Children's Home run by N H Care Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 1 SC365366 Registered provider: NH Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children with learning disabilities. At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home, and were spoken to by the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2022.

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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

Date of last inspection: 1 November 2023

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/11/2023 Full Good 22/09/2022 Full Good 06/01/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/05/2021 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a comfortable, well-maintained and homely environment. The manager and staff have created a home that allows children to feel relaxed. Children’s bedrooms are personalised with toys, photos and lovely soft furnishings to capture their personalities. The quality of the decor and maintenance of the home shows that the manager and staff care about children’s experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have trusting relationships with children and provide them with love and kindness. This helps children to feel comfortable in their home. A staff member said, ‘We look after these children. We love our job. We give them everything.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is an emphasis on children attending education. As a result, children make progress in their education and have excellent attendance. One child has made significant progress in their educational engagement due to the manager’s positive oversight. The manager and staff work closely with teachers, social workers and parents to ensure children achieve the best possible outcomes. This level of support helps children to develop their identity needs and improve their communication skills and boosts their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children make memories and have shared experiences that they can remember in the future. The manager keeps a wide range of photos and memory books, in which staff use their creative skills to document children’s experiences. These have included a holiday to Wales, birthday parties, Valentine’s Day celebration and winning school prizes. A good range of experiences give children the opportunity to establish links in their local and wider community and develop their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s communication needs. They adapt their ways of working with children to ensure that children’s views and wishes are gathered. Staff hold weekly house meetings, where various visual aids are used to explore children’s views, including on activities for the week, food choices, worries, complaints and spending time with family. This helps children to influence and contribute towards their care plans, resulting in them feeling valued and respected.

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

Staff teach children about risk in a way that they can understand. They have discussions with children to explore and discuss safeguarding scenarios, to help improve their awareness. Topics include online safety, knife crime, self-care and road safety. The positive work undertaken by staff helps to develop children’s knowledge of risks and increases their levels of independence.

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

Risk assessments are detailed and clear. They outline children’s vulnerabilities and protective factors in their lives. They provide staff with clear direction about how to Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 4 manage risks safely for children. Staff are confident and knowledgeable in being able to create diversion and distraction and use de-escalation techniques to respond to children’s behavioural needs. This allows children to be cared for safely and in line with their individual needs.

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

Staff build positive relationships with children, and this has contributed to physical interventions rarely being used. When physical intervention has been used, this is necessary and proportionate. Staff ensure that children are reassured during physical interventions and are offered adequate physical and emotional support afterwards.

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

The manager and staff have a good understanding of children’s health needs and children are supported to make progress in their health and well-being. Staff ensure that children receive medication in line with their healthcare plans. Medication records are recorded accurately, and all staff have completed first-aid training. The manager ensures that if children refuse medication, this is urgently reviewed with their doctor.

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

Behavioural or safeguarding incidents are rare. Staff respond quickly when a child has been missing from home, ensuring they are kept safe. However, on two occasions, a less experienced staff member has been left to directly support a child when this was not appropriate. The manager identified the errors in practice and took steps to address these, resulting in no further concerns. Good oversight of any practice concerns helps ensure that learning is taken from them to improve the quality of care children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is reflective and approachable, and staff feel valued and supported by him. He has a good understanding of the strengths and development needs of the home and puts children at the heart of his practice. He has high standards for care and is a positive role model for staff and children. The manager has shown commitment to develop and strengthen practice in the home, to improve the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager provides regular and high-quality supervision for all staff. Team meetings are thorough and reflective and include discussion about relevant guidance, safeguarding scenarios and regulations. This helps staff to understand their roles more effectively and their responsibilities to children. This gives staff purpose and clear direction and helps them provide care which supports the best possible outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has experienced periods of instability due to a large number of staff leaving. Many of the remaining staff have worked at the home for years. Despite some disruptions to staffing, this has helped ensure children still have consistency and limited their exposure to instability and emotional distress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is not afraid to challenge senior managers when needed. He engages in professional and reflective discussions with senior managers, to ensure that he is satisfied that children will have the best care and outcomes. Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 5 Staff are provided with a range of training, and this informs their practice. Additional training is provided to meet the bespoke needs of children, to ensure that staff understand their caring responsibilities. For example, staff have received deprivation of liberty order training to educate them about restrictions and how they should be used in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s monitoring systems are an area for development. This is due to some staff not achieving their qualification in residential childcare in the necessary time frame. This issue was outstanding from the previous inspection. The manager has experienced issues with the training company, however, there has been a delay in re-enrolling staff on a course with a new training company. Therefore, staff’s learning and development has been compromised. In addition, important care planning documents are still to be received for one child. This prevents staff from being able to fully understand and respond to the child’s needs. Although the manager has raised this with the child’s social worker, when the issue was not rectified, it was not escalated further. Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 6

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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

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,

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Requirement Due date

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.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. 4 April 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 7 The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual—

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Requirement Due date

does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or

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Requirement Due date

works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 32 (2)(a)(b) (3)(d)(4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b) (6)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager and staff having a copy of all children’s essential care planning documents and escalating as necessary when these documents are not received in a reasonable time frame. 28 March 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 8

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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: SC365366 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 69 Steward Street Business Lofts, Steward Street, Birmingham B18 7AF

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Inspector

Caoimhe Richards, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC365366 10 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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