Children's Home run by Paramount Children Care LTD in Leicester

Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 1 Registered provider: Paramount Children Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for four children who may have social, emotional or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

There were three children living at the home at the time of the inspection. Their views were sought during the inspection.

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

This children’s home was inspected on 2 April 2025. A further visit took place on 1 May 2025 due to a serious safeguarding concern and a complaint being received following the 2 April 2025 inspection.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

A restriction of accommodation notice was issued on 2 May 2025. This was removed following a monitoring visit on 10 June 2025. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/04/2025 Full Inadequate 22/05/2024 Full Good 29/11/2023 Full Good 30/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/01/2022 Interim Declined in effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Two children have left the home since the last inspection. One child was supported to move to another home. One child was already staying with family and did not return. The home fulfilled their duty of care while the children remained in placement. It was difficult to achieve the planned transitions due to the children’s circumstances. However, the manager tried to support them as far as possible. Three children have recently moved into the home. They have settled well. The children are from the same family, and it is invaluable that they can remain living together. There is a very positive atmosphere in the home. Children are relaxed with the staff and are building good relationships. They eat together and are doing activities such as badminton and having days out. The manager and staff have created individual care plans for each child which cover the pertinent issues relating to the children. The staff have supported children to establish good routines. The children moved in

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

towards the end of the school term. However, they did attend school during that period. Children are enjoying taking care of their appearance, buying clothes and trying new foods. They said they love living at the home and are particularly pleased with their spacious, well decorated bedrooms. All three children are growing in confidence. Children are registered with health services. They have had dental checks and eye tests. Appointments for full medical assessments are imminent. Children are receiving support with substance use issues from a specialist agency as they are using vapes. There is ongoing work to help the children reduce and eventually stop vaping to improve their health. The staff support children to see people who are important to them. As a result, children stay in touch with family and friends who they value in their lives. Arrangements are reviewed if children’s wishes change over time. This shows children are listened to, and

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

The manager and staff are working hard to keep children safe. The risks posed to all three children have reduced since they moved to the home. There have been no missing-from-care incidents, and some pre-existing concerns have lowered in a short space of time. The children are being well supported by the home and external professionals to continue to reduce risks through therapeutic parenting and educational work. Risk management plans are created and include relevant information. However, not all measures being used to mitigate risk are included in the plans. There was no formal risk assessment for a visitor regularly coming to the home. On one occasion, a staff member had not fully followed the agreed measures which had been communicated to the team. This did not impact on children in this instance. However, this example shows the Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 4 importance of having risk assessments clearly documented to avoid placing children at

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

increased risk of harm. Visitors to the home are signing into the visitors’ book but not always signing out. As a result, periods of time people are in the home are not always clear from the records. This could be relevant if something significant happens and records are needed to clarify events. There are a small number of instances where staff have made decisions without informing a senior member of staff. These incidents have not impacted on children’s safety. However, there was the potential for this. One child who now has left the home had regular periods of absence. The child was reported as missing to the police on these occasions. The manager and staff ensured that they kept in regular contact with the child when they were away from home. Relevant professionals were informed, and attempts were made to return the child home. Staff are persistent when children go missing and always try to locate them. This

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

is an improvement in practice since the last full inspection. Staff are modelling positive behaviour for children and implementing boundaries effectively. At this time, children accept these with little challenge, and there have been no serious incidents where children or staff have been hurt. Children have not made any new allegations of harm against staff since the last inspection, which is another positive development. This reflects the trust that is building between the children and their carers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has been in post since May 2025. She has worked hard to make improvements. Examples are replacing children’s bedroom windows to improve safety, increasing training for staff to improve their understanding of safeguarding and building team morale. Leaders and managers have introduced a new model of care, which is in the early stages. Training has been arranged for the team to help them understand and implement the model from an informed position. Staff are benefiting from regular supervision. This is an opportunity to reflect on their relationships with children, professional development and receive guidance about their practice. Staff are open to this process and say it is beneficial. There has been a real focus on increasing professional curiosity in the team, which was a concern at the last full inspection. The manager addresses concerns about practice through the supervision process. Actions are taken. However, records are not sufficiently clear about the ongoing plans in

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

place, particularly where there is more than one area being worked on. This could impact on providing robust evidence for the employer and employee should more serious processes be required. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 5 Managers have not had full oversight of the logbook for the home, which records key information. As a result, an unapproved action taken by a staff member was not noticed and addressed until identified on the inspection. The responsible individual has formal supervision arrangements in place. However, this is not meeting his needs in relation to all aspects of his role. Formal supervision from a relevant professional is important so that he has the time and space to reflect on and learn from key incidents and events that happen in the home. The manager is working well with other professionals involved in children’s lives. There is regular communication in place. Professionals have confidence in the manager and the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

care provided. Children participate in meetings about their care and can express their views. Children who shared concerning information about a previous staff member have been informed of the outcome through a letter from the manager. This is important if children wish to refer to this later in their lives. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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 promotes their welfare.

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to there being clear systems in place for recording and reviewing concerns about staff performance, including action plans which are addressing concerns.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to managers having regular oversight of important documents, such as the daily records and the visitors’ book relating to home. 10 September 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.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(v)) 10 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 7 This specifically relates to ensuring that risk management plans include all measures in place to keep children safe. This also relates to having clear risk assessments in place in respect of visitors to the home.

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Requirement Due date

This also relates to ensuring that staff follow these plans consistently so that children are kept as safe as possible.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the responsible individual, receive support and supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2). Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 8

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2627088 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Paramount Children Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Para Group House, 6-11 Riley Street, Willenhall WV13 1RH

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Inspector

Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 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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