Liberty ILS ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 1 Liberty ILS Ltd Registered provider: Liberty ILS Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is owned and managed by a private provider. The service can accommodate up to six children in self-contained units where the accommodation is for the sole use of the child.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service provided support for five children aged 16 to 17 years old.

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provider

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since the organisation was registered in February 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 10 February 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 12 to 14 February 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.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not operate this service in accordance with the Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. For example, the needs of some children admitted to this service exceed the scope of the regulations and mean that they cannot live safely in supported accommodation.

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Summary of findings

Children’s known needs and vulnerabilities are not considered or reflected in their individual support and safety plans when their placements are agreed.

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Summary of findings

Staff do not have the skills, experience or understanding to meet children’s complex needs. As a result, risks to children increase. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 2 Leaders and managers continually fail to notify Ofsted of all serious incidents as required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s experiences of this supported accommodation service vary greatly. When children’s needs align to the accepted scope of a supported accommodation service, they make progress. However, when children have complex needs that exceed this, decisions by leaders and managers to admit them place them at risk of significant harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s support plans are designed to reflect their views about the support that they feel they need. However, these plans lack detail about their backgrounds and histories and do not include information held by other professionals. For example, if children are known to misuse substances, this information may not be documented in their support plans. This is because the children do not identify this to be an area of need. As a result, children’s support plans do not provide staff with the correct information to enable them to understand children’s needs or to provide appropriate support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children do not consistently experience positive endings to their placements. For example, one child, who is approaching their 18 th birthday, is required to present as homeless on that day. Insufficient planning and the lack of suitable challenge from leaders and managers impact on children’s moving-on plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children who are ready to live in supported accommodation are admitted, they make good progress with their independent living skills and preparation for adulthood. However, the provider’s arrangements with the landlord do not allow children to live in their own home without support from staff. This limits children’s opportunities to fully prepare for adulthood while living in the supported accommodation service.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage children and support them to engage in education, training or employment. For some children, bespoke arrangements are agreed between multi- agencies to promote engagement and reflect children’s learning needs. Children receive support and the equipment they need to help them with their studies. This helps them to remain motivated to succeed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children do not speak English as their first language, staff ensure that they have access to the information about the service in a language that they understand. Additionally, staff spend time helping children to learn English. They use a range of translation applications and other teaching methods to support children’s learning. This helps children to understand the expectations of the placement and to learn about British culture.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s accommodation is well maintained. Staff encourage them to personalise their homes with their belongings. When repairs and remedial works are required, Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 3 staff and managers respond quickly to ensure that the children’s homes remain safe and comfortable.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not consider all known risks to children’s safety when their placements are agreed. This is despite referral information provided by social workers clearly stating children’s vulnerabilities and the expectations of staff to keep children safe. Children’s individual safety plans do not reflect their vulnerabilities; instead, these focus on demonstrating that staff are not intending to provide care. As a result, risks to children, who are already incorrectly placed due to their complex needs, increase because staff are not given strategies to manage and reduce these.

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How well children are helped and protected

