Provision Living Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 1 Provision Living Ltd Registered provider: Provision Living 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 29 individuals in 12 shared or group-living homes that are not limited to accommodating looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service was providing supported accommodation to seven children aged 16 and 17 years old.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted when the organisation was registered in December 2023.

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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 13 February 2025.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action. The next inspection will be within approximately three years.

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Summary of findings

Children make good progress and are supported to develop their independence skills as they progress towards adulthood.

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Summary of findings

Children feel safe and staff build trusting relationships with them. Children are able to share any concerns and develop their skills in keeping themselves safe.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers know and understand children well. They lead a stable and consistent staff team who are well trained to meet children’s changing needs. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children make progress and have a range of positive experiences. They build trusted relationships with staff, who take time to get to know them well and build a connection. Staff and managers prioritise spending time with children and use this to get to know children’s interests and help them to engage with the support available.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Plans for children are effective. From the point of referral, managers gather appropriate information to help them to make safe admission decisions. The support that children receive reflects their changing needs, and their plans are regularly reviewed and updated as they make progress. Staff know and follow these plans to ensure that children receive consistent support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children know how to make a complaint and receive prompt responses to their concerns. They also see how things change in response to the issues they raise. For example, one child complained about a broken kitchen appliance, so staff took them shopping to choose another suitable one that they liked. This gives children confidence that their concerns are taken seriously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are ambitious for children and support them to access education, employment, or training. Most children engage well but when children are less motivated, staff work with local specialist services to help them to find a preferred course or employment opportunity. Staff also help children to write CVs and apply for jobs, helping them to think about future career options.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children develop life skills and independence in line with their individual needs. There is an independence programme in place that staff use to support children to develop skills such as cooking, cleaning, and budgeting. Progress is monitored regularly to ensure children are progressing appropriately. When children are not progressing as expected, this is identified quickly, and staff work with other professionals to put appropriate plans in place to support children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are in good health. Their health needs are identified early on, and staff support them to register with suitable services and address any health needs. This includes arranging access to mental health services when required. Staff provide ongoing advice and support to children for their health needs, to help them to learn how to manage their physical and mental health into adulthood, helping them to develop emotional resilience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

While some accommodation is well maintained and provides a nurturing environment for children, this is not true for all premises. Overall, children are happy with the standard of their accommodation, however, the registered service manager has not taken action to ensure consistent standards across all premises. This means that some properties are not as welcoming and homely as others. Leaders and managers acted during the inspection to make remedial improvements to premises. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Children said they feel safe. They said that staff help them to make the right choices and are always there for them when they need them. Staff recognise the importance of building trusting relationships with children so that when they have any concerns about their safety, they can speak up about these.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children who go missing experience well-coordinated responses from staff and managers, in line with locally agreed protocols. Staff work in collaboration with other agencies to develop safety plans that are closely followed. For one child who was frequently missing, this means that their missing episodes have reduced significantly. Staff and managers developed positive and trusting relationships with the child, which has helped them to communicate effectively with staff about their welfare and whereabouts, and to develop strategies to keep themselves safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff know and understand risks to children. Individualised and up-to-date risk assessments detail any known vulnerabilities, and staff are trained to be vigilant and recognise risks to children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff have effective links with local authorities, local authority designated officers and other safeguarding agencies. There is good communication about safeguarding issues. Staff also have good relationships with relevant voluntary sector organisations and attend meetings and share information appropriately. This coordinated approach helps children to feel safe and secure in their placement.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safer recruitment procedures used across the service help leaders and managers to ensure that children are supported by suitable staff. However, for recently recruited staff, gaps in their employment history were not fully explored or recorded.

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How well children are helped and protected

While children’s accommodation is safe and secure, the registered person has not ensured a consistently robust approach to fire safety. For example, one fire exit did not have a thumb-turn lock and was manually locked by staff, meaning it would not be easy for children to exit independently in the event of a fire. The registered person acted promptly during the inspection to rectify this issue.

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How well children are helped and protected

On one occasion, a child reported that some items had gone missing from their bedroom. Staff reported this to the management team, but no further action was taken. As a result, the child did not feel listened to and was not supported to report the incident to the police as they wanted to, or to seek a suitable outcome.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The service is run effectively and efficiently by a permanent and suitably experienced manager who knows each child well. Leaders and managers take time to develop positive relationships with children and understand their needs, risks, and goals. The service manager is a good advocate for children and works hard to ensure that staff can help them to achieve their goals. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 4 The registered service manager makes sure that the provision is properly staffed to meet children’s needs. There is a small and stable team of staff who work collaboratively to provide consistency and stability for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff said that they are supported and valued by the registered person. They benefit from regular supervision that addresses any performance or development needs. However, managers and staff are not given the opportunity in formal supervision to reflect on their practice or the needs of the children. This would further improve staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Relationships between the service and other agencies are strong and effective. One professional said, ‘I find the service to be both caring and supportive of the children in placement. They always return calls and are willing to support children to attend meetings.’ Social workers described how the service positively supports children by being flexible and by responding appropriately to children’s increasing independence as they approach adulthood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers ensure that plans for individual children are comprehensive and address their needs. They work together with other agencies and professionals and, when appropriate, with children’s families and previous carers, so that children are well supported, feel secure and are able to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Internal monitoring systems do not always support managers to evaluate and continually develop the service. For example, room checks are not recorded, and property maintenance checks are not carried out. This has led to a deterioration in the standards of some premises that managers are not always aware of.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Despite positive outcomes being achieved by children, recording, particularly of key- work sessions and interactions with children, is not always sufficiently detailed and clear. This means that accurate information may not be available for children to show their journey and progress. Leaders and managers recognise this and are working with staff on improving their recording skills. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living 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 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 adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces;

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Requirement Due date

comply with all relevant statutory provisions dealing with health and safety or fire safety matters. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure a consistently high standard of safety and accommodation across all premises. 28 March 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in settings across the service where young people are listened to, respected, and appropriately supported, including where children may be the victim of a crime. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 21)  The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice. They must ensure that the recruitment safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 51) Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 6  The registered person should actively scrutinise the settings and make best use of information from internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. In particular, ensure that internal monitoring systems support managers to evaluate the standards of accommodation and make improvements where required.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 53)  The registered person should have 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 children accommodated in the setting. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 51)  The registered person should ensure staff are familiar with the supported accommodation provider’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording, in particular, when recording key-work sessions and interactions with children. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 58)

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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: Provision Living Ltd 7

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Provision Living Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Office 6, Provision Living Ltd, Bangrave Road South, Corby NN17 1NN

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Kudzai Nyaundi

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: admin@provisionliving.co.uk

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Inspector

Tara Lovatt, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Provision Living Ltd 8 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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