Children's home run by Dimensions Care Limited

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 1 Registered provider: Dimensions Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for up to three children with emotional and social difficulties. The home provides short-term care for children.

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Information about this children’s home

There were two children living at the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At these inspections, the inspectors evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 2

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Findings from the inspection

We identified the following serious and widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection:  The environment was not welcoming and had not been maintained to a good standard  Staff were unable to meet children’s behavioural needs  The managers oversight of the home was poor

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Findings from the inspection

This assurance inspection took place due to concerns arising from inspection outcomes of other homes within the organisation that owned the home.

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Findings from the inspection

The home environment is not welcoming, inviting or maintained to an acceptable standard. This is because staff are unable to prevent the children from causing damage to the home. For example, children have smashed glass within external doors, pulled light fittings down, written graffiti on walls and surfaces and damaged fixtures and fittings in the home. The home has not had a maintenance team in place for several weeks, resulting in action not being taken to repair the damage.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff are not equipped to manage children’s behaviour that challenges them. On one occasion, a child was able to cause significant damage to their bedroom. This left the child at significant risk of harm, including electrocution, following the child removing a light fitting. Throughout this time, staff spoke to the child from behind a closed door and observed the incident from the garden area.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff have not demonstrated a proactive response to supporting children. As a result, children have been able to come together to plan disruption in the home to assist a child in their attempt to go missing. Alarms are used on children’s bedroom doors. However, a child was able to go into another child’s bedroom undetected by staff. These examples further evidence a lack of staff vigilance when supervising children.

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Findings from the inspection

The manager’s oversight of the home has been inadequate. A child reported a serious allegation of assault by another child in the home. The investigation conducted by management was insufficient and lacked the necessary professional curiosity and rigour. Consequently, the manager is unable to provide assurance that the alleged incident did not occur.

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Findings from the inspection

There has been a lack of professional curiosity and reflective practice to ensure that lessons are learned from serious incidents. This hinders staff development and improvements to staff practice. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 3 There has been a high level of staff turnover since the home opened. As a result, several staff have been supporting from other homes within the organisation. This has impacted the quality of care provided to children.

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Findings from the inspection

Not all staff have a thorough understanding of children’s individual needs and how to support them. This has impaired the children’s capacity to form and maintain positive, trusting relationships with staff. Changes in routines and staffing have led to increased instability for children.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff have carried personal items, including electronic cigarettes, on them while supporting children. On one occasion, staff left a bag containing their personal electronic vapes in a child’s bedroom, which the child obtained and refused to return to carers. A record of this incident had not been made by staff. This prevents lessons from being learned from staff practice to improve the quality of care that children receive and places children at increased risk of harm.

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Findings from the inspection

The manager has failed to make suitable arrangements to ensure that all staff have received specific training to meet children’s individual needs and risks. This includes attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, Pica and substance misuse. This fails to keep children safe, as staff are not equipped with the knowledge and skills they require.

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Findings from the inspection

Children do not have access to advocacy services, and the manager has failed to advocate on behalf of a child. The manager failed to act on concerns raised by a child about their care plan. As a result of the manager’s failure to share this information with the child’s local authority, the reunification plan continued. This placed the child at increased risk, resulting in them being arrested. This incident could have been prevented.

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Findings from the inspection

Leaders and managers are ineffective and do not provide sufficient management oversight and scrutiny of the home. There are important records that do not have management oversight. For example, serious behavioural incidents are not regularly reviewed or evaluated by leaders and managers. Physical intervention reports and missing-from-care reports do not include all required information. This prevents the manager identifying patterns and trends in children’s behaviour and relevant plans being updated to provide robust guidance to staff.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/05/2025 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 4

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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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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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

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(iii)(d)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers ensuring that children have access to advocacy services. 15 September

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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

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; 15 September Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 5 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that children are adequately supervised. It also relates to ensuring that staff understand their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding children, taking action to manage risks when they arise. It also relates to maintenance issues being addressed in a timely manner.

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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; 15 September Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 6 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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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)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to managers improving the monitoring systems in the home to improve the quality of care. It also relates to ensuring that staff have the appropriate training, qualification and experience to meet children’s individual needs and work consistently as a team.

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to staff locking doors to communal areas of the home at night. 15 September

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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

the name of the child; 15 September Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 7 details of the child’s behaviour leading to 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;

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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)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the manager ensuring that records of physical intervention include all required information and are reviewed in a timely manner.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping, and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4) Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Dimensions Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Harold Sharp Ltd, Unit 5, Brooklands Place, Brooklands Road, Sale M33 3SD

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Inspectors

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Linda Mason, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2810447 9 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 children looked after, 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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