Managers and staff do not understand risks to children. For example, when children are at risk of exploitation, managers and staff do not recognise this. Staff do not consider the ‘push and pull’ factors that impact on children’s safety; they view incidents in isolation. Equally, they do not record these risks in the children’s individual safety plans or develop clear actions to support children and keep them safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff do not consistently apply rules and boundaries to help children learn how to keep themselves safe and prepare for adulthood. Staff cajole children to maintain a relationship. For example, one staff member described how they ‘joke’ with a child about the persistent breach of the child’s bail conditions. This approach does not enable children to develop skills to live safely as an adult. Equally, it increases the risk of children reoffending.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff do not take sufficient action to safeguard children because the provider’s operational policies curtail professional curiosity. For example, staff are not allowed to enter children’s bedrooms without their consent. This is despite staff being aware that some children have illegal substances and drug paraphernalia in their bedrooms. Equally, on some occasions, children are knowingly misusing drugs in their bedrooms. One staff member said that they joke with the child about the smell of cannabis in the home being a perfume. Consequently, children do not receive sufficient support to help them with illegal substance misuse.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children do not receive sufficient support to access specialist services such as mental health and substance misuse services. For example, if children refuse to self- refer or to attend an appointment, staff accept this. They do not explore the barriers children are experiencing to accessing the services they need. This lack of professional curiosity and action means that children do not receive the specialist help they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not ensure that the needs of children who are admitted to the service fall into the scope of supported accommodation. For example, two of the five children currently placed required a minimum ratio of two to one staff on Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 4 admission. Additionally, the other three children continue to receive constant supervision after several months of living at the service. Ofsted has previously identified and subsequently raised this breach of regulation with the provider. Leaders and managers have failed to take sufficient action to address this significant shortfall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff said that they have concerns about the culture in the organisation. They said that they feel unable to raise concerns with leaders and managers due to fear of being discriminated against. Consequently, when staff have concerns about children, they choose not to raise them with leaders and managers. This places children at risk of harm and means that staff do not work together as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff have the skills to help them to understand children’s needs. For example, all the children currently placed have experienced childhood trauma. However, none of the staff receive training to help them understand the impact of this on children’s development and progress, or how they can support children to understand their past experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Formal supervision sessions do not provide staff with an opportunity to reflect on their practice. These sessions are carried out by a manager who does not have the relevant training to ensure they have the skills to provide supervision to staff. Furthermore, when staff raise concerns in their supervision, they do not receive sufficient responses to ensure that their concern is resolved. This prevents the ongoing development of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not take sufficient or timely action to challenge the suitability of children’s placements when their needs increase. For example, one child did not attend to their personal hygiene for three weeks after moving to the accommodation. Although staff raised concerns that the child needed care rather than support, leaders and managers continued to assess that the child’s placement was suitable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Ofsted has previously identified that managers do not understand when to share information about a serious incident with Ofsted. Leaders and managers have since undertaken training in this area. However, they have continued to fail to notify Ofsted about numerous serious incidents where children have been at significant risk of harm. As a result, Ofsted is unable to assess the safety of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not keep sufficient records about the admission and discharge of children from their service. The children’s register does not contain the details of children’s addresses before or after they live at the premises. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS 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;

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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 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;

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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)(b)(c)(f)(g))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure the service is operated in line with the statement of purpose and only admit children who are ready to gain further skills in preparation for adult living. They must ensure that children’s known needs are reflected in their support plans and individual safety plans and that staff work consistently in line 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 6 with these, and that they provide and implement training to ensure that staff understand the needs of children.

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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

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. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risks are reflected in their individual safety plans and that staff understand these and know what action they must take to keep children safe from harm. The registered person must ensure that staff receive training that enables them to understand child exploitation and have the skills to take sufficient action to reduce these risks for the child. 21 March 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

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

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry— 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 7 is instigated, or

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they have a process in place in relation to notifying Ofsted of all serious events. The registered person must ensure they notify Ofsted, without delay, about serious events involving children who are accommodated at any of their premises.

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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 an are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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Requirement Due date

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

in the event that the registered person or a member of staff considers that an accommodating authority or a relevant person is failing to provide the support set out in a child’s relevant plans, make representations, or, as the case may be, enable staff to make representations, to the accommodating authority or relevant person with a view to ensuring that the child’s needs are met; 21 March 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS ltd 8 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)(f)(h)(k))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep records of other information relating to the supported accommodation undertaking set out in Schedule 3.

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Requirement Due date

maintain the records in Schedule 3, which may be kept in electronic form;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are accessible to children, the CIECSS and each accommodating authority;

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 25 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 21 March 2025

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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 there are systems in place so that all staff, including the registered service manager, receive supervision of their practice from a suitably skilled and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people accommodated in the setting. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 51)

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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: Liberty ILS ltd 9

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Darrell Lewis

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Inspector

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Liberty ILS 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 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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