Children's Home run by Arc-HD Services Ltd in Hampshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 1 Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. The home provides care for up to three children who have social, emotional and mental health difficulties. Two children were living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 29 October 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/10/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 19/03/2024 Full Good 27/09/2022 Full Good 27/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in this home because they are supported by staff who genuinely care for them. The children have developed strong relationships with staff and are reducing their risk-taking behaviours. Positive incentives promote self-care and help the children to make better choices regarding their well-being. Staff encourage good routines for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have lovely relationships with the children, which are built on trust. The children can identify key adults they would speak to about worries or concerns. Staff use individual sessions with the children as opportunities for the children to express their views and wishes and how they are feeling. Consequently, the children feel listened to by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to a range of activities suited to their hobbies and interests. The children have visited theme parks and the cinema and attended music concerts. One child has pet gerbils that staff support them to look after. The children are easily able to request activities they would like to participate in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prioritise the health and well-being of the children. The children have access to any medical care that is required. External professionals support the children with their additional health and well-being needs. This means the children are beginning to understand their journeys into care and are starting to process trauma.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote equality and diversity well. The children are supported to take part in cultural celebrations that are important to them. When the children wish to celebrate festivals from their own cultures, staff take direction and advice from the children on how they want to do this. The children are supported to cook cultural dishes that they can share with staff. The children can communicate in their preferred language with people who are important to them. Staff use technology to translate these communications to ensure conversations remain appropriate and safe for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children do not attend school, and there is a lack of structured education provided by staff. The manager has advocated for the children to return to education; however, this has been unsuccessful so far. The children do have access to some basic education provided by staff, and one child has a tutor for one hour a week. One child has recently attended some taster sessions at alternative provisions. However, this is still significantly below the number of education hours they are entitled to receive. As a result, the children’s learning and education opportunities are limited.

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

Staff manage safeguarding concerns well and the children’s safety is a priority. Safety plans and risk management plans for the children are thorough and give clear guidance Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 4 for staff to follow when the children are at risk. When there are safeguarding concerns, leaders and managers respond promptly to ensure these are managed and that the children are safe. Staff can explain safeguarding processes, and they receive good levels of training to be able to respond to the children’s needs.

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

Children are aware of the complaints process. When the children have raised concerns to senior leaders, these have been responded to appropriately. Concerns are fully investigated, and the children are kept informed during the process. As a result, the children are confident to raise concerns, knowing their voices will be heard and their concerns addressed.

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

Physical interventions are only used when they are necessary to keep the children safe. The children are given the opportunity to talk openly about their feelings after incidents and explore other ways to express their emotions. Staff can reflect on incidents with the manager. Staff have access to external professionals and additional forums to discuss and reflect on incidents. These opportunities help to improve staff’s knowledge and understanding around the children’s behaviour.

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

Changes to the dynamics of the home have meant that recently, incidents of the children being missing from home have significantly decreased. When the children are missing from home, they experience well-coordinated responses from staff to ensure their safe return. Staff carry out work with the child afterwards to try to prevent a reoccurrence. Consequently, staff keep the children as safe as possible when they are missing from home.

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

The manager does not empower the staff team to be confident in making decisions that are in the best interests of the children. In one example, when a child needed medical intervention, the staff team called the manager for advice before calling for medical assistance. Although this incident did not affect the well-being and safety of the child, it created an unnecessary delay in medical advice being sought. Additionally, some staff do not have the confidence to put boundaries in place for the children. This practice is not consistently challenged by the manager.

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

Leaders and managers did not fully support the staff when they were facing a tricky period. Although senior leaders supported staff when incidents became unmanageable, staff describe not feeling valued or heard in the time leading up to this. One external professional felt they should have been invited into the home more regularly to support staff during this time.

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

The manager does not consistently communicate with the staff. Some staff describe that their role or expectations of them are not clear. The manager does not always ensure updates for the children are shared with staff. This leaves them unaware of the progress of some support provided to the children. Team meeting minutes still do not consistently identify and review actions set for staff to complete. Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 5 Staff are not aware of the importance of completing their required qualification. One member of staff is out of the required timeframe, and some staff who have been enrolled for several months have not made the expected progress. Although the manager is aware that these staff are behind schedule and does discuss this in supervision, she is not challenging this robustly. This means children are at risk of being cared for by unqualified staff.

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

The management team regularly meets with the children’s key staff to conduct internal reviews of the children’s placements. These reviews provide the manager with good oversight of the progress the children are making and any concerns that need to be addressed. The manager also conducts regular audits of the children’s documents. Due to recent challenges, the manager is behind on these. As a result, she was not aware that some plans for the children contain out-of-date information and that updated local authority care plans had not been received. This has left staff, including agency staff, unaware of changes to the children’s care and referring to out-of-date information.

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

Leaders and managers are passionate about the care children receive. They have high aspirations for the children and what they can achieve. Leaders and managers are not afraid to challenge poor practice, which helps to ensure the children have the best possible experiences. External professionals positively describe the care that the children receive. Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 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 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(viii)(b)) 8 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—

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Requirement Due date

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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 8 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 7 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)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure the staff have the confidence to and are empowered to make decisions that are in the best interests of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure they have oversight to recognise when staff are not supported and take action to address this.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure roles and expectations are clear for staff.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure clear communication with staff regarding the children.

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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

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— 8 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 8 the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home’s policies and procedures are followed to ensure that children who live there benefit from them. In particular, the registered person should ensure that any actions resulting from team meetings are identified and reviewed to ensure that they have been completed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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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: 1258831 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wessex House, Upper Market Street, Eastleigh SO50 9FD

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Inspector

Louise Webling, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1258831 10 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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