Care for Me Housing

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 1 Care for Me Housing Registered provider: Care for Me Housing and Support LLP

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

A private provider operates this supported accommodation service. The provider can accommodate up to 26 individuals in seven shared- or group-living homes that are limited to accommodating looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service provided supported accommodation for 10 children aged 16 and 17 years old.

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provider

The service manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2023.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 7 April 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 9 to 11 April 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 in approximately 18 months.

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Summary of findings

Most children are positive about their experiences and progress. However, some children are not in education, training, or employment.

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Summary of findings

Some staff understand children’s needs well, but not all staff have the necessary skills and experience to support children.

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Summary of findings

Some children’s living environments are maintained to a good standard. Overall, children speak positively about their accommodation.

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Summary of findings

Aspects of management oversight require improvement. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Some children make progress due to the support that they receive from individual staff. Most staff build positive relationships with children and understand their needs and difficulties. This helps staff to recognise when children need more support. One child said, ‘I am happy here. I have made progress over the last six months, and I get on well with [name of staff]. He speaks to me and does not talk down to me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not always ensure that children’s records are up to date or that they capture their experience and progress. For example, not all staff review children’s independence and support plans to make sure that relevant information is included about children’s goals, aims and objectives. This oversight has the potential to hinder the sharing of information and misrepresent children’s progress towards independence .

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Some accommodation is comfortable and decorated to a good standard. However, staff practice does not always ensure that the environment is nurturing and homely. For example, there is a blanket approach to the use of audio and visual closed- circuit television across the service. In addition, staff lock cleaning products away from children. This is not proportionate to any potential or identified risks to children. This does not create a supportive environment to prepare children to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children travelling from overseas do not always understand the day-to-day routines in the provision because the children’s guide is only available in English. When children speak English as an additional language, staff do not effectively work with them to ensure that they understand the content of this document. This does not help children to settle into their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Managers and staff do not routinely support children to maintain a clean, safe, and well-maintained living space. For example, two children’s bedrooms were untidy, unkempt, and contained broken furniture. This lack of oversight by managers means that not all children are kept safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Overall, children’s progress in education, training and employment opportunities is good. Some children have made measurable and meaningful progress in their education. Staff support children to access employment or training opportunities. This supports children’s development towards their future independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage and help children to maintain positive relationships with family members and those who are important to them. They understand how these relationships support children’s journey into adulthood and promote their emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Feedback from agencies is positive about managers and staff. These relationships help ensure that information about children is shared, and children’s needs and risks are known. This helps children to access the additional services that they may need. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff work with a range of agencies to explore patterns in children’s behaviour that may place them at risk of harm. They also use this time to examine their own practice to see what they can do differently to better support the children. Although this approach helps to inform children’s individual plans, their risk assessments do not always reflect these known or emerging risks.

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How well children are helped and protected

The registered person has a missing-from-home protocol in place in case children go missing from the service. However, on three occasions, staff were not responsive in implementing these protocols to ensure that children were quickly located. Furthermore, leaders and managers did not identify this shortfall as part of their oversight of the service. This potentially places children at an increased risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers ensure that staff complete specific training to help them support children effectively and to improve their knowledge. However, not all staff have completed mandatory training to support children. This means that some staff are not equipped with the knowledge and skills that they need to consistently promote children’s safety and well-being.

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How well children are helped and protected

Overall, recruitment practice is thorough and ensures that staff are suitable and safe to work with children. However, on one occasion, managers did not obtain all the relevant information in line with their procedure.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children told the inspectors that they feel safe, and that staff support them. Staff understand the importance of building trusting relationships with children so that when they have any concerns about their welfare, they can speak to staff about these and get the support they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have not yet embedded effective monitoring and review systems to sufficiently scrutinise the service and identify areas for improvement. Currently, monitoring systems do not help leaders and managers to successfully evaluate children’s experiences, or the quality of support provided by the service to ensure that this reflects the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff confirm that the registered person supports them in their role. They benefit from reflective discussions and team meetings regarding children’s progress. However, leaders and managers do not ensure that all new staff receive regular supervision to discuss their practice or identify their learning needs. This means that managers are not fully aware of staff’s professional development or the additional skills they need to better support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The provider’s complaints policy does not clarify how children can make a complaint. However, this has not affected children, as they know how to make a complaint and understand their rights. Leaders and managers ensure that any concerns are quickly Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 4 investigated and addressed. This assures children that any issues they raise are taken seriously.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers notify Ofsted of all serious incidents. This means that the regulator can review how managers and staff protect children from harm and reduce risks to children’s safety. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(g))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that internal monitoring systems support managers to evaluate and continually develop the service. 6 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

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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 the premises used as supported accommodation— 6 June 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 6 are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained;

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Requirement Due date

offer a comfortable, positive and nurturing environment, while respecting children’s need for privacy;

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Requirement Due date

are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces;

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Requirement Due date

only use devices for monitoring or surveillance in communal areas and then only if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to each child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(vi)(vii)(viii)(c)(i)(iv))

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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

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

before a child arrives or upon a child’s arrival, ensure that the child is given a written guide, in an accessible format, containing information about—

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Requirement Due date

what services and facilities are available that take account of children’s needs arising as a result of cultural differences or disability. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(c)(j)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s records are updated to reflect their individual needs, risks and behaviours, and their progress. 6 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy setting out—

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Requirement Due date

the steps taken, and to be taken, to prevent children accommodated by the supported accommodation 6 June 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 7 undertaking from going missing, and

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Requirement Due date

the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working for the supported accommodation undertaking, in relation to a child who is, or has previously been, missing. (Regulation 21 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff implement the procedures to be followed when a child goes missing from the service.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that recruitment practices are in place that ensure staff are fit to work with young people and that they have the relevant skills, qualifications, and recent experience to meet the needs of children. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 16)  The registered person should ensure that a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of young people is in place. The procedure must ensure that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 61)

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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 conducted 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: Care for Me Housing 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Care for Me Housing and Support LLP

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 488 Bearwood Road, Bearwood, Warley B66 4HA

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Nqobile Mpunzi

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: info@careformehousing.co.uk

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Inspectors

Patrick McIntosh, Social Care Inspector Tara Lovatt, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Care for Me Housing 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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