Children's Home run by Inspirations Leicestershire Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 1 Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned. It provides care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is registered with Ofsted and is suitably experienced.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 2

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improvement to be good

This is the home’s first inspection. Since opening, three children have lived at the home; one child has left. Two children are currently living in the home, and the inspector spoke with both of them.

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improvement to be good

Children are not making sufficient progress from their starting points. They are cared for by a staff team that wants to provide them with the best support. However, not all the children’s needs are being met as the relevant plans do not inform staff sufficiently to enable them to provide an appropriate level of care. One child has only been living in the home a number of days. The second child had good relationships with staff and said that they are happy at the home.

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improvement to be good

When children are moving into the home, their transition is planned. Staff visit the child before moving in, and the child visits this home. This gives the child an understanding of what life at the home will be like, which helps to reduce their anxieties. They settle in quickly as they are clear about the expectations.

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improvement to be good

The experiences of children have been mixed. One child only spent a short time in the home before they were required to leave. This was following a conversation by staff relating to a three-day period of missing from the home. Staff were unable to manage the situation which resulted in damage to the home and the police being required to calm the situation. Consequently, there was very little time to prepare the child for the move.

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improvement to be good

Staff help children to stay connected with their families and other people important to them. Children are also encouraged to have regular phone calls with their families. This helps children maintain important family relationships and promotes their identity.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to attend routine health appointments. Staff are supported by the company’s therapist, who offers advice and support on how to help children with their emotional health needs.

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improvement to be good

The manager has high expectations that children attend school. Where children have gaps in their education prior to moving into the home, or find attending school difficult, the manager works with other professionals to support children with remote learning or to re-engaging in their education. However, education for some children is at an early stage, which means the inspector was unable to consider their progress.

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improvement to be good

The home is well presented, and children’s photos and exhibits are displayed throughout the home. This helps to make the home personalised. Children and staff spend time together. Children cook and bake for themselves, and for staff. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 3

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to be involved in their day-to-day care and to develop age- appropriate independence skills. Children are consulted about their care at this home. However, the input that children have in these discussions is not consistently clear, and it is not known whether they understand what is expected of them.

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improvement to be good

Children who are struggling with their emotional well-being and mental health are referred to appropriate services to identify additional support to help improve their mental health. However, risk management plans do not fully reflect the implications of those risks and the significant harm they pose if not managed well.

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improvement to be good

The staff encourage learning about differences and use a ‘culture book’ to help children to understand religions, faiths and beliefs. However, not all children in the home are sufficiently helped and supported to explore their identify and what this means to them.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not ensured that staff have a good understanding of the risks for children. Risk management plans are not good-quality documents, and do not have the necessary details to help staff to understand the child’s behaviour or what action to take to support them. When incidents have occurred, the plans for staff to manage incidents are not followed. Incidents relating to drug misuse and possession of a weapon have relied on children resolving those concerns, rather than an adult taking accountability for the situation.

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improvement to be good

Some records at the home are detailed. However, they do not always use child-friendly language and identifies practice that could be seen as punitive. For example, one entry suggests that a child was made to speak with a police officer when they did not want to because otherwise it would disrupt ‘an entire day’ of independence.

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improvement to be good

Recruitment records were sampled to check if staff had been recruited in line with safeguarding policies and procedures. Records reviewed for one member of staff resulted in the provider needing to carry out outstanding recruitment checks from overseas.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is taking steps to improve the quality of care provided. However, after the home opened, an additional manager was appointed. During this period, the registered manager did not have sufficient oversight of the home and did not audit tasks that were being carried out by staff or the additional manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been a number of shortfalls in the managerial oversight of the home. This has meant that risk management plans have not been updated or followed by staff when incidents have occurred. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 4 Supervision records do not demonstrate reflection on practice or appropriate challenge to improve the quality of care being provided. Key-work sessions lack depth, and do not fully address the purpose of the session. Some recordings of the session contain information about children which uses inappropriate language. Management oversight has been inconsistent which has led to some shortfalls in children’s needs being met and a further failure to identify learning for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Multi-agency working is positive and promotes the full involvement of the professional network around the child. There is daily communication between the care staff, school staff and other professionals. This means that approaches to care for children are well coordinated. Feedback from social workers is positive. One social worker said that they are happy with the care provided to their child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have relevant qualifications or are undertaking the relevant qualifying courses. They have completed mandatory training as well as training relating to needs of the children they care for. There is a consistent and culturally diverse team of staff who said that morale is high. Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 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 Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk management plans and home care plans identify known and potential risks for each child, and that staff are skilled and confident in challenging and dealing with inappropriate and behaviour that increases children’s risks. 20 June 2025

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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 children’s home that— 20 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 6 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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 home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be 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)  Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home’s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child’s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 7

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Recommendations

being listened to and acted upon. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  Staff should have the skills and confidence to communicate easily and understand the importance of listening to, involving and responding to the children they care for. Staff should understand that they have a responsibility to observe, notice and respond to children who are expressing their views, acknowledging that it is not the sole responsibility of the child to ‘tell’. They should also understand how children might communicate their feelings through their behaviour. (Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards, page 22, paragraph 4.10)

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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: 2785993 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Inspirations Leicestershire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 131a London Road, Oadby, Leicester LE2 5DP

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Inspector

Corline Parker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2785993 9 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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