Children's home run by Seva Childcare Ltd Assurance visit report: 2548794 9

Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 1 Registered provider: SEVA CHILDCARE LTD

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned children’s home. This home provides care for up to five children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in 2020. The manager registered in October 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, four children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspectors were aware during this inspection that concerns raised about children’s safety had been investigated and closed by the appropriate authorities. Actions taken by the home in response to the concerns were considered alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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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: 14 October 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Two compliance notices were issued under regulation 12 (the protection of children standard), and regulation 13 (leadership and management standard) of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 2 Following a monitoring visit on 19 December 2024, the compliance notice under regulation 12, the protection of children standard, was deemed met. The compliance notice under regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, was not met. However, given progress made and action ongoing, Ofsted did not reissue the compliance notice and instead raised a requirement. Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/10/2024 Full Inadequate 10/07/2024 Full Inadequate 15/05/2023 Full Good 29/06/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy. Staff create a nurturing and homely environment where children settle and thrive. The loving and stable atmosphere at the home helps children’s growth and emotions. Children are cheerful, chatty and welcoming to visitors.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive warm and individual support tailored to their needs. Children enjoy strong and positive relationships with staff who are nice and caring. Staff use hugs to give affection, comfort and support to the children when they need them. One social worker said, ‘Staff are passionate about the children’s care.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have engaging conversations with children. These help children to learn how to communicate well. Staff support a child who uses assistive communication devices to communicate their needs. The child used their device to say that they are happy and safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live well together. Children eat together, and they sometimes play or go out together. Some of them have formed close friendships. Two children like using the swings together. Staff said that these children are close, and they are like sisters.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make remarkable progress from their starting points. Some children are speaking more than they did before they moved to the home. Staff have taught some children to use the toilet with little support. This has improved the children’s hygiene and comfort. A child’s social worker said that the child has developed a lot in the time they have been living in the home. Staff support even young children to learn a range of important life skills. Children help with tidying up, washing up, laundry and cooking. For example, a child peeled potatoes for their evening meal when they returned from an outing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend school. Staff have worked with other professionals to get one child into school. A child’s social worker said that the care provided by staff is helping them to thrive. They also said that the child’s teacher said that they are ‘like a new child and they are much more willing to engage at school’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have a lot of enjoyable activities in and outside of the home. They enjoy playing in the garden and using the sensory room. Equipment has been ordered to make this a calming space for the children. Children had various activities planned for the Easter holidays. One child described with excitement what they saw during a visit to a museum.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to eat well to promote their health. There is plenty and varied food for the children. Children can have fruits and snacks whenever they want these. One child said that they like yoghurts and there were some in the fridge. A social worker said that a child’s health has improved a lot because they now eat well. Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 5

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

Safeguarding practice has improved. Managers have improved their risk management processes. Staff had more training and opportunities to talk about what they need to do to protect children. This helps staff to recognise and deal with concerns early.

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

Children said that they are happy and safe. Staff know each child well, and they can spot nonverbal cues in children with limited speech. Staff are quick to support children when they are in distress or uncomfortable. This helps children to feel safe and secure. A child’s parents said that their child is safe, and they have never been worried about anything.

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

There have been a few concerns raised with local safeguarding partner agencies and with Ofsted. Some of these have been anonymous, limiting the ability to get more information. Paramedics and the police have attended the home to check children’s welfare. Children’s social workers see them often. These professionals have no concerns about children’s safety at this home.

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

The quality of the provider’s investigations has improved. Managers now work well with safeguarding partners, including the local authority designated officer. This ensures that they deal effectively with any concerns. Managers now talk to children to understand their feelings and views. Staff benefit from discussions that help them to learn from concerns and improve safeguarding practice in the home.

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

There have been no new staff at the home. Leaders and managers have improved staff recruitment checks to ensure that only suitable staff work at the home. Further work is needed to ensure that these checks are consistently applied.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is stable leadership at the home. Leaders and managers have addressed the shortfalls found at the last full inspection. Managers have improved monitoring systems to assess the quality of care provided to children and records. Records of incidents show what staff do to support children, and managers now review these. Staff rotas are now detailed, and they show when staff are working and when they are not. However, some records contained minor errors that managers missed when they checked them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable staff team that helps children to receive consistent care. Staff show commitment to helping children to thrive and they enjoy their work. Staff talked about the impact of recent allegations. They said that the allegations are baseless and that they undermine the great work that staff do.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have appropriate training and development opportunities, including in-person and online training. All staff are now trained in first-aid skills, helping them to support children effectively when needed. Staff said that the training is good. They can ask for more training if they need it to meet children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 6 Staff supervision and team discussions now occur often. Staff said that they are happy with this and with the support they get from managers. Managers keep detailed supervision records. However, it is not clear whether actions agreed in supervision are reviewed in a timely and meaningful way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s social workers spoke positively about the care provided by staff. One social worker was happy about the progress a child made in the short time they had been living in the home, with a clear reduction in incidents where the child gets upset and hits out at others. Parents who visit their children often said that all the children in the home are well looked after. Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s care records are accurate and are recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they maintain good employment practice, as set out in regulations 31 to 33. This includes ensuring that gaps in staff employment history are checked during the recruitment process. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  The registered person should ensure that they support staff development by reviewing actions agreed in supervision in a timely and meaningful way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.3)

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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: 2548794 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ

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Inspectors

Thobekile Bandama, Social Care Inspector Richard Wyper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2548794 9 and inspects 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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