St Basils

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 1 St Basils Registered provider: St Basil’s

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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 offer supported accommodation under three different categories. At the time of the inspection, it operated two premises in a self-contained unit, for the sole use of the child. It operated five shared premises that are not limited to looked-after children and care leavers. It had 10 approved hosts to provide supported lodgings for looked- after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service was providing supported accommodation to 20 looked-after children aged 16 and 17 years old. Two children were living in single occupancy accommodation, 12 children were living in shared accommodation that is not limited to looked-after children and care leavers, across three premises addresses, and four children were living with approved supported lodgings hosts.

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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 3 March 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 5 to 7 March 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.

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Summary of findings

Children make good progress and have positive experiences. Staff know them well and ensure that they have access to the support they need when they need it. This helps children progress to adulthood and independence. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 2 Children said that they feel safe and are protected from harm. Staff understand potential risks to children’s safety and welfare and are well trained and supported to manage and reduce these risks.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers know and understand the supported accommodation service well. They are experienced and knowledgeable practitioners who ensure that the service operates within the scope of the regulations and the statement of purpose, and that decisions about children’s suitability to live in the service are appropriate. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children make progress and have a range of positive experiences. They receive help to build trusting and secure relationships with staff and supported lodgings hosts. Staff and hosts know children well; they listen to them, spend time with them, protect them from harm and promote their welfare. One child described how their supported lodgings host taught them to cook and helped them to be more independent. They also described how their progression coach knows them well and is responsive to their needs. They said, ‘[Name of coach] gets back to me so quickly. He’s been with me since the beginning; always so fast at getting me help with what I need, he is so good.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children, including those who speak English as an additional language, are supported to actively participate in decisions about their lives. They receive information that is translated into their first language when required to help them to understand expectations, build positive relationships and avoid isolation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Plans for children, including any plans for moving on, are effective. The support that children receive reflects their changing needs. Leaders and managers professionally challenge other agencies and the placing local authority when they have concerns about the plans for children. When children’s needs change, staff and managers work with the local authority to ensure that children get the help and support they need and to help them move to a more suitable service if this is required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children know how to make a complaint. The complaints policy is easy to understand and is accessible. Children can use their mobile phones to easily complete a short complaints form. Children’s complaints are treated seriously and responded to clearly. However, leaders and managers do not ensure that all staff record and respond to complaints or incidents consistently to allow effective monitoring and oversight of the concerns raised.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are ambitious for children and support them to do well in education, training, or employment. When children are not in employment, education or training, staff work with them to understand their goals and aspirations and to help them access education or training, even when there are barriers. There is an internal ‘employability team’ that helps children to access accredited and non-accredited life skills courses. This gives them confidence in their abilities and a starting point to access further education. Other examples include children being supported to attend college by funding transport for short periods to help engagement, support to find voluntary work and to take the first steps to get back into education or employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are supported to develop life skills and their independence in line with their individual needs. The ‘outcomes star’ used across the service helps children and staff to work together to assess children’s skills and areas of need and to see their progression to independence and adulthood. They are helped to take increasing responsibility for their finances by having tailored support with budgeting skills when required. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 4

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How well children are helped and protected

Children said that they feel protected and settled where they live. They can access support outside of usual office hours, including in an emergency.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children can identify a trusted adult that they can talk to about any concerns. They report that adults listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately. One child said that they were able to stick to the rules about returning home on time ‘because the rules had been developed in partnership’ with them.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s accommodation is safe and secure, and the locations enable children to participate in the local community and to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. While some children prefer a busy city location, others benefit from quieter locations that help them to disengage from negative influences. Leaders and managers consider this factor before children are admitted to the service. This further mitigates and reduces risks to children’s safety.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff benefit from a wide range of training that helps them to understand the risks to children. They know how to report any safeguarding concerns and are confident to do this. Any concerns are monitored closely by the registered service manager, who acts to ensure that children are safe. Allegations or suspicion of harm are shared with the appropriate agencies and are handled fairly, quickly and in accordance with statutory guidance. Children are supported and protected.

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How well children are helped and protected

Before new staff start work, they are subject to a range of recruitment checks. These checks are not consistent, and leaders and managers do not always follow up gaps in an applicant’s employment history. The systems in place for recording recruitment checks do not support the registered service manager to monitor outcomes and retrieve information if needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

An experienced and effective registered service manager manages this service. Along with the nominated individual, she supports staff to be confident in their understanding and application of the legislation around supported accommodation and achieve the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The service is staffed and resourced to meet children’s needs. When there are staff vacancies or absences, leaders and managers ensure that children and hosts are still able to access the support they need and that disruption to services is minimised. This approach gives children stability and helps them to make consistent progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers regularly monitor the quality of support provided. They use learning from practice and feedback to improve children’s experiences. They ensure that children are actively involved in this process and contribute to service development plans. For example, children are encouraged to join the internal youth advisory board. A group from the advisory board recently carried out mini- Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 5 inspections of some shared premises, and in response, improvements were made to the accommodation to make it more homely. Children were then involved in developing a short video to welcome any new children into the service, showing the accommodation and staff to prospective new children moving in. This helps children to invest in their placement and supports new admissions.

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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. The service works positively with other agencies and professionals to ensure that children can access the support they need. One professional said, ‘They work well with us; they attend all meetings, share information, and share any concerns we need to be aware of. I am just grateful for the support they give to me as a professional and to [name of child]. It’s really very good and we all work well together as a team to support [name of child].’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Training, development, and induction activities are effective and focus on ensuring that the service can meet the specific needs of the children it is responsible for. Staff have access to specialist support and training to ensure their practice is evidence based and meets the individual needs of children. This includes opportunities to have reflective practice discussions to ensure the support delivery is good quality and responsive to children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers and staff receive regular and effective supervision that is focused on children’s experiences, needs, plans, and feedback. Supervision is recorded effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff work collaboratively to provide consistency and stability. There are clear responsibilities and accountabilities, and staff have a sense of shared ownership about their practice. Staff report that they are well led and managed and that leaders are approachable, visible, and supportive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers make child-centred decisions about children. This includes considering the needs of other individuals already living at the accommodation. Admissions are carefully planned and assessed to ensure that children’s needs can be met. Leaders and managers are clear about what their service can offer; however, the statement of purpose needs to be clearer about the offering, particularly about the specific support offered to children who are parents or expectant parents. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 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 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (4), the registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual for the purposes of the provision of supported accommodation, or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work for the supported accommodation undertaking in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work for the supported accommodation undertaking,

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person is satisfied that 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 1. (Regulation 17 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d)) 2 May 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the statement of purpose gives a clear overview of the service and sets out what the service offers and how it can meet the needs of prospective young people who may be accommodated in the service, and how it is set up and equipped to meet those needs. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 46)  The registered person should ensure that internal monitoring systems are used consistently by staff to allow the registered person to monitor effectively and make best use of information to ensure continuous improvement, monitoring of Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 7 patterns and trends and for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 53)

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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: St Basils 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Heath Mill Lane, Birmingham B9 4AX

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Louise Bourne

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Inspectors

Tara Lovatt, Social Care Inspector Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: St Basils 9 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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