The Ferntree Support Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 1 The Ferntree Support Ltd Registered provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd

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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 61 individuals in 15 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 32 children aged 16 or 17.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted when the organisation was registered in January 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 20 January 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 22 to 24 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 6 months.

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Summary of findings

Children are at risk of harm because leaders and managers do not respond to safeguarding concerns in line with their internal procedures or relevant statutory guidance.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not have sufficient oversight of the service to ensure it is run safely and effectively.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff work effectively as a team to identify any concerns for children’s welfare and safety. This places children at increased risk of harm. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 2 The children’s living accommodation is poorly maintained and does not consistently provide them with a welcoming or homely environment.

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Summary of findings

Most children are taking part in education or training activities but their experiences and progress are varied.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers work with support services for unaccompanied asylum- seeking children. This gives children access to legal services that provide help and support with their right to remain applications.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s overall experiences and progress are poor. Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff have sufficient information about the children to understand their needs and risks. Children’s support plans lack relevant and important information about their lives before they moved into the accommodation. Consequently, staff do not know how these experiences may influence children’s behaviours and progress. Furthermore, children’s records are not personalised to them and do not detail their cultural and linguistic needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Consultation with children is poor. There are no formal procedures in place to seek children’s views or opinions, either about their support or the development of the service. This means that children’s requests or concerns are not routinely followed up or monitored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s accommodation is not consistently well maintained, welcoming or homely. The quality of the furniture and furnishings across the homes is variable. For example, one child’s bedding and furniture are stained and poor quality. This impacts negatively on children’s sense of self-worth and is detrimental to their emotional health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have access to a wide range of learning services. Despite this, their progress in education, training or employment varies. This is because children’s support plans do not detail their educational targets. Support staff do not have the information or guidance that they need to help them to identify potential barriers to children’s learning. This is a missed opportunity for staff to support children’s development towards future career options and greater independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff regularly hold one-to-one discussions with children. However, these often follow set agendas and are repetitive. For example, the impact of blocked drains was discussed with one child on two occasions in one month. These one-to-one sessions do not focus on children’s individual needs or any current concerns. This does not help children to maximise their progress towards independence or enable staff to understand the context of the child’s life, their support needs or aspirations. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not understand safeguarding procedures and, despite completing relevant training, their management and oversight of safeguarding and child protection concerns are poor. For example, when a child raised several serious concerns about a member of staff’s practice, managers did not follow allegation management procedures. This failure placed the child at risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children go missing from home, staff and managers share information with relevant agencies, although records about missing incidents are not well maintained. These records do not detail the action taken when children going missing or how they were helped to return home safely. Leaders and managers do not have any systems in place to help them to monitor patterns and trends of missing episodes. Consequently, indicators that children may be at risk of exploitation or radicalisation are not considered or responded to.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not notify Ofsted of serious incidents as required. Several serious incidents have occurred, including two children being subject to an allegation of sexual assault and a child being at risk of trafficking. As a result, Ofsted cannot assess the steps managers and staff have taken to protect children from harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders, managers and support staff lack professional curiosity relating to contextual safeguarding risks that are relevant for unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. Staff are not provided with the essential information that they need to help them understand and manage risks for children who have been trafficked into the country. This lack of information places children at increased risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not lead and manage the service in line with the statement of purpose or the relevant regulations and statutory guidance. They do not have an accurate understanding about children’s experiences in the setting and whether they are making progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The lack of a central monitoring system means that leaders and managers do not have an overarching understanding of safeguarding concerns, patterns and trends of behaviours, significant events or children’s progress. Consequently, they have not identified areas for development and do not take sufficient action to address shortfalls. Although the registered service manager completed a quality of support review, this did not identify any areas for development and it has not been used as a tool to bring about improvements for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children’s records are not routinely monitored. Leaders and managers do not sufficiently scrutinise daily records, incident reports or monthly reports that staff produce for children’s local authorities. This means leaders and managers are unable to demonstrate or effectively evaluate children’s experiences or the quality of the support that they receive. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 4 The complaints policy does not detail procedures in place to investigate complaints and allegations against leaders and managers. This means if a complaint of this nature is made, that there may be a significant delay in responding to and resolving this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager receives regular and independent supervision that he said he finds helpful. Support staff also said that they receive regular supervision and attend team meetings, and training records confirm that all staff have completed induction and mandatory training. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support 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

ensure that staff work effectively as a team, where appropriate, to meet the needs of children. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(b)) 11 April 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 familiar and act in accordance with child protection policies; 11 April 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 6 ensure that the effectiveness of child protection policies is kept under review and ensure that, where appropriate, those policies are revised;

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Requirement Due date

are familiar and act in accordance with child protection policies. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)(c)(f)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

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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 the premises used as supported accommodation—

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Requirement Due date

are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child individually and all children collectively;

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Requirement Due date

are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(v)(viii)) 11 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children from abuse or neglect, and sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

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Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

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Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the accommodating authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the premises in which the child is accommodated are located;

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response;

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Requirement Due date

describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(d)(f)) 11 April 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 7 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)) 11 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") in relation to each child accommodated by the supported accommodation undertaking which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 2,

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 11 April 2025

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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

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

includes details of— 11 April 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 8 the event concerned;

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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 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. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2)) 11 April 2025

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 9

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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: The Ferntree Support Ltd 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 13 Hawkshead Drive, Emerson Valley, Milton Keynes MK4 2LX

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Nyashadzashe Saunyama

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: admin@ferntreesupport.co.uk

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Inspectors

Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Linda Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Ferntree Support Ltd 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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