Children's Home run by Solace Care ClayHall Ltd in Redbridge

Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 1 Registered provider: Solace Care ClayHall 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 privately owned home provides care for up to five children aged between eight and 17 years who may experience social and emotional difficulties. There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

A manager was registered with Ofsted in June 2025 and was present at the start of the inspection in July but then resigned. A new manager has recently joined and was present for part of the inspection carried out in August.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspection started on 9 July 2025. Another inspector returned on 4 August 2025 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/05/2024 Full Good 21/11/2023 Full Good 01/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 3

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improvement to be good

Staff offer children care and support that helps them feel safe. However, there are weaknesses in how managers and staff fully understand children’s vulnerabilities and the importance of education.

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improvement to be good

Children have been supported to settle into the home through positive, trusting relationships with consistent and familiar staff. This helps children to feel safe and valued, supporting their adjustment to living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff respect and celebrate children’s diverse cultural and religious backgrounds, reflecting these in personalised care plans. This approach supports children’s understanding of their identity and promotes inclusion.

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improvement to be good

Health needs are actively supported. Staff ensure that children attend routine health appointments and collaborate with external specialists to meet additional needs, promoting children’s well-being.

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improvement to be good

Staff have successfully supported one child to complete their GCSEs, enabling them to enrol onto a college course that aligns with their interests. However, there is limited evidence of how the child’s learning is supported outside formal schooling hours. For another child, who moved into the home in March, no educational support has been provided to date. Leaders and managers have not ensured that timely and creative interim learning opportunities are available, nor have they worked effectively with the placing local authority to secure suitable education. This lack of action restricts children’s educational progress and significantly limits their opportunities for personal development.

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improvement to be good

Several repairs have been carried out since the last inspection, and leaders report that the home has been appropriately furnished. However, some areas in the home, particularly bathrooms and shared living spaces, still lack warmth and personalisation. This detracts from creating a welcoming and nurturing environment, which can impact children’s comfort and emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

The number of occasions when children go missing from home has significantly reduced. When children do go missing from home, staff make determined efforts to maintain contact and report promptly in line with the missing-from-home protocol. Managers ensure that independent return home interviews are requested to support children’s welfare. Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 4 Staff carry out bedroom searches when there are concerns for children’s safety, removing items that could cause harm. Children’s risk assessments identify known and emerging risks. The reduction in episodes of going missing and physical interventions demonstrates that staff have built positive relationships and understand how to support children in distress.

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improvement to be good

However, recording and management of difficult situations lack consistency. Follow-up conversations with children and staff do not always take place, limiting opportunities for reflection and learning. Risk assessments also lack clear strategies to reduce risks, particularly when children first move into the home or new risks arise. This restricts the manager’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of risk management and limits staff’s capacity to provide well-informed support.

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improvement to be good

The new manager has introduced a risk assessment to support one child’s buying and selling of items, showing thoughtful consideration of boundaries, supervision and routines agreed with the child’s professional network. However, financial management lacks transparency and oversight, missing opportunities to ensure the safe handling of the child’s finances and encouraging future savings.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment remains robust, preventing unsuitable individuals from working in the home and promoting children’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager was present at the start of the inspection but later resigned. A new manager has been appointed and was part of the last stage of the inspection. The new manager is in the process of applying to be registered with Ofsted. The new manager is being supported by the responsible individual and is in the early stages of assessing the home’s strengths and areas for development, including the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff grievances are managed in line with the organisational policies. However, both managers have not had direct oversight of these, as they are handled by human resources representatives. This results in a lack of clarity about responses and whether grievances are managed within the appropriate timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Line managers conduct annual appraisals with staff, capturing some professional development and support needs. However, appraisals lack depth, targets are not measurable and there is limited input from others, including staff themselves. This remains a repeated recommendation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Senior leaders commissioned an external fire risk assessment in June 2025, identifying required remedial work to fire doors and replacement of fire extinguishers. Although staff have moved extinguishers to prevent misuse, the previous registered manager had not updated the fire risk assessment accordingly. No interim fire safety measures were in place for ineffective fire doors. This risk is compounded by the absence of clear strategies to reduce the risk of fire-setting. This lack of planning and foresight poses Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 5 risks to everyone in the home. The responsible individual and the new manager acknowledge these concerns and acted during the inspection to reduce these risks. Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; and

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must provide evidence of how children’s learning is supported outside formal school hours. This is to ensure that timely and creative interim learning opportunities are available, and that effective collaboration takes place with the child’s placing local authority to secure suitable education while children await school placements. 1 November 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. 1 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that risks to children are appropriately assessed, including financial risks and any new or emerging risks, such as fire and health and safety concerns.

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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

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; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure effective record- keeping, including documenting follow-up conversations with 1 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 8 children and staff following incidents, and should maintain sufficient management oversight of fire risk management and staff grievances.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming and supportive. The home should meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met. Doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s

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Recommendations

care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 14.11)

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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: 2645038 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Solace Care ClayHall Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 2A, 420 Eastern Avenue, Ilford, Essex IG2 6NQ

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Inspectors

Ruth Okezie, Social Care Inspector Kelly Monniot, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2645038 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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