Children's Home run by Secure Base Homes Limited in Barking and Dagenham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 1 Registered provider: Secure Base Homes 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

This privately owned home cares for one child with social, emotional and / or mental health difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered with Ofsted in April 2025. The registered manager post is vacant. This was the home’s first inspection since its registration.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, no children were living at the home.

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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 inadequate

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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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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 2

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improvement to be good

The judgement for leadership and management is inadequate, which means that the overall judgement for the progress and experience of children is requires improvement to be good.

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improvement to be good

Since the home’s registration with Ofsted, one child has lived at the home. This child was subject to a deprivation of liberty (DoL) order, which means that, at times, their movement and access to the community were restricted. The child settled quickly when they arrived and shared trusting relationships with some of the staff team. The child had good opportunities to speak with staff and managers to share their views about their experiences in the home.

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improvement to be good

The child led a healthy lifestyle while at the home. Soon after their arrival, they registered with and kept appointments with primary healthcare services. The child wore prescribed glasses for the first time and was pleased at the difference their glasses made to their eyesight. Staff provided them with good support and advice in relation to key healthcare issues such as nutrition and maintaining good personal hygiene.

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improvement to be good

The child had not attended school for a significant length of time. Staff encouraged them to invest in their learning, which led to some engagement in home tuition. Staff worked well with the virtual school to help secure a full-time school placement. In addition, staff used praise and incentives to support the child to develop practical skills such as making snacks, attending to their personal care, assisting with food shopping and being responsible for keeping their bedroom tidy.

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improvement to be good

The child enjoyed planned leisure activities. These included horse-riding sessions and trips to a farming centre and the local arcade. Staff encouraged the child with arts and crafts, and their work remains on display in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff supported the child to safely see their family and friends in line with their care plan.

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

Staff work hard to protect children who are determined by the court to be at high risk of or have been exposed to significant harm and abuse. For example, staff ensured that there were clear structures and boundaries in place to help protect the child from harm. They worked collaboratively with other professionals and adhered to agreed boundaries and the conditions of the DoL order. In most cases, behaviour management strategies were effective in helping the child to regulate their emotions Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 3 and revert to more positive behaviour. In addition, there have been no complaints or any allegation of abuse made against staff.

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

There have been a few incidents where the child was missing from staff’s care. During these incidents, there was effective communication between staff, the police and social workers, which helped to promote the child’s safe return home.

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

Staff complete child protection training to support their practice in keeping children safe. However, some staff have not completed mandatory training, including training focused on relevant safeguarding issues.

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

Risk assessments are detailed and highlight known or anticipated risks, and these are very regularly updated. Risk assessments provide staff with strategies that help to reduce risks to children. However, some risk assessments do not accurately state the level of risk posed. Despite this, staff had a good understanding of risks posed to the child, and they were consistent in the action taken to help reduce risks.

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

Staff’s use of restraint is measured and appropriate. In each instance, staff used restraint as a last resort to protect the child and others from harm. However, the staff involved in incidents of restraint have not been trained by the provider to carry out these measures. Records of restraint incidents are appropriately detailed; however, other records of critical incidents are sometimes not clear and contradict other documents that detail the same incident. At times, managers’ discussions with staff and the child about critical incidents are not timely and take place weeks after the event.

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

Managers and staff share very effective working relationships with external professionals. Leaders and staff’s consultation with children’s professional networks is consistent and appropriate. Managers promptly request that professionals’ meetings are held to explore concerns for children’s progress and safety.

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

The home’s premises are comfortable and secure. Staff conduct regular health and safety checks to confirm that the building is safe. Fire prevention measures are effective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of the home are not strong. This has been compounded by the recent unexpected departure of the home’s registered manager. The manager post is currently vacant, and an interim manager and a quality assurance officer have been appointed. Leaders are recruiting for a permanent manager and other support staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not have oversight of the training and development of the staff team. Staff training records are inaccurate and fail to confirm which staff have completed which training. This includes restraint and physical intervention training, which leaves Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 4 staff and children vulnerable when this is used. Managers also do not consistently provide newly appointed staff with an induction to help prepare them for their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff complete training identified as being mandatory. They have also not ensured that staff are trained in ‘trauma-informed care’ despite this being referred to as an approach used in the home in several documents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The supervision of staff has not been consistently of a good quality. There are gaps in the frequency of staff supervision, which does not support staff’s overall development. However, staff feel that the new management team provides them with good support and guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The recruitment and vetting of staff are not comprehensively completed, and there are gaps in records and managers’ oversight of records. This means that managers cannot robustly confirm that staff are suitable to work with children at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring systems are weak. For example, despite managers completing file audits, some key records remain of a poor quality and are contradictory. Many records are unsigned and undated, making it difficult to ascertain when reviews were undertaken and by whom.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

An independent visitor completes monitoring visits; however, not all subsequent monitoring reports are forwarded to Ofsted. It is not clear if these visits are taking place every month.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not always inform Ofsted of safeguarding events as expected. This limits the inspector’s opportunity to assess the effectiveness of staff’s management of safeguarding events when they occur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document that outlines the home’s ethos, aims and objectives well. Managers have recently updated this document; however, they have failed to share the revised document with Ofsted as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and the staff team place the well-being of children at the centre of their practice, and they are keen for children to do well. Managers and staff share effective working relationships with external professionals. This ensures that all parties were aware of the child’s progress and of any concerns for their safety. Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 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 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 registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 15 October

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)) 15 October

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33 (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that staff complete all mandatory training, trauma- informed training and training in using restraint techniques. 15 October

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 15 October

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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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 — 15 October Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 6 is instigated; or

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Requirement Due date

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) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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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

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

In particular, managers should ensure that key records, such as risk assessments, incident reports, restraint records and staff training records, are clear and accurate. In addition, all relevant documents should be signed and dated. 15 October

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

HMCI. (Regulation 44 (1) (7)(a)) 15 October

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 15 October Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 7 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,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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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)(d)) 15 October

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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: 2752207 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Secure Base Homes Limited

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2752207 9 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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Inspector

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