OWL Turning Lives Around

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 1 OWL Turning Lives Around Registered provider: Turning Lives Around

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This is part of a consortium of three services, each registered separately with Ofsted.

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provider

The service can accommodate 29 individuals in self-contained units where the accommodation is for the sole use of one person. The service also offers nine emergency accommodation bed spaces in one premises and 12 shared or group- living bed spaces across three homes that are not limited to accommodating looked- after children or care leavers. The provider operates in Yorkshire.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, there were 76 young people living in this service. There were four children aged 16 and 17 who were looked-after children or care leavers.

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provider

The registered service manager is also the locality manager for the service. The service manager registered with Ofsted when the organisation was registered in March 2024.

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provider

The nominated individual is also the service’s director of the organisation.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 2 June 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 4 to 5 June 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

Children’s experiences and progress vary because inconsistent staffing arrangements make it difficult for all children to build strong relationships with the staff. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 2 The quality of the accommodation is variable. For some children, their environment and living conditions are homely, but for others their homes are not welcoming and need general maintenance and repairs.

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Summary of findings

Staff receive training on important topics such as safeguarding. This training is not always effective. Not all staff are able to demonstrate consistently that they know how to keep the children safe.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers work well with other services. This helps to make sure children can access specialist support when this is needed.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers demonstrate a good understanding of the strengths of this service and the areas they need to develop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Some children know the staff well. They form good relationships with them, which enable them to confidently access the support that they need. One child said, ‘I feel happy enough to approach staff to get support.’ For other children, inconsistent staffing arrangements affect how well they build meaningful relationships. Although leaders and managers are aware of this issue and are working to stabilise the staff team by using consistent temporary staff, this issue is detrimental to some children’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children learn the importance of looking after their health. They register with key health services, such as dentists and doctors, and staff support children to attend health appointments and follow courses of treatment. As a result, children’s health improves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff help children to understand the importance of education. Children who are at college learn the skills they need for later life. For children not in education, employment or training, staff link them to a specialist employment and education team to help them to consider their skills and career ambitions. This team provides staff and children with additional guidance to help children to find alternative education or employment provisions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

The quality of children’s accommodation varies. For example, while the emergency accommodation is welcoming and well decorated, some premises lack homely furnishings and do not provide basic facilities, such as Wi-Fi. Other premises require maintenance and in one property, mould was found in a bathroom. Leaders and managers are aware of the housing issues and have plans to address these. However, the pace of improvement is too slow.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s views, opinions and wishes are central to their support plans, and they said that they feel listened to and actively contribute to decisions about their future. Through the support that they receive, children learn key independent living skills, such as budgeting and cooking, and they grow in emotional resilience and confidence. This helps them to prepare for adulthood. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s individual risk assessments are updated after all significant events and incidents. These risk assessments provide staff with direction and guidance on the actions to take to manage and reduce current and potential risks to children’s welfare and safety.

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How well children are helped and protected

Physical barriers, such as locks on kitchen doors and locked window shutters, intended to keep children safe, are not proportionate to the risks that children may present. These restrictions are historical, and leaders and managers are not reviewing why the measures are still in place. This does not promote a homely environment for children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff help children to learn about risks to help them to keep themselves safe. They deliver sessions that include how to stay safe in the community and the risks and consequences of crime. For some children, this work prompts them to make positive decisions about their actions and behaviours, however, this is not yet effective for all children.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children go missing, staff make efforts to locate them quickly and safely. They share information with other agencies, such as local police teams. When children return, they are not routinely offered the chance to speak to an independent person. This is a missed opportunity to gain information about why a child went missing, which may help keep them safe in the future. The provider’s missing-from-home policy does not reflect current practice. This lack of clarity leaves staff confused as to the actions that they need to take and potentially leads to inconsistent approaches to support for children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Not all staff have a good understanding of the procedures in place to keep children safe. For example, some staff did not have a clear understanding of the allegations management procedures. While all staff receive some level of safeguarding training, some also receive training in relation to specific risks children may face, such as criminal exploitation. Other relevant training, for example online safety training, is not delivered for all staff. As a result of this varying approach to training, not all staff are well equipped to identify risks to children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers adhere to safer recruitment procedures to help to ensure that permanent staff are safe to work with children. However, the consistency of recruitment checks varies between different groups of staff. For example, agency staff recruitment is not regularly subject to additional oversight by senior managers. This means that they cannot be assured of the suitability of these staff to support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are aware this service is on a journey of improvement. They speak openly about the strengths of this service and the areas for development. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 4 They have plans in place to implement the changes needed and have paused new admissions into the long-term accommodation while these take effect. This pause provides leaders and managers with the opportunity to reshape the service without impacting on children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered service manager has two roles, to oversee the services wide accommodation and the emergency accommodation. The different accommodation within the setting adds challenges to her ability to keep oversight of all aspects of the service. This affects the consistency of the quality of support that some children receive. Senior leaders understand the challenges and are reviewing this dual role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff receive regular supervision. However, records of supervision do not demonstrate how leaders are assessing staff’s ability to understand children’s experiences, needs and plans. For example, not all staff know children’s ethnicity and therefore it is not clear how they are supporting children’s specific needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff receive a range of training which helps them to understand their roles. They complete mandatory training courses, which gives them the basic skills they need to support children. Leaders and managers do not ensure all staff consistently access training which meets children’s more specific needs. As a result, some staff have limited knowledge of how best to support the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Newly employed staff are monitored through an induction and probation process. This monitoring period helps to assess their ability to support children. Monitoring for other staff, such as casual staff, is limited. This does not provide assurance to leaders and managers that staff are competent to support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers work closely with other services. They seek specialist help where needed, including from substance misuse services and specialist nurses. Leaders and managers share information effectively to make sure that children receive the help they need. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the supported accommodation undertaking has sufficient staff to support and accommodate children safely and effectively. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(d)) 1 September 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—

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Requirement Due date

are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child individually and all children collectively;

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Requirement Due date

are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained; 1 September 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 6 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

are designed, furnished and maintained to remove avoidable hazards which could pose a health and safety risk to children;

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Requirement Due date

comply with all relevant statutory provisions dealing with health and safety or fire safety matters;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each child is provided with a private bedroom—

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Requirement Due date

which is equipped to meet the child’s individual needs,

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Requirement Due date

which has sufficient telephone or internet connectivity in order to enable the child to maintain relationships and feel connected. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(v)(vi)(vii)(ix)(x)(d)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 18 (1) (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff practice concerns are promptly addressed and that supervision sessions focus on children’s needs, experiences, plans and feedback. 1 September 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 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.

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Requirement Due date

Before implementing, or making an amendment to, the missing child policy, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person, and 1 September 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 7 have regard to any relevant local authority or police protocols on missing children. (Regulation 21 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the missing-from-home policy reflects staff practice and children always receive return home interviews.

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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

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 1 (Regulation 17 (1) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure consistency of checks for all staff, including agency staff. 1 September 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the use of agency staff is carefully monitored and reviewed to ensure that children receive continuity of support and can build and maintain strong relationships with the adults who support them. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 52)

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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: OWL Turning Lives Around 8

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Turning Lives Around

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Photon House, Percy Street, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS12 1EL

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Grace Pegden

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: info@turninglivesaround.co.uk

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Inspectors

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector (lead) Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: OWL Turning Lives Around 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

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