Children's home run by Assure Care Homes Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 1 Registered provider: Assure Care Homes Ltd

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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 provides care for up to five children with learning disabilities and social communication difficulties. At the time of the inspection, there were four children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since 1 August 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspection started on 23 September 2025. The inspector returned on 29 September 2025 to gather additional evidence in line with Ofsted inspections and visits: deferring, pausing and gathering additional evidence policy.

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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

Date of last inspection: 22 January 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/01/2025 Full Good 17/05/2023 Full Good 10/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/10/2021 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress in this home because they are supported by a caring and understanding staff team. Children have made progress around their speech, physical coordination and independence. Children are happy and comfortable around the staff and experience warm interactions from them. Families are positive about the care their children receive. One parent described staff as attentive and nurturing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the children well and can meet their needs. For example, when one child needed a haircut but struggled to tolerate this experience, staff found a hairdresser with specialist experience to support with this. The hairdresser was able to come to the home and build a relationship with the child before cutting their hair. The child is now able to have their hair cut regularly without distress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote education, and all children attend school. Children are supported by staff to travel to school, and as a result, children have good educational attainment and attendance. One child who was below their education targets last year is now on target for all subjects and is above target in maths. Staff ensure that actions set in meetings about the children’s education are also supported at home. This provides consistency and continuity of care for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children’s health needs are met. All children are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians and are up to date with medical appointments. Staff advocate for children around their health needs and work with medical professionals to promote children’s health and well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the children to take part in activities both in and away from the home. Staff ensure the children’s complex needs are not a barrier to their experiences. Children have visited a local science museum, splash parks and theme parks. Children help with cooking meals and going food shopping to support their independence. Staff understand the importance of peer interactions and children having social networks. Staff have explored youth groups and clubs for children to promote friendships outside of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is clean and tidy. However, some areas of the home are looking worn and tired. Staff ensure that children have access to books, toys and games. Children’s routines are on display so children understand what will be happening each day. Children can personalise their bedrooms; however, one child’s room has drawings on the wall and some furniture damage that has not been addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff generally support children to understand positive behaviour and reward good choices. However, on occasion, consequences have not been used proportionately or in ways to help children understand the effect of their behaviour. Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 4 Staff have used consequences in place of restorative work, and some consequences have been punitive in nature.

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

Senior leaders promptly investigate safeguarding concerns. Investigations are thorough, and children are kept informed of the process. Findings are shared with external professionals and families. Learning from safeguarding concerns is implemented into practice.

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

The staff are attentive to the children’s health and well-being. When children injure themselves through play or self-injury, staff take appropriate action to seek medical advice. Because the children have communication needs, staff keep regular records of any marks or bruising on the children to monitor for concerns. Staff ensure that all the children’s health appointments are up to date.

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

Staff understand children’s needs and vulnerabilities and demonstrate their knowledge of how to keep children safe. Risk assessments and behaviour plans for children are detailed. Although the children’s plans are regularly updated, one child’s plan has not been updated for a significant period. This does not reflect learning from recent incidents or detail new risks for new or temporary staff to be aware of. This has not affected the safety or well-being of the children.

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

Although staff have completed safeguarding training, some staff are not fully aware of safeguarding procedