Children's home run by Real Care Support Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 1 Registered provider: Real Care Support Ltd

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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 operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in October 2023.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home. The child spoke to the inspector about their experiences of living in the home.

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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 good

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/04/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child currently living in the home said that they are happy living there. They are helped to develop positive relationships with core staff who care about them. Consequently, the child is making good progress in all areas of their life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has recently moved out of the home. The child wanted to return home to live with their family and staff helped them to achieve this through offering a consistent approach and working closely with the child’s family and other professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Moves into the home are well planned. Managers ensure that each child has support tailored to meet their individual needs. The manager and the deputy manager visit children before they come to live in the home to ensure that they experience a smooth transition into the home. This also allows for clear expectations to be discussed to ensure that children understand the support they can expect when living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have successfully helped children to re-engage with education, whereas before they were not attending an education setting. The child currently living in the home attends school consistently, which is a significant improvement from a previous period of non- attendance. The child who has recently left was supported to make progress and sat a number of GCSEs. This is a significant step as they now have a firm plan for their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s vocational aspirations are well supported. Staff encouraged one child to secure part-time employment at a local farm shop. Staff understood the legal steps that needed to be completed for this to happen and helped the child to achieve their goal.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know how to talk to children. They have dynamic and relevant conversations about issues that are relevant to children’s lives, especially in relation to their health and welfare. These conversations help children to develop their empathy and understanding of issues affecting themselves and others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Professionals and other agencies are complimentary about the care provided by the team and acknowledge the positive outcomes and high standards of support for children.

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

Staff know how to keep children safe. They ensure that risks and vulnerabilities are well understood. The child’s risk and behaviour management plans are clear and include clear steps for staff to follow to keep children safe. Staff help the child to understand risks and develop their own strategies to manage them. Some children experienced a significant reduction in risks since having lived in the home. A parent said that they could not speak highly enough of the managers and staff for helping their child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 4 Staff skilfully use de-escalation measures to help children manage their emotions. Since the last inspection, there have not been any incidents of staff needing to hold children to keep them safe.

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

Staff ensure that children have individualised support that helps them achieve personal goals. One child who spent most of their time in the home or with staff has increased their time in the community to 30 minutes. This is helping them to develop their independence with the continued support from staff.

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

Children are involved in their care. They are involved in decisions about the home, including staff recruitment.

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

The manager has implemented effective procedures for managing allegations. All concerns are taken seriously and are dealt with promptly and appropriately with relevant professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is suitably skilled and experienced. He is supported by a deputy manager and together they have high aspirations for children and clear expectations of the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, there has been a high staff turnover. Managers are taking action to address this and to minimise the impact on children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has embedded a culture of learning in the home. Staff are supported to develop their skills and improve outcomes for children. Staff have access to a range of training opportunities and relevant professional development. This ensures that staff have the skills to support children effectively. However, staff supervision sessions are not always reflective and opportunities to ensure that staff understand the impact of their work have been missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has completed their quality of care review. However, it does not include the views of parents or carers. This is a missed opportunity to seek the views of key stakeholders and use them to develop practice in the home. Managers have not ensured that the key documents have been obtained for the child. The child does not have a current care plan and this has not been escalated to the local authority managers in a timely manner. This limits opportunities to ensure that the child is receiving care in line with their plans. Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 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 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 care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they obtain the relevant care plan from the local authority and escalate this appropriately when it is not available. 23 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. 23 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 6 After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a)(b) (5))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the report includes the views of those referred to in paragraph 2 and how those views have been taken into account when evaluating the service. This requirement is restated.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce- related requirements of regulation 16. This plan should detail the processes and agreed timescales for supervision of staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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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: 2745471 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Real Care Support Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arkwright Farm, Eidsforth Lane, Preston, Lancashire PR3 1GN

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Inspector

Colin Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2745471 8 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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