Children's home run by Sweet Hope House Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 1 Registered provider: Sweet Hope 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 owned and run by a private company. It provides care for up to three children who need support with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there was one child living at the home. Three children had moved from the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has had no registered manager since the 25 November 2025. A manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 2706369 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/07/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 3

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improvement to be good

The child living at the home is well settled and has been offered stability for several years. This child is making good progress considering their starting point, particularly with their personal care needs and independence skills. They have good relationships with staff and share that they are happy living at the home.

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improvement to be good

There has been a recent focus on improving care plans for the child at the home, these are now reflective of the child’s needs and how staff can meet these. The child has been well encouraged with their education following a period outside of mainstream schooling. The child will shortly attend college and is aspirational for their future.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that children’s voices are heard through both one-to-one discussions and group meetings with children living at the home. Children are supported to influence the care they receive in the home, but staff have not always been professionally curious when speaking with children. There have been recent improvements to how children can share their views and opinions, ensuring that discussions are meaningful.

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improvement to be good

Care plans for children have not always included known information about their needs or risks. Information is disjointed and spread across several documents. This would make it difficult for staff to know where to look for information about their expected responses to children’s behaviours and to plan for their moves to and from the home. Inconsistency in recordings means it is not always possible to understand incidents fully. As a result, staff practice and areas for improvement cannot be ascertained by the manager.

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improvement to be good

The statement of purpose does not reflect the care currently offered at the home. This has the potential for professionals to be misinformed when making decisions about children coming to live at the home.

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improvement to be good

There are not significant safeguarding concerns about the child living at the home. They enjoy spending time at the home and have not been involved in serious incidents or ever gone missing. The manager has ensured the child understands how to make a complaint. Bespoke training has been developed to help staff better understand the child’s health needs and attachment style. Staff are now better informed about how to build a trusting relationship with the child and understand how they process information.

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improvement to be good

The manager appropriately escalates to safeguarding partners when children make allegations. However, internal investigations are not robust and have been over reliant on the feedback of external professionals. Children are not spoken to about their experiences and there is a lack of reflection and learning for staff. Some allegations have Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 4 also intimated that staff have physically blocked or touched children, but how this was experienced by the child was not explored. It is unclear whether involved staff had the required training to physically intervene with children safely, this could put the child and staff at risk.

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improvement to be good

The managers do not safely recruit staff to work at the home. A member of staff was allowed to work at the home without the appropriate checks and references having been received and verified. Other staff have not evidenced their full employment history for the manager. This has the potential to allow staff to work with children who were not suitable to do so.

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improvement to be good

During the inspection period there have been serious incidents involving children no longer living at the home. In these instances, the staff team were often overwhelmed by children's behaviour and could not appropriately de-escalate the situation and support children to feel calm. Staff have not ensured that emerging risks were appropriately shared and recorded in care plans and risk assessments.

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improvement to be good

There was a serious incident whereby a child was detained due to serious concerns about their mental health. There is a lack of subsequent recording to understand how the child returned to the home or how staff were prepared to manage the escalation in their needs. This incident was not notified to social care in a timely way and was not reported to Ofsted as would be expected.

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

The home is now run by an experienced manager and deputy manager. They have quickly identified the areas for development and improvement. A recent focus on staff training is improving staff understanding and competence. Staff supervisions and team meetings are now occurring regularly, despite a period of inconsistency. These prioritise discussion about children and offer a space for professional challenge and reflection. Staff share that they now feel well supported in their jobs.

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

Staffing has been an area of challenge during the inspection period. There has not been a consistent staff team and consequently there has been a reliance on agency staff. This has represented significant change and a lack of continuity for children. Whilst staff are now enrolled onto the required qualification, there remains a lack of qualified staff at the home. This means children are being cared for at times during the week without any qualified staff at the home.

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

Staff have not always received an appropriate induction or initial training to support them in their roles. There has not been appropriate managerial oversight to ensure that staff are prioritising their learning. This meant that staff were ill-prepared to manage the complex behaviours of children or to feel resilient in times of challenge.

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

There has not been appropriate oversight and monitoring of the care offered at the home. Auditing by the manager and responsible individual was not completed to understand incidents that had occurred, or how these could be prevented in the future. Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 5 There are plans in place to address this by the current managers, but these are not yet well imbedded into practice.

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

Reporting under regulation 45 has not met the needed requirement. One report was not submitted to Ofsted, and one was not timely. Reports have lacked consultation with children and involved professionals to offer a more holistic understanding of the children's experiences. Ofsted cannot therefore be assured that there is appropriate evaluation of the care being offered in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 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, 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 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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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;

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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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular the manager must ensure staff undertake the correct training to meet children’s identified needs, that children are cared for by a consistent team and that quality assurance and oversight systems are employed by the manager to effectively audit the care in the home and drive improvements. This requirement is restated. 29 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 29 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 7 a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to,

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

a child protection enquiry involving a child—

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Requirement Due date

is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager should ensure they notify Ofsted with a serious incident notification following any incidents deemed significant. This requirement is restated.

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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;

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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 29 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 8 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular ensure that the needs and risks of children are understood and planned for before children move to the home. This also refers to children’s risk assessments being understood and actioned by staff.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)

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Requirement Due date

In particular ensure that no staff work at the home until all required safer recruitment checks have been completed. This also refers to the need for there to be suitably experienced and qualified staff working at the home. 29 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months. 29 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 9 In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(3)

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular that the manager ensures the statement of purpose is a true reflection of the care offered at the home. 29 September 2025

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 10 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: 2706369 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Winchester Street, Nottingham NG5 4AJ

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Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2706369 12 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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Inspector

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