MovingUp Care South

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 1 Moving Up Care South Registered provider: Moving Up Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This service is owned and managed by a private provider. The service provides 32 single-occupancy premises and seven group-living premises for up to 50 looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, the service was providing support for 20 children between 16 and 17 years old.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted in November 2023.

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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

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months.

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Summary of findings

Children’s experiences and progress vary. This is because not all staff have the skills to support children effectively as they move towards adulthood.

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Summary of findings

Some children are at risk of harm because staff do not always provide consistent guidance and support to help them stay safe. The high turnover of staff means that children are regularly supported by unfamiliar staff who do not understand or implement their safety plans.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers are aware of the areas where the service must improve. They have a development plan in place and are taking steps to ensure that children using the service can make progress. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children who are ready for supported accommodation when they are admitted to this service make good progress. For example, they learn independence skills that enable them to manage their own tenancy in the future. However, leaders and managers have admitted children who need care and additional support to keep them safe. These children are not ready for supported accommodation, and their progress is limited because staff do not have the necessary skills to support their complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children do not receive support from a consistent staff team. They said that there are occasions when unfamiliar staff members arrive to work with them, which makes them feel uncomfortable. This discourages children from participating in their support sessions. One child said that they spend extra time in their bedroom to avoid engaging with unfamiliar staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children face barriers to accessing education, training or employment, staff do not take sufficient action to help them overcome these challenges. For example, one child told staff that they have trouble sleeping, as they feel that they are addicted to their mobile phone. Staff have taken no action to support this child in developing strategies to improve their sleep pattern in preparation for college. As a result, the child’s attendance at college has reduced, and their academic progress is limited.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Managers and staff do not always take appropriate action when children raise concerns or make complaints, and verbal complaints are not formally recorded or categorised. As a result, managers are unable to identify any emerging patterns or themes from children’s concerns. For example, one child said that, on two occasions, they alerted the service manager about the poor conduct of a staff member and requested that this person does not return to their home. While managers initially removed the staff member, they later asked them to support the child again. Consequently, children do not always feel that managers and staff take their concerns seriously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children benefit from the support of an in-house psychology service. Leaders and managers have appointed a psychologist to provide monthly consultation and advice around the support needs for individual children. This means that staff are better equipped to recognise children’s emotional needs and support them to understand their past experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s cultural and linguistic needs are identified and well supported. For example, managers carefully consider children’s cultural backgrounds when they decide which children are compatible for sharing group-living homes. This increases the likely success of these placements. Equally, staff adopt a range of methods to communicate with children who speak English as an additional language. This helps children to settle into their home and to understand the expectations of the placement. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Children who experience traumatic events are not consistently provided with sufficient support to ensure that they receive the help that they need from other professionals. For example, one child experienced several traumatic events in quick succession. Staff viewed the incidents in isolation. Managers and staff do not always consider the accumulative effect of traumatic events on children’s emotional and mental well-being.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s support plans do not always reflect their life histories. For example, when children make disclosures about historic abuse, staff do not record these in their records. Consequently, staff are unaware of these events and unable to provide appropriate support. Equally, for one child, staff failed to identify that the pending anniversary of an abusive incident was imminent and may be a contributing factor to the child’s recent changes in presentation.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children go missing, staff report these incidents to the relevant agencies and make necessary arrangements to contact the child by telephone. However, there are occasions when some staff lack professional curiosity around children’s safety in these circumstances. For example, since moving in several months ago, one child has been recorded as being unauthorisedly absent for two nights per week. Staff are aware of their location but do not carry out any visual checks to assure themselves that the child is safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

When risks to children emerge, staff and managers do not consistently recognise them, and they do not always seek appropriate help from other agencies. For example, when one child who was previously at high risk of exploitation began to display signs that indicated that they were again unsafe, this was not reflected in their safety plan. Staff did not provide appropriate support through key-work sessions to help the child understand these risks.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children receive support from a consistent and experienced staff team, they become increasingly safe. For example, one child is now attending college and has recently become interested in fitness. As they have grown in confidence, their risks around exploitation have reduced, and they spoke of their future hopes and plans. Staff who support this child know the child well. These positive relationships are instrumental to the child’s progress. This child expressed pride in their home and said that they feel safe for the first time in a long time.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s accommodation is homely and well maintained. They are encouraged to personalise their living space and add their unique touch to their homes. Children said that they feel safe in their homes and in their local communities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers acknowledge that the service does not consistently provide good support for children. They use external consultants to support them in Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 4 identifying specific areas for development and have taken some action to improve children’s experiences. For example, an improved reporting system has been designed to assist managers in gauging the effectiveness of the support that children receive. Leaders and managers have developed an action plan to continue the pace of change and ensure that all children are suitably placed and able to make progress towards independence and adulthood. However, these improvements remain in their infancy and are not yet fully embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers have accepted children into the service who are not yet ready to live in supported accommodation. However, they acknowledge that this practice cannot continue and have revised their admissions policy; they no longer accept emergency referrals or referrals for children transitioning from mental health inpatient care. Leaders and managers work with placing authorities to ensure that children whose needs exceed the scope of supported accommodation move into alternative accommodation where their needs can be met. However, these necessary moves and actions are not timely, which is detrimental to children’s welfare and well-being.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff do not receive training to ensure that they can meet all children’s needs. For example, they do not receive training in substance misuse, knife crime, or criminal exploitation, despite these factors being prevalent for some children. Additional courses are available for staff to attend; however, these are optional, and many staff choose not to attend. Furthermore, the induction package for new staff is insufficient for their role. For example, staff first support children after only a single day of induction and before completing mandatory training, and they do not consistently read children’s plans or risk assessments before they work with them. As a result, children are often supported by inexperienced staff members who lack the skills and knowledge to provide effective support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager has installed a new electronic recording system to help them monitor the service, children’s progress, and risks to children. However, the system is not yet effective. For example, some children’s target areas have not been reviewed, and new emerging risks to children that are recorded as incidents are not reflected in the child’s safety plan. The registered service manager was not aware of these shortfalls. Consequently, the service is not yet providing adequate or consistent support to help all children make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Recruitment practices do not ensure that staff are safe to work with children. For example, staff are not required to provide exact start and finish dates for their previous employment and are only asked for the month and year. Such information does not enable managers to identify and explore any potential gaps in an employee’s employment history. Furthermore, leaders and managers do not validate staff documents, such as qualifications or Disclosure and Barring Service checks, to ensure that these are authentic. Leaders and managers took some action during the inspection to rectify these shortfalls. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 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. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 14 June 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with children to help them understand how to keep safe, by offering guidance and support on how to minimise any potential risk of harm. 14 June 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 6 (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(f)(ii)(iii))

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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 children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

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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

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;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that children are supported to access education, training or employment;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that children are supported to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(c)(h)(k)(m)(n)) 14 June 2025

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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

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 1. (Regulation 17 (1) (3)(d)) 14 June 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 7 The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints and representations made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint or representation, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 31 (1) (3)) 14 June 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively scrutinise the settings and make best use of internal monitoring information to ensure continuous improvement. In particular, they should review all incidents and proactively implement lessons learned and sustain good practice. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 53)  The registered person should ensure that if staff have concerns around a child’s safety and/or risk of harm or exploitation, they follow the service’s safeguarding procedures, according to the provider’s child protection policy. This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff follow external reporting procedures. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 56)

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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: MovingUp Care South 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Moving Up Care Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Parker House, 87 Buttermarket Street, Warrington WA1 2NL

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Jonathan Lais

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: enquiries@movingupcare.com

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Inspectors

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Julie Cresswell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: MovingUp Care South 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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