Transition Care Peterborough Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 1 Transition Care Peterborough Ltd Registered provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is operated by a private provider in the east of England. They can accommodate up to 13 individuals in five shared or group- living premises that are limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers. At the time of the inspection, seven looked-after children aged 16 or 17 were being accommodated.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted in February 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 27 January 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 29 to 31 January 2025.

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Outcome

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately six months.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers have admitted children outside of the registration conditions of supported accommodation. Children have been admitted with complex needs which cannot be met by the service.

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Summary of findings

Children are not always safeguarded effectively. Child protection information is not consistently shared with partner agencies.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not ensure that children are suitable to live together. This places some children at risk of harm. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 2 Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that plans for children are comprehensive and meaningful.

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Summary of findings

Staff do not support children sufficiently to develop independent living skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers accept children with needs that the service cannot meet. As a result, not all children make progress and some placements end prematurely. Also, leaders and managers place children with complex needs in shared housing without considering the needs of other children living there. This puts children in the accommodation at risk of harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers do not support children well to develop independent living skills. Support work with children is infrequent and ineffective. For example, one child has had only eight recorded key-work sessions since 2023. Children’s independent living skills workbooks are incomplete.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not support children effectively to learn how to manage their vulnerabilities. They often remove risks rather than supporting children to learn how to manage them. For example, staff remove sharp objects and flammable items from children. Staff also store and administer children’s medication and do not have clear plans in place for children to take responsibility for this. Furthermore, staff carry out frequent welfare checks on most children and contact them regularly when they are in the community. This reduces children’s ability to develop independent living skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not keep records of children’s house meetings. This limits the effectiveness of these meetings as it is not clear what actions have been taken. It is also a missed opportunity to record children’s wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to find appropriate education courses and to seek employment, in line with their wishes. They engage well with the virtual school to support children to remain in education. However, approximately half the children being accommodated are not in education or employment.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not ensure that children are suitable to share the same accommodation. They do not adequately consider the risks that children may pose to each other before the children move into their accommodation. As a result, one child moved into a shared house and staff were unable to manage their behaviour. This increased the risk of harm to children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not always share child protection information with relevant agencies. This includes allegations of staff misconduct. On one occasion, staff did not respond appropriately when a child was at risk of child sexual exploitation, as information was not shared with the child’s social worker. The failure to respond to significant concerns affects children’s safety and well-being. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 3 Leaders and managers do not ensure that children’s plans are up to date or contain all known risks. Therefore, staff do not always know how to manage children’s vulnerabilities. Insufficient support work is undertaken with children to help them learn how to protect themselves, for example, in developing online safety skills.

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How well children are helped and protected

The registered service manager does not notify Ofsted of serious events. These include incidents requiring police involvement, allegations of abuse involving staff and concerns over children being missing from home. The failure to share this information with the regulator limits oversight of safeguarding practice.

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How well children are helped and protected

Some children have a high level of missing-from-home incidents. Staff’s responses to the incidents are inconsistent and return home interviews are not always offered to children. This is a missed opportunity for children and staff to reflect on the incidents and prevent reoccurrence.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not make all reasonable checks before appointing staff to support children. For example, previous employers are not always contacted to discuss why an applicant resigned.

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How well children are helped and protected

All staff are committed to helping children to try and make progress. Staff from partner agencies said that staff genuinely cared about the children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff appeared to have a good understanding of ways to communicate with children. As a result, at least one child felt that they had a trusted member of staff that they could speak to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not operate the service in line with the provider’s statement of purpose. Children who move in have complex needs which staff are unable to meet.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not always make child-centred decisions. They do not sufficiently consider the needs of children already living in shared housing when they move other children in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not monitor the service effectively. They fail to identify serious shortfalls that affect children’s safety, well-being and experiences. This places children at risk of harm because staff do not know or understand children’s individual needs or risks to their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager does not complete a quality of support review at least once every six months. This is a missed opportunity to reflect on areas of identified strengths and weaknesses and the experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not ensure that children’s plans consistently include strategies to support them. Children’s plans lack detail and are unclear and staff do Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 4 not consistently update them. Staff are unable to use these plans to support children effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The service is managed by a permanent and suitably experienced registered service manager. Staff receive regular supervision and access relevant training. However, staff do not consistently apply this training to support and protect children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers regularly employ agency staff to support children. They do not ensure that the use of agency staff is minimised to promote continuity of support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff feel supported in their roles and are positive about the training they receive. They also attend regular team meetings, and this helps them to focus on the needs and progress of children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 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

implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with children and to keep them safe from harm (13);

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of children to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of children to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(e)(f)) 21 March 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

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; 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 6 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

ensure a plan for support is in place to support the child to develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the child is ready to live more independently. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(c)(k))

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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 familiar and act in accordance with child protection policies;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies, and share information where relevant to keep children safe; 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 7 understand the relevant roles and responsibilities assigned to them by the registered person in relation to protecting children. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any 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 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

there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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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 an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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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 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 21 March 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; 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 8 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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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they promote continuity of staffing and support for children through minimising the use of temporary staff. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 52)

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Information about this inspection

The Inspector has 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: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 9

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 2 Godsey Crescent, Market Deeping, Peterborough PE6 8HX

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Kelly Belding

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: info@tcpeterborough.co.uk

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Inspector

Steve James, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Transition Care Peterborough Ltd 10 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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