Children's Home run by AVB Enterprises Ltd in Leicester

Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 1 Registered provider: AVB Enterprises Limited

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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 is owned by a private provider and is registered to provide care for up to three children who may require support with social and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager’s post has been vacant since September 2024. There is a newly appointed home manager, who has been in post for three weeks and an interim home manager supporting, who has been in post for three months.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of inspection, and their views were sought.

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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: 17 September 2024

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 3

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improvement to be good

Two children have moved into the home since the last inspection and two children have moved out.

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improvement to be good

Opportunities for children to voice their opinions, wishes and feelings have been strengthened. Children are spoken to regularly to seek their views and to support participation in their care plans and day-to-day lives. Discussions are frequent and recorded in detail. The managers provide consistent oversight of the recordings. However, feedback and outcomes for children following their wishes and views being sought are not yet consistently recorded.

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improvement to be good

Children are not in full-time education. One child has recently moved into the home. Managers and staff are working closely with education partners to identify a suitable provision. Another child is not attending education. Home tuition is in place. However, this is inconsistent and therefore the child has not had the opportunity to establish a relationship with the provider. Managers have liaised with the wider network to identify a suitable provision. However, while this is awaited, staff have not provided educational or life skills support for the child in the home, particularly if the planned tutoring does not take place. Staff have also not established a routine for the child to support with their re- integration into an educational provision. Consequently, the child is not making sufficient educational progress at a crucial point in their childhood.

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improvement to be good

Children are registered with local health provisions. However, staff have not ensured that medical appointments are booked in line with a child’s statutory care plan. This means that the child’s health needs are not identified and addressed in a timely manner.

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improvement to be good

Children who are new to the home benefit from the staff there, who listen to them and invest time in getting to know them. Staff understand one child’s preferred methods of communication and have taken steps to promote these. This means that the child can fully participate in their daily life and care planning.

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improvement to be good

An increased number of missing-from-home incidents have been well managed. Staff actively look for children and work well within a multi-agency team when reporting these incidents. Risk assessments are regularly updated and shared with the staff team. Recordings of incidents are detailed and demonstrate an understanding of the relevant policies. However, not all recordings identified whether a return home interview had been offered or provided by partner agencies, following the children’s return to the home, which is a missed opportunity to better understand why children go missing. Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 4 One child is at risk of harm from self-injurious behaviours. A detailed risk assessment is in place. As the child is new to the home, this risk assessment is regularly reviewed as staff get to know the child and understand the current and emerging risks. Managers were unable to clearly demonstrate their understanding of this particular risk. Despite

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improvement to be good

this, staff are aware of the risks posed to the child and are familiar with the risk assessment. Staff are provided with additional training, however, one staff member raised that they did not feel equipped to manage the occurrence of self-injurious behaviours. External training has been provided previously. However, this did not include most of the staff team, whose members commenced their roles after this was delivered. Leaders and managers recognise that staff may require additional support in this area and have taken steps to source refresher training for the staff team.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond to safeguarding incidents appropriately. When an incident takes place, staff follow the appropriate risk assessment and the child’s care plan. Incident recordings are detailed, and managers provide oversight and evaluation. Any concerns are shared with safeguarding professionals in a timely manner and the regulator is notified, when this is required.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to complain. When a complaint has been made, safeguarding procedures have been followed. Information has been shared with relevant safeguarding professionals who are involved with the child. Appropriate multi-agency investigations have taken place, and the outcome has been shared with the child.

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improvement to be good

Procedures to ensure the safe recruitment of staff are not yet fully effective. The required background checks on new staff are not always completed. This means that managers cannot be assured that staff working with the children are suitable to do so. Where risk assessments have been produced to mitigate such situations, they are not robust. The responsible individual has recently commissioned an external service to support with safer recruitment.

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

Since the last inspection, the home has gone through a turbulent period, including several management changes.

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

The deputy team manager resigned and left the home with immediate effect in January 2025. The home manager resigned and left the home in April 2025. An interim manager was appointed in March 2025 to support this transition temporarily. A new home manager was appointed in May 2025 and is not yet registered with Ofsted. The home is currently supported by both the interim and home manager alongside the responsible individual.

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

These changes have impacted on staff stability and morale, which means that there has been a high turnover of staff. Two managers are now in post and have identified the strengths and areas for development. The managers are striving to establish clear expectations for staff and have identified several key areas for development, including Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 5 strengthening staff recording and management evaluation. However, this is not yet fully embedded in practice.

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

Staff receive regular professional supervision from an appropriately qualified person. Team meetings also take place regularly. This provides staff learning opportunities to reflect on and develop their professional practice. Managers are working towards improving the culture of the home and providing stability and clear direction for staff.

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

The managers have developed strong links with the local authority and key external agencies. This contributes to a network of support for the children. Managers attend and contribute to safeguarding meetings in respect of children to ensure collaborative working to keep the children safe.

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

The statement of purpose does not accurately reflect the care provided for children. It does not include all matters as outlined by regulation, in detailing the experience and qualifications of staff and details of the management and staffing structure of the home.

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

There has been no point-in-time survey distributed to all relevant people since the last inspection. This prevents managers gathering and evaluating feedback from a wide range of sources. Therefore, there is a missed opportunity to gather independent scrutiny of the care provided to children.

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

One staff member has not completed the required training as set out in the home’s statement of purpose, since their commencement of employment in November 2024. Managers have identified this and have taken steps to address the matter. However, this has not been rectified in a timely manner. Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered persons 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 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 their full 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to leaders and managers ensuring that all staff complete initial and refresher training in line with the home’s statement of purpose. 2 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure the children’s safety.

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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) (3)(d)) 2 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if-

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 2 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 7

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.10).  The registered person must ensure they actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. This also includes ensuring that the point-in-time surveys are distributed to all relevant people so they have the opportunity to provide feedback. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes

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Recommendations

Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24).  The registered person must ensure that the following elements of the workforce plan should be included in the Statement of Purpose: (in accordance with Schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20)) the staffing structure; experience and qualifications of staff and arrangements for supervision of staff practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10).

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2777336 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: AVB Enterprises Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Bhatt & Co, 5 University Road, Leicester LE1 7RA

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Inspector

Caroline Coop, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2777336 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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Inspector

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