Fairview Care & Support

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 1 Fairview Care & Support Registered provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is operated by a private provider located in the Northwest. They can accommodate up to 22 individuals in three single- occupancy premises and nine shared or group-living premises that are limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers. At the time of the inspection, seven looked-after children aged 16 or 17 were being accommodated.

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provider

The service manager has been registered with Ofsted since the provider was registered on 29 May 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 19 May 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 21 and 22 May 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 within approximately 18 months.

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Summary of findings

Since registration, leaders and managers have made decisions to admit children who are not ready for supported accommodation. Consequently, decisions to end placements in an unplanned way have been necessary.

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Summary of findings

Management oversight has been lacking at times and requires improvement. It is noted that since the monitoring visit on 2 April 2025, leaders and managers have started to introduce a range of improve quality assurance processes. This is work in progress.

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Summary of findings

Overall, children benefit from the support of staff who are focused on children’s needs. Staff take a planned approach to supporting children on their journey to independence and adulthood. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 2 The quality of accommodation is good. Children say that they feel safe, secure and well cared for by staff. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children with complex support needs, who were not ready for supported accommodation, have been admitted to this service. Although most of these children have been supported to move on in a planned way, some placements have ended prematurely because their needs and risks could not be met. In addition, leaders and managers have accommodated a young person aged 19 in a premises that is registered for children aged 16 and 17.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff seek children’s views, opinions, wishes, and feelings through conversations, direct work sessions and planned group meetings. Most children spoke positively about their experiences. One child said that he got on with staff so well that it felt like a ‘proper family unit’. However, not all children benefit from this. For example, one child was unable to name any of the staff in her home and spent very little time there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s individual plans do not always reflect their known needs. For example, some documents lack information about children’s experiences before they moved into their accommodation. This means that children’s plans do not always provide staff with the information they need to provide effective support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff support children to engage in education and training, or to seek employment in an area that interests them. They work closely with other agencies to achieve this. When children do not engage, staff make every effort to promote the importance of education, training and employment, and help them overcome the barriers to participation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff prioritise children’s health needs. When children move into their home, they are supported to register with dentists, doctors and other routine health services. When needed, staff support children to access specialist healthcare agencies, such as mental health and substance misuse services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage and help children to maintain positive relationships with those who are important to them. Staff 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

Most children make good progress in preparation for adulthood. Staff teach children practical skills in planned support sessions and through ongoing discussions. This means that most children develop life skills and increased confidence in being able to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children are ready to move on from the service, staff and managers support them to apply for their new home, or in some instances to seek alternative support arrangements. The children are allowed to take their furniture to their new home. This helps most children to have a positive ending to their placement. A social worker said, ‘The provider supports young people well and are really good at moving children on to independent living.’ Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 4

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s accommodation is safe and provides them with a secure and well- maintained environment. Children like their accommodation and feel comfortable in their homes. However, in one home, children are not given a front door key. This does not help children to be independent.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s plans do not always contain all known risks or strategies to manage and reduce these risks. This shortfall in recording increases the likelihood of an inconsistent response to risk management.

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How well children are helped and protected

Overall, staff and managers take the right action to keep children safe. Direct work sessions are used to help children understand risk and develop effective strategies to keep themselves safe. For example, staff helped one child to prepare for her baby’s birth and looking after their child when it was born. This was alongside supporting her to claim benefit entitlements and bid for suitable accommodation.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children go missing, there is a well-coordinated response to reduce the risk of harm. This includes notifying the police and the child’s placing authority. When children are found, staff check on their well-being and discuss why they went missing. Children are offered return interviews by an independent service. As a result, children feel cared for and welcomed back to their home.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff receive a wide range of training that enables them to effectively support children and keep them safe. This includes how to support children in crisis, manage challenging behaviours and de-escalate potentially volatile situations. One member of staff said that the training had helped them to better understand the impact of child trauma and to support children more effectively.

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How well children are helped and protected

Procedures for recruiting staff have been improved since the last visit. This was in response to the compliance notice that was issued. In addition to other improvements, a relationships policy has been developed to ensure that managers and staff are not involved in recruiting family members. Although not tested in practice, this should ensure a more impartial approach to the recruitment of staff.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safeguarding concerns and allegations are managed effectively. Managers take prompt action to ensure that children are protected. Information is quickly shared with the local authority designated officer to ensure that thorough investigations are completed.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not always inform Ofsted when serious events occur. This limits the regulator’s ability to maintain oversight and ensure that responses to serious incidents, such as missing from care, are appropriate.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers understand and take their safeguarding responsibilities seriously. In response to shortfalls identified at the last visit, managers have ensured Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 5 that all staff have completed training in whistleblowing. Staff spoken with knew what action to take if they had concerns about a colleague’s conduct.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children understand their rights and know how to make a complaint. One child was able to describe how she was supported to submit a complaint. She stated that this was quickly investigated and resolved to her satisfaction.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have made several improvements to the way they maintain management oversight. It was previously reported that the registered service manager spent very little time in the home. In response, the manager is now visiting the home at least twice a week. This enables them to spend time with children and staff and observe staff practice and review children’s progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Work is ongoing in developing and embedding management systems to monitor, review and evaluate children’s experiences and progress. This includes weekly reporting to the manager and regular team meetings that focus on the needs and experiences of children. This includes the bi-annual quality of support review, which has been used to identify areas of strength and areas for improvement, which managers are acting on.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Some improvements are noted to staff supervision. This includes a process for scheduling and checking that supervision has taken place and improved recording systems. It is too early to assess the effectiveness of these changes, which need to be embedded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff benefit from a good training offer that helps them to understand and respond to children’s known and emerging needs. However, a lack of management oversight means that some staff are out of timescale for completing mandatory induction training. This means that leaders and managers cannot be assured that staff have the knowledge and skills they need to support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders, managers and staff maintain strong links with a range of professionals. They work collaboratively to ensure that relevant information is shared and that children can access the services and support they need. Professionals said that communication is a strength.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

A compliance notice was issued at the last visit. Leaders and managers have taken sufficient action to meet this notice, which was issued under regulation 7. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 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 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 arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(g)) 13 July 2025

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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

ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(2)(b)) 13 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation; 13 July 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 7 an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child and the registered person considers that incident to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry— (i) is instigated, or (ii) concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry);

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Requirement Due date

there is an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f))

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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 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: G. R. Taylor & Co, 54–56 Ormskirk Street, St. Helens WA10 2TF

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Gillian Frost

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: placements@fairviewcareandsupport.co.uk

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Inspector

Steve James, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Fairview Care & Support LTD 9 regulates 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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