Children's Home run by Benecare Limited in Kent

Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 1 SC438648 Registered provider: Benecare Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to three children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted on 26 September 2024.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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Good

How well children and young people are helped and protected Outstanding

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Good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Good

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Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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Good

Date of last inspection: 27 January 2025

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Good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/01/2025 Full Good 11/07/2023 Full Good 16/08/2022 Full Good 09/05/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive good-quality, individualised care, and they make significant progress from their starting points. This is because staff understand children’s needs and are committed to improving their outcomes. Children and staff form strong relationships with each other, which is a key factor that contributes to children’s positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress in relation to their health outcomes and their emotional, social and psychological well-being. One child’s social life has improved because they have made appropriate friendships at school and in the local community. They enjoy free time with friends and have learned how to travel independently to concerts. Another child, who previously did not like going out, now enjoys various activities, supported by staff. They are also able to attend appointments relating to their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff assist children in developing their independent living skills. Children regularly cook and do their laundry without staff support. Children also learn important life skills, such as budgeting and managing their finances, booking health appointments, and safely using public transport. Children learn an extensive range of new skills and are therefore well prepared for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s views and wishes are understood and considered by staff. Children say they know how to make complaints and can freely tell staff if they need anything. Children have personalised their bedrooms, and they say they have received the items they requested for their rooms. Furthermore, children choose their meals and activities. Special moments and positive times are captured in photo albums, allowing children to revisit happy memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children are enrolled in education settings. One child has finished their exams and is enrolled in a new provision that will allow them to develop skills in their chosen trade. One child needs to change to a more local school for safety reasons, and this is being arranged. In the meantime, staff are helping the child maintain a healthy routine and focusing on improving their independent living skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of family time. The needs of children who live far away from home are met, as staff travel long distances to ensure that they maintain positive relationships with the people who are important to them. Staff work closely with other professionals and with children’s parents. This has had a positive impact on one child’s family time, as they have progressed to having unsupervised overnight stays at home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Staff identify, understand and manage children’s vulnerabilities exceptionally well. This is because they follow and adhere to agreed plans for children. Furthermore, because of their positive relationships, children trust the staff. During challenging times, staff remain Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 4 patient and committed to children’s welfare and safety. This helps children to become increasingly safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

When children attempt to leave the home without permission, staff proactively discourage them from doing so. Staff promptly contact the appropriate professionals to locate missing children and ensure that they are safe. Furthermore, staff prioritise teaching children about the risks they face. As a result, there have been fewer instances of children going missing from the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Staff appropriately report any safeguarding concerns to the registered manager, who ensures that safeguarding protocols are followed. The registered manager is passionate about maintaining children’s safety and therefore proactively escalates any concerns to the network of professionals who are involved in the child’s life. Additionally, the registered manager promotes joint working, which enhances safety for children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

The registered manager ensures that recruitment checks are carried out thoroughly. Agency staff are rarely used, and, when they are, the registered manager reassures themselves that the agency has fulfilled its obligation to ensure that they have been recruited safely. This reduces the risk of unsafe adults being employed to work at the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: outstanding

Staff support children in living together harmoniously. When indicators of potential bullying between children arose, staff took effective action to eliminate this. The children say that they get along well and that those incidents are ‘in the past’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has an ambitious vision for children’s progress. There is an embedded culture of having high expectations for what all children can achieve, and this has been shared with the staff team and children’s professional networks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has strong and positive working relationships with the children, staff and professionals. This has a positive impact on the quality of the individualised care that children receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with consistent support to develop in their roles. They receive regular, good-quality supervision and appraisals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff report feeling well supported and having their views listened to. Staff meetings are a productive forum to discuss children’s individual needs and agree on a consistent approach to their care. If the registered manager identifies any shortfalls in the way children are being looked after, they make appropriate use of staff meetings to address them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive good-quality training that is relevant to the needs of the children they are looking after. However, not all staff have achieved the qualification as required by The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. The registered manager has taken action Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 5 to address this, but it has not been effective, and one staff member has not attained the qualification within the required time frame. Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 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 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 registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(b) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)) 9 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 7

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have 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: SC438648 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 212 Ballards Lane, London N3 2LX

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Inspector

Sonata Brisley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC438648 9 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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