Children's home run by Arc-HD Services Ltd in Eastleigh

Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 1 SC420410 Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides care for up to three children who may have emotional and learning needs.

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider runs the home. There are three children living in the home. All three children were present in the home during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 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 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: SC420410 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/08/2024 Full Good 08/08/2023 Full Good 23/08/2022 Full Good 17/03/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make significant progress from their starting points in this home. Staff work hard to understand the children’s individual needs and build meaningful relationships with children to support them. Incidents for one child have significantly reduced in frequency. When they do occur, the managers and staff team understand the reasons behind this and work hard to offer additional support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

During this review period, two children have become adults and moved out of the home after living here for more than two years. They were well prepared for their respective moves and felt well supported to navigate this milestone.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to pursue their interests, and engagement in their hobbies and interests is facilitated. Children’s artwork and poetry adorn the walls of the home as well as photos of times spent together. This includes a hardback book of poetry led by one child’s talents but also contributed to by the other child and adults in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff say they enjoy working with the children. There was a strong sense of teamwork between staff, with one staff member describing how the team ‘works as one’ and everyone knows their roles and what needs to be done each shift. Additionally, children described the staff as being like family to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Leaders and managers play an active role in this home and often take children on activities to have one-to-one time with them, get to know them better and show their interest and care for them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Parents said that the staff are ‘amazing’ and that they have ‘never met people like it before; they’re just brilliant’. Parents feel well informed and that their children are safe and well cared for.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported well to move into and out of the home. A previous resident stated that staff understood what they needed, and they have been able to move on positively because of the support they received from staff.

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

Children are kept safe in this home by the staff and managers who look after them. Missing-from-home incidents are well responded to; however, the way in which they are recorded means some details are often missing from the records. Such as, timings of when staff complete searches for the child.

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

Other safeguarding concerns are well known and understood by staff, and they are recognised promptly, with action taken. However, the children’s records are not always Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 4 explicit about the expectations of staff. For, example, that staff should keep children in their line of sight when they are upset and are outside with the opportunity to leave the premises.

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

Multi-agency working is a strength of this home. External professionals speak highly of the communication and joint work with the staff in the home. This was demonstrated at the time of the inspection by professionals being brought together to discuss safety strategies for a child who needed additional support.

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

Leaders and managers are strong advocates for children in their care. This has been demonstrated particularly well in relation to securing education for the children. Additionally, the home has employed a private tutor when education was not arranged quickly enough to meet the child’s needs. Another child’s school attendance has increased since moving into the home and is continuing along this positive trajectory.

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

Staff are highly skilled in managing the often complex and sensitive needs of the children. Staff understand the children and their needs well and respond well to them.

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

When restraint has been used in the home, it has been proportionate and used for the minimal amount of time possible. Techniques such as a ‘change of face’ have been used effectively, and children have responded well to this. Children can talk with staff afterwards, and staff check to see if they are hurt. Staff directly involved in restraints are now debriefed; however, this has been a recent change to the process and was not always happening previously. Also, any other staff members who are witnesses to or involved in the incident are not routinely debriefed, meaning there is a missed opportunity for further reflection and possible learning.

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

Some children in the home vape, and there have been some conversations with them about the risks and impact on their health. It is recognised that the other needs the children have often overshadow the use of vapes. However, this risk should still be included in the records for the children, acknowledging the associated risks, particularly with exploitation, as well as the health impact and the home’s plans to address this behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have a thorough understanding of the needs and experiences of the children in their care. They are hands-on managers and take an active role in the care of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers work hard to ensure timely reviews and oversight of the children’s progress with the use of three-monthly reviews. Evaluation of records is also an ongoing piece of work and has proved helpful; however, time constraints have meant that this has been a challenge to apply consistently. Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 5 Staff feel well supported in the home. Staff report positively on their experience of supervision, which has recently been adapted to ensure that recent learning and the ethos of the home are better incorporated into the records. Supervision is reflective and provides an opportunity for staff to talk at length about their reflections and experiences in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Similarly, team meetings provide further space for staff to reflect together about the individual children. These are often attended by the home’s therapeutic staff, consisting of a mental health nurse and a psychiatrist, to further discuss the needs of the children through this specialist lens.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training is largely up to date, and staff receive training relevant to their role, with more bespoke training planned that aligns further with the home’s ethos. However, some staff training has fallen out of date, and there has been a delay in being able to rectify this due to course availability and the timeliness with which the issue was identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home environment, while clean and tidy, requires some updating and has a ‘clinical’ feel, as described by one of the children. The outdoor space equally has a lot of potential, but areas have not been maintained or used to their full potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Complaints are well handled by leaders and managers. Children have felt able to voice their opinions and concerns and have received a timely response. Children have had the opportunity to talk through their concerns with leaders and managers and received written details with the agreed outcomes. It is recognised that the outcome has not always been aligned with what the child may have hoped for, but their thoughts and feelings have been well considered. Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 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 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, records must reflect the identified needs of the children and be explicit in their expectations of staff in carrying out their duties. 30 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 01 September2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 7 the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should ensure that all members of staff involved in the restraint are debriefed.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment and seeks as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than institutional impression. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through personal, social and health education. Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, and use of tobacco and vapes. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph

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Recommendations

7.18)  The registered person should ensure staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 8 recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that they closely monitor staff training compliance and respond in a timely manner when courses are due to be renewed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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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: SC420410 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Arc-HD Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wessex House, Upper Market Street, Eastleigh SO50 9FD

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Inspector

Katie Ratcliffe, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC420410 10 regulates and inspects 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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