adult Care Limited 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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