Holmewood

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 1 Holmewood Registered provider: Gentoo Group Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is part of a housing association based in the north-east of England. It is a charitable community benefit society.

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provider

The service can accommodate up to 12 looked-after children or care leavers in group-living accommodation. The service was supporting 10 children aged 16 and 17 at the time of this inspection.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted when the organisation registered in February 2024.

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provider

There was no nominated individual in post at the time of the inspection.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 16 June 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 18 and 19 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

Staff build positive relationships with the children. They successfully support children through both good and challenging times. One professional commented, ‘They do not just give up on children.’

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Summary of findings

When children leave the service, they maintain connections with staff. They benefit from ongoing support from the outreach service, which facilitates their transition to adulthood and full independence.

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Summary of findings

Education is a priority, and staff support children in finding the right provision that meets their needs. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 2 Established links with local specialist agencies help to ensure that children have access to the support they need.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers support staff well. This gives staff confidence to carry out their roles. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children move into the service with as much planning as possible. This often includes a visit to the service before they are admitted. When children reach 18, they move on from the service but continue to receive support through the provision’s outreach team, which is also made up of staff from the service. This means that children already know them well. These relationships help children to maintain a sense of belonging and reassure them that even as adults, they can still ask for help at any time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

As children’s relationships develop with staff, they build confidence and trust. Some children like to talk to any member of staff, and others have favoured staff who they choose to share information with. One child described all the staff as ‘canny’ and said that the staff understand them well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff help children to maintain good health. They ensure that children who require additional support with specialist courses of treatment receive the necessary assistance. As a result, children’s overall health improves. Children who require assistance with their emotional well-being are referred to external services with the expertise to support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff promote the importance of education. Children attend a range of educational provisions depending on their choices, skills and needs. Provisions that children attend include local colleges or alternative schemes where they attain qualifications that will help them secure employment. For children who are not in education, training or employment, staff continually work closely with them to consider barriers to their progress and to identify any additional support needed. This helps children to feel valued.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have access to a range of group activities, such as cooking sessions, football groups, and community ‘drop-ins’. These events help children to improve their social skills and to grow in confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children learn a range of skills to prepare them for the next steps in life. Skills they learn include budgeting, tenancy management, and how to travel in the community. These help children progress into adulthood.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff know the procedures to follow to help keep children safe. Some children’s individual risk assessments are not always updated with the risks that they face. Information about children’s risks can be found in different documents. This recording issue may lead to staff confusion and does not consistently provide them with a clear guide for managing and reducing risks.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff receive training on how to keep children safe. This helps them to recognise when children are at an increased risk of harm and to identify risks such as self- Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 4 harm, exploitation and human trafficking. Children’s safety is a focus for the service, and staff ensure that they work closely with partner agencies, such as placing authorities. This means that children benefit from comprehensive support packages that take account of historical and potential risks to their safety and welfare.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children learn how to keep themselves safe. Staff talk to them about risks inside the home and in the community. Topics they cover include fire safety and safe relationships. These sessions help children prepare for the future and take responsibility for their own actions and behaviours.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children do not often go missing from the service. When they do, the staff follow procedures to help find them quickly. Staff work with other professionals, such as local and specialist police teams, and when children return from being missing, they make sure that they speak to an independent person. This opportunity helps to gather information to reduce future risks and to ensure that children are safe and well.

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How well children are helped and protected

There are systems in place to check whether new staff are safe to work with children. When new staff start from agencies or on a casual basis, the same checks are not carried out to assess their work history. This could leave gaps in employment unexplored and does not offer assurance that all staff working with children are suitable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The head of service works closely with the registered service manager but has not yet applied for the role of nominated individual. This is an oversight by leaders and managers, who now recognise the importance of completing this process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers know where their strengths are and have plans for development. They complete six-monthly reports about the quality of support that children receive. Nevertheless, these reports lack feedback from children, placing authorities and staff, and no specific actions are identified to shape improvements. This does not maximise opportunities to continually improve the service for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers work closely with a range of other professionals to ensure that children receive the support they need. Most professionals say they have effective communication and positive relationships with leaders and managers. One educational provision reported a missed opportunity for managers to share valuable information to ensure that the right support was in place while a child was in college. This issue was resolved and did not affect the child’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not consistently notify Ofsted of serious events. This hinders the regulator’s oversight of safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers support staff well. They have regular meetings called ‘brilliant conversations’. These help staff to review their practice and its effect on children’s experiences and progress and to set future goals. Staff also value monthly Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 5 one-to-one sessions that focus on their well-being and resilience. Despite these ongoing conversations around children and their plans, there are no regularly recorded supervision sessions that focus on children’s needs and their plans. This is a missed opportunity to improve the service that children receive. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 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 protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met.

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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

have their individual needs met. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk assessments reflect their current risks and provide staff with clear actions to take to reduce risks. 30 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

An organisation may only carry on a supported accommodation undertaking if—

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Requirement Due date

the organisation has notified the CIECSS of the name and address of the nominated individual. (Regulation 11 (4)(b)) 30 August 2025

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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 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that supervision sessions focus on children’s needs, experiences and support plans. 30 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 30 August 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 7 The requirements are that—

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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.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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)(i)(ii)(e)(f)) 30 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for monitoring and improving the quality of support provided by the supported accommodation undertaking by completing a review (“a quality of support review”) at least once every six months, which must take into account—

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Requirement Due date

the views of children, including any feedback and complaints received;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from individual children on the impact the supported accommodation has had on the child’s life, Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 8 especially regarding how well prepared the child felt for transition into supported accommodation and how well prepared the child feels for transition out of supported accommodation;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons;

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Requirement Due date

any relevant research and developments in relation to the way in which the needs of children are best met.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of support review, the registered person must produce a written report setting out the actions the registered person intends to take as a result of that quality of support review.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the review report to the CIECSS within 28 days beginning with the day on which the report is completed, and make a copy of it available on request to each child’s accommodating authority. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2) (3))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff share relevant information and decisions with the children’s accommodating authority and, where appropriate, other relevant agencies/professionals providing support for the purposes of safeguarding the children or others (Regulation 5 (2)). Staff should inform the children of any information-sharing and explain the reasons behind it. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 21)

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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: Holmewood 9

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Gentoo Group Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 2 Emperor Way, Sunderland SR3 3XR

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Nominated individual:

Registered service manager: Michael Murton

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Nominated individual:

Email address: michael.murton@gentoogroup.com

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Holmewood 10 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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