Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 1 Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division Registered provider: Safe Haven Accommodation Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This service is owned and managed by a private provider. The service offers single occupancy and shared accommodation that is limited to looked-after children and care leavers. Up to 33 children can live at the premises.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, two children were living at the premises.

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provider

The service manager and the nominated individual have both been in post since the service registered in May 2024.

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Inspection dates:

The inspection was announced on 28 July 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site on 30 and 31 July 2025.

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Outcome

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months.

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Summary of findings

Ofsted conducted a monitoring visit in July 2024, which resulted in the provider’s registration being suspended due to shortfalls regarding the safety and protection of children and the leadership and management of the service.

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Summary of findings

A subsequent monitoring visit in September 2024 concluded that leaders and managers had made significant improvements. The provider’s registration was reinstated by Ofsted following the visit. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 2 Leaders and managers acknowledge further oversight is needed to support staff to fully use the systems and procedures in place to keep children safe, including missing-from-home protocols. This means they cannot yet be fully confident that children are safe. They also recognise the developments that are needed to improve the quality of risk assessments and support plans to ensure they are targeted and fully capture the voice of the child.

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Summary of findings

Children are not sufficiently involved in their own support to understand and manage their decisions and actions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children say they are happy and enjoy living here. Staff have the skills to develop trusting relationships with children. A social worker commented positively about the relationships staff have developed with one child. She said, ‘Staff respond sensitively to how he’s feeling and gently challenge some of his views, for example, showing emotions.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children say that they feel safe and that staff support them. Staff understand the importance of developing trusting relationships with children so that if or when they have concerns about their safety, they are comfortable to speak to staff about these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Overall, children’s living environments are maintained to a good standard. Children speak positively about their accommodation. Some living spaces could be further improved to ensure they are welcoming and homely. For example, not all support staff ensure that children are encouraged to personalise their home to ensure it is a welcoming space.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Support plans are clearly written in a child-friendly way and incorporate the child’s history and current support needs. They include the child’s views and aspirations. However, they do not always detail all the child’s known needs, vulnerabilities and risks. The lack of achievable targets in support plans means children are not being fully supported to aspire to reach their full potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Outcomes for children vary. Five children have moved on in an unplanned way due to staff not being able to meet their needs. Leaders and managers recognise that this was due to children not being ready to live in supported accommodation. However, there are examples of moves that have been managed well for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

The children currently living in the accommodation are progressing in their education and employment. They are supported to take part in activities such as cooking, arts and crafts, music, pamper nights and attending local community youth clubs.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children’s contributions to their records are inconsistent. Risk assessments do not include the child’s voice and it is not clear these have been completed in Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 3 consultation with the child. This means that children will not feel fully involved in their own support to understand and manage their decisions and actions.

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How well children are helped and protected

Since the last monitoring visit, the provider has notified Ofsted of all safeguarding concerns and has helped children make safe choices and keep safe. For instance, the provider is actively involved in multi-agency working to support a child who is at risk of exploitation.

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How well children are helped and protected

When there are ongoing safeguarding concerns, the provider works closely with multi-agency partners to ensure children receive the support they need. A social worker said, ‘Safe Haven always attends risk management meetings and they contribute to multidisciplinary reviews of risk and safety planning.’

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How well children are helped and protected

Children know how to make complaints. Complaints made by children have been responded to appropriately. Children have been kept informed of the outcome.

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How well children are helped and protected

Missing-from-home protocols are in place that provide staff with instruction and guidance on how to respond when a child does not return home as expected. Despite this, children’s records do not provide a clear account of the actions taken by staff. Leaders and managers have not ensured that children are spoken to independently on their return, and they have not maintained effective oversight of incidents of children going missing. They have not identified and rectified factual inaccuracies in records written by staff. This means they cannot be fully confident that children are safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers follow safer recruitment procedures. They ensure that the recruitment of all staff is scrutinised thoroughly. Managers complete appropriate checks as part of any initial application. This helps to ensure that staff working directly with children are assessed as suitable to do so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The leadership team is clear about the service’s improvement journey. They acknowledge that the new systems and processes introduced are in their infancy and yet to be fully evaluated for effectiveness. They recognise that work is needed to improve their oversight and monitoring of children’s records. In response, they have purchased a new electronic reporting and recording system that will help them to have improved oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers meet with home managers as well as visiting the homes and spending time with children and staff. Staff say they feel supported and know they can approach managers. Supervision and team meetings take place regularly. The minutes of team meetings have improved significantly; however, they do not always show the collaborative approach referred to during discussions with leaders and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers provide training for staff. The service manager is providing training workshops, including in the PACE (Playfulness, Acceptance, Curiosity and Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 4 Empathy) model of care and trauma-informed approaches, because they recognise the importance for staff to receive targeted training is an area for improvement. This will enable them to support children using a child-focused approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The behaviour management policy is comprehensive and details the procedures for staff to follow, including reporting and recording of incidents. The policy states a person-centred restorative approach is taken. Leaders and managers are working to support staff with training to ensure they deliver support to children in a way that is consistent with this approach.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have introduced a referral and assessment tool to ensure children’s needs are fully considered before admission. This has improved their confidence that they are now only accepting children who are ready to live in supported accommodation. The effectiveness of this tool is reflected in the most recent admission. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Statutory requirements

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

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Statutory requirements

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

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Statutory requirements

lead and manage the supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking’s statement of purpose;

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Statutory requirements

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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Statutory requirements

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(g))

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Statutory requirements

In particular, the registered person must ensure that internal monitoring systems support managers to evaluate and continually develop the service. 3 October 2025

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Statutory requirements

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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Statutory requirements

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

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Statutory requirements

ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child; 3 October 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 6 keep the child’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child’s needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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Statutory requirements

ensure a plan for support is in place to support the child to develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the child is ready to live more independently. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(c)(k))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the supported accommodation is a homely and welcoming environment and that systems are in place to ensure children are helped to maintain a clean, tidy and well-organised living space. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 29)  The registered person should ensure staff are familiar with the supported accommodation provider’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording, in particular, when recording daily events, key-work sessions and interactions with children. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 58)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 7

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Safe Haven Accommodation Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Mark Bareford

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: info@safehavenaccommodation.co.uk

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Inspectors

Karen O’Neill, Social Care Inspector Sharron Escott, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Haven Accommodation - South Division 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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