Children's home run by Care to Success Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 1 Registered provider: Care to Success 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 privately owned and provides care for up to three children with social and emotional difficulties. The home was registered with Ofsted in February 2025.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Significant shortfalls in safeguarding practice and management oversight have hindered children’s progress and experiences. At times, these failings have placed children at risk of harm. Care planning has not consistently prioritised children’s needs. Shortly after the registration of the home, three children moved into the home within a two-day period. This poorly coordinated transition resulted in negative experiences for all children involved. One child’s impact risk assessment failed to reflect the complexity of their needs, demonstrating a lack of robust planning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s experiences of moving in and out of the home are inconsistent. One child with complex needs benefited from a planned approach, including overnight visits prior to admission. In contrast, two children moved into the home with limited preparation, having not previously lived away from their parents. One child moved out of the home in very difficult highly distressing circumstances; this process was poorly managed and culminated in the child being criminalised, with their final farewell to staff occurring in a police cell.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are appropriately encouraged and supported to attend education. While a suitable educational placement was being identified, staff arranged for a tutor to deliver learning within the home. For another child attending a school located a considerable distance away, staff committed to driving the child to school to maintain educational continuity and peer relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff demonstrate care and sensitivity towards the children. They understand the emotional impact of children’s previous experiences and respond to behavioural needs with empathy. Staff encourage and facilitate contact with family members. Proactive engagement with children’s social workers has supported the development of risk assessments, enabling safe arrangements for family contact to be implemented.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Although children declined to speak with the inspector, one child submitted a written note expressing that they liked living in the home. Education professionals reported that children appeared to be settling, and that staff were meeting their needs with warmth and attention.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is warm and welcoming. Communal areas are well furnished and decorated with colourful artwork. Children are supported to personalise their bedrooms, contributing to a sense of belonging.

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

Shortfalls in safeguarding practice have compromised children’s safety and well-being. Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 3 Children’s bedrooms contain health and safety risks that should have been identified in advance of them moving in and mitigated against.

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

Risk management plans are not always adhered to by staff. One child came to significant harm as a direct result of staff not supporting one child in line with their plans.

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

A lack of communication between staff has left children vulnerable to harm. A medication error occurred when two staff on shift believed the other had administered the child’s prescribed medicine. Medical advice was sought and confirmed the child had come to no harm. However, poor practice by staff could have left the child at risk of harm.

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

The quality of care provided to children by staff is not always adequate and staffing levels do not reflect assessed levels of need. This placed the child and other children in the home at risk of harm due to not receiving the level or quality of care they required to keep them safe and support them in their new environment.

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

There have been no incidents of physical restraint since the home was registered. No complaints have been received by the home.

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

Safe recruitment procedures are thorough and ensure that children are cared for by suitable staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is overseen by a registered manager who holds appropriate qualifications and experience. She is supported by an experienced responsible individual. Both demonstrate commitment to the home and the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite this, the manager’s oversight has been ineffective. Serious incidents are not consistently identified or notified to Ofsted in a timely way. Systems designed to monitor and evaluate the quality of care are not being used to drive improvement. Learning from serious incidents is inconsistent and, in some cases, absent. This failure has resulted in poor experiences for children and contributed to one child leaving the home in distressing circumstances.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have completed mandatory training, as well as additional training tailored to meet the specific needs of the children, including areas such as child exploitation. However, training has not always been delivered within timescales that prioritise the needs of children. For instance, staff only received training on deprivation of liberty orders after a child subject to such an order had already moved into the home. As a result, staff were not fully equipped to understand and respond to the child’s needs from the outset, which increased the child’s vulnerability during a critical period of their life.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not consistently work together in a collaborative manner. Staff feedback indicates that communication across the team is weak, with key information either not Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 4 shared or missed during handovers. This has led to a lack of consistency in care, leaving children without the stability and predictability they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Four separate serious incidents met the threshold for notification to Ofsted. Two of these were submitted only after the manager was prompted, following contact from police regarding incidents involving children. This has significantly impacted Ofsted’s ability to inform their risk assessment of this setting. Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iv)(ix)(c)(i)) 31 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. 31 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(b))

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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 children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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 home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f)(h)) 31 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 7 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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs; (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(e)(i)) 31 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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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 40 (4)(b)(e)) 31 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 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: 2807523 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care to Success Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 7 Memorial Road, Manchester M28 3AQ

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Inspector

Becky Rutter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2807523 10 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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