Children's Home run by City Care Southwest Ltd in Plymouth

Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 1 Registered provider: City Care Southwest 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 home was registered by Ofsted on 7 February 2025. It is registered to provide a home for up to two children with social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of the home is registered with Ofsted and was present throughout the inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be 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 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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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 2

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improvement to be good

Decision-making to determine whether this is the right home for children is not thorough. Staff gain information about children and spent time with one child before they moved into the home. One professional praised the time that staff took to make sure they were ready to provide a child with care. However, the skill set and experience of staff are not considered, analysed or evaluated in line with the specific needs or potential needs of children.

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improvement to be good

. Staff are proactive in working with other professionals to identify and secure schooling for children. Concerns about delay are promptly addressed. One child said that staff are supporting them to go back to school. Staff have meaningful conversations with them and have taken them to visit several school settings. When children are not attending school, staff provide them with routine and informal learning activities.

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improvement to be good

Carers work well with health professionals to support children with their mental health. They talk to children about the concerns and the benefits of receiving support. This has led to one child agreeing to attend an appointment with the support from staff. The child said that they have felt able to talk to staff about their mental health and their previous experiences of the support they have received.

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improvement to be good

The details of children’s day-to-day lives are recorded in informative and well-written logs. Staff capture children’s experiences, feelings and emotions using descriptive and child-friendly language. However, important conversations are not easily accessible. This has led to essential information not being recorded, and what is recorded getting lost within these long documents.

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improvement to be good

Photos of children’s experiences while living in the home are put into memory books. These are essential for children to retain memories of their time in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance and impact of family relationships for children. They listen to children and respect children’s wishes and feelings about family time. One parent said that they and their child felt very supported by staff, which led to the formation of positive relationships. They said that staff were skilled in communicating, particularly during difficult conversations and when gaining information about the child. The parent said that they trust staff to meet their child’s needs and keep them safe.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 3 The child living in the home was spoken to alone and was seen interacting with staff. They said that they like living in the home and feel safe. The child feels listened to and is building positive relationships with staff. They speak to staff about their previous misuse of alcohol, cannabis and vapes and said that they receive good advice. They said that they no longer want to use these things and no longer want to go missing from home. The child said that staff are supporting them with their mental health and to attend school.

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improvement to be good

On recognising that staff could not keep a child safe, managers requested and attended multi-agency meetings with the aim of developing robust safety planning. This led to the implementation of additional safety measures until a new home was found for the child. After the child left, the manager completed a learning exercise with staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of the risks that children are exposed to. However, the quality of planning to monitor, manage and reduce risk is poor. Staff are not provided with strategies to use, and direct work with children is not planned. Planning for the event that a child goes missing from care lacks essential detail.

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improvement to be good

In response to risk, a decision to use recorded surveillance at the entrance of the home was appropriate. However, the necessary permissions and consents for this have not been gained.

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improvement to be good

Incidents, including when children go missing from care, are generally managed well. However, staff are reliant on accessing guidance and advice from managers or children’s social workers. On one occasion, staff did not take effective measures to prevent a child from selling a vape, knowing that this was likely to happen if they took the child out. The quality of recordings that detail staff and children’s actions has improved. There is no effective planning to support staff to know what behaviours children may exhibit in the lead up to or during incidents, or on how to support children at these times.

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good

The home is led by a committed, reflective but inexperienced leadership and management team. The registered manager is present in the home and has built a positive relationship with the child who lives there. She is eager to learn and wants to make continuous improvements to her practice and the practice of the staff.

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good

Staff enjoy working in the home. Staff said that they have begun to form strong and supportive relationships with each other. One staff member highlighted the positives of verbal handovers and how the child has been included in them.

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good

The manager knows the children and staff well. However, there is no management oversight, analysis or evaluation on documents about children. Managers do not Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 4 engage children or staff in reflective conversations following incidents. This means that information gained about children is not transferred to care planning or used to inform the assessment of risk or to support children with their behaviours. Analysis of staff practice is not collated or reflected on to inform future practice.

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good

Leaders and managers have not provided staff with regular, formal and recorded supervision. This is despite the home experiencing a period of crisis and all staff being in their probationary period. However, staff said that they feel supported and regularly talk to managers about their practice. The supervision that has taken place has been reflective, strength-based and focused on the child and developing practice.

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good

Restrictions have been put in place to protect a child. However, there is no formal log to document the restrictions and to justify why they are in place. There is no mechanism to review the restrictions to ensure that they are warranted and reduce them when appropriate.

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good

The process of completing checks to ensure the suitability of agency workers is not robust. Managers do not request sufficient information about workers to ensure that the quality of their practice is good and that they are safe to work with children. Concerns about the practice of an agency worker were addressed promptly. Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that robust evaluation and analysis of all available or required information is completed before a decision is made for a child to move into the home.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that planning to meet the needs of children and meet the aims of the placement is clear and directive.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that important information about children, particularly that gained from conversations and direct work with children, is recorded in a way that allows for effective care planning and analysis.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that children are not subject to any unnecessary restrictions. When restrictions are in place, they must ensure that restriction-reduction planning is in place and regularly reviewed. 29 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 6 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

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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all necessary information is included in documents that support carers to manage risk and provide guidance when children are missing from care.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that staff have access to clear information and guidance on behaviours that children may exhibit and how to support children to manage and be aware of their behaviours.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that staff receive regular planned and reflective supervision. 29 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

promotes their welfare. 29 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 7 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;

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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;

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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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they record clear oversight and actions on documents about children and that they use this oversight to monitor the practice of staff and outcomes and progress for children.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that staff and children are provided with reflective conversations following incidents of concern.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that they monitor and review staff practice.

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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; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the 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 requirements are that— 29 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 8 the individual is of integrity and good character;

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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

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they are assured of the suitability of all staff who work in the home by reviewing all essential documents. This includes agency workers.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the necessary permissions and consent are in place for monitoring and surveillance around the home. 29 June 2025

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 9 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: 2818155 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: City Care Southwest Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Care Southwest, Plumer House, Tailyour Road, Plymouth PL6 5DH

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2818155 11 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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