Children's home run by Infinity Care Home Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 1 Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children who may experience emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the home and were spoken to by the inspectors.

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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: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is warm and comfortable, and the children have opportunities to personalise their bedrooms. The children enjoy trusting relationships with staff, who know them well. Staff treat the children with dignity and respect and have high aspirations for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s needs are understood, and their plans are clear and easy to follow. Children regularly share their feelings, and their voices are captured to inform the care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access a wide variety of activities. Staff encourage children to take part in hobbies and interests, including horse riding, ice skating and visiting the park. Staff celebrate children’s achievements and are proud of their progress. They record positive comments about the children and reward them for their accomplishments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s time with their family and social activities with their friends in the community. This means that children maintain and build relationships with family members and those who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children struggle to access education.. Staff and managers advocate for children to be in the right provision to meet their individual needs. When children’s needs are not met, the manager escalates her concerns to the relevant people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the impact of children’s life experiences. Children who are reluctant to attend multi-agency appointments are supported by staff, who work with other agencies to overcome children’s fears. Children enjoy cooking their favourite recipes with staff and they have a varied diet, which features fresh fruit and vegetables. This contributes to children’s health and development.

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

Staff understand their responsibilities for safeguarding children. Children have individualised risk assessments that set out the actions that staff should take to keep children safe. These are regularly reviewed and updated with any changes.

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

Staff are aware of the risks associated with the internet, and have appropriate boundaries in place. Children are encouraged to take risks and enjoy a safe level of independence in line with their age and understanding.

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

When children have gone missing from home, staff have followed their individualised plans to locate children. Missing incidents are evaluated by the manager and the findings are used to review practice to prevent further incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 3 Staff use rewards and de-escalation techniques to manage children’s behaviour. When consequences are used, they are proportionate and restorative. Children are given the opportunity to reflect on incidents and consider how they could have responded differently.

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

Staff undertake direct work with children on a range of subjects, including knife crime, healthy relationships and substance misuse. Managers have a good oversight of this work to ensure that it is focused on children’s needs. As a result, children are developing their knowledge and awareness of risk.

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

The staff work closely with external professionals to safeguard children and share information on a regular basis. Partner agencies speak positively about the practice in the home. One social worker said, ‘They go above and beyond to care for the children.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team provides strong and effective leadership, which ensures cohesive practice. Staff are dedicated and motivated to achieve the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager carefully considers children’s needs before they move in. She ensures that children’s needs are understood, and the staff are sufficiently skilled to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff attend team meetings and have access to regular, reflective supervision and clinical support to enhance their practice. Staff feel valued and are confident in the support provided by managers and each other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a stable staff team. When additional staff are required, the manager endeavours to use staff who the children are familiar with. The home has a safer recruitment process in place. However, not all checks have been made consistently, which could compromise the children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When staff join the home, they are supported through their probationary period. New staff have access to an induction plan, which includes completion of all mandatory training. However, not all staff have completed the mandatory training set out in the home’s statement of purpose. A requirement has been made in relation to this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has monitoring and review systems in place, which contribute to the home’s development plan. The manager also uses external monitoring from the independent person, but has not challenged the quality of these. The manager states that there are plans to review this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has door locks in some communal areas. The rationale for using the locks for periods of time and the review of this are not clear. A recommendation is made to address this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 4

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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 Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the 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 children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all staff receive mandatory training within their probationary period, in line with the statement of purpose. 28 February 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d)) 28 February 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 5 Specifically, the registered person must ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to all staff employed in the home in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the independent person undertakes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any locks on internal areas of the home are assessed and regularly reviewed in line with children’s needs and with the consent of social workers. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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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: 2801864 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Infinity Care Home Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2a Park Road, Hyde SK14 2LN

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Inspectors

Jon Dutton, Social Care Inspector Carrie Mayes, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2801864 7 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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