Acorn Independence

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 1 Acorn Independence Registered provider: Acorn Independence Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This service is owned and managed by a private provider. It can accommodate up to 18 children in ring-fenced shared accommodation.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service was providing accommodation for 15 looked-after children and care leavers aged 16 and 17.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted in July 2024. The provider registered in July 2024.

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Inspection dates: 4 and 5 June 2025

The inspection was announced on 2 June 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 4 and 5 June 2025.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action.

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Summary of findings

Children are supported by staff who know them well. Leaders and managers show a particular strength in ensuring that children are happy and settled living alongside other children. As a result, most children do very well from their starting points. They achieve individual goals and make progress that prepares them for living independently.

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Summary of findings

Effective action is taken to help children learn to become safer and develop resilience. Children develop their independence skills and have made the accommodation their home. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 2 Leaders and managers acknowledge the developments that are required to improve the quality of support plans and risk assessments and to ensure that the voice of the child is captured in these documents. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are supported by staff who know them well. Staff assist children in attending appointments and meetings, indicating progress for those children who have previously struggled to engage with health professionals. Professionals are overwhelmingly positive about children’s support and relationships with the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Records capture the support that staff provide to children to encourage and motivate them to engage with learning opportunities or employment. It is acknowledged that some progress has been made in assisting children who have not attended school for several years to resume their learning. This means that most children are accessing education or learning. There is good evidence that the provider has appropriately challenged and escalated the situation for children who have faced barriers to further education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s support plans generally outline how they should learn to budget and eat healthily, and they capture the progress most children make and the skills they develop. Children are aware of their plans, but some lack evidence of how the child has influenced the actual support plan and associated risk assessment. Leaders and managers recognise that more needs to be done to ensure that all children actively participate in their plans as well as provide staff with clear strategies for improving behaviour. For example, for one child, the support plans do not specify how staff will reduce the child’s unhealthy reliance on takeaway foods.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children live in homes that provide them with all the essential items they need to learn how to live independently. Children say they are happy with their personalised bedrooms. Communal areas are welcoming and homely, and they provide children with places to relax and socialise.

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How well children are helped and protected

The children speak positively about their experiences of living in the houses. Professionals echo children's feedback that they feel safe and overall happy. There are warm and friendly interactions between the staff and the children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Incidents of children going missing are rare. When absences occur, the provider quickly responds and supports the child’s safe return to the house. Welfare checks are carried out, and staff use them to help prevent any future incidents.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children are upset or worried, they are supported by staff who know them well and can reassure them. Overall, risk assessments provide staff with strategies for reducing risk and improving behaviour. However, some are generic and do not sufficiently detail how staff will reduce risks, such as when a child is at risk of criminal exploitation or when a child’s physical health is at risk from consuming high quantities of takeaway processed food. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are suitably skilled and experienced. They have high aspirations for children and want to ensure that they succeed. They are aware of the areas that continue to require development, and they recognise that more work is required to ensure that children’s plans and risk assessments are improved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Since the organisation registered in July 2024, there has been a steady improvement in the number of children engaging in education and employment. Statistically, children who stay with the organisation for longer do well. Unplanned endings are not a feature of concern, suggesting most placements remain stable and most endings are planned.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff are child centred and resilient, with diverse professional backgrounds and personal experiences. Staff are positive about the quality of management support, and they value the daily handovers, regular formal supervision sessions and peer support. Mandatory and bespoke training is provided, which helps to inform staff knowledge and practice. Staff said that they feel listened to. For example, when they identified a training need that would help them support children more effectively, managers were quick to act and source this training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Professionals are extremely complimentary towards the organisation. The stability, security and support children receive are highly praised in the feedback. Communication is noted as excellent; staff are kind and welcoming. One professional noted that regular updates on incidents are non-judgemental and have a supportive approach towards the child. Children’s feelings of safety have contributed to the progress they are reported to be making towards independence.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 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 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 children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

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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;

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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

ensure a plan for support is in place to support the child to develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the child is ready to live more independently. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(k)) 28 August 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children receive appropriate support tailored to their needs to help them develop essential skills for adulthood. This may include arranging support sessions on education and training, including opportunities such as apprenticeships; tools and/or resources to support their mental and physical health; employment, including job and interview skills; domestic skills, such as cooking nutritious meals; budgeting, and so on. This relates to staff enhancing children’s health outcomes by demonstrating cooking Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 6 and sharing healthy, nutritious meals. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 36)

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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: Acorn Independence 7

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Acorn Independence Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Nominated individual: Kimberley Ibbotson

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Kimberley Ibbotson

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: contact@acornindependence.co.uk

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Inspector

Linda Bond, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Acorn Independence 8 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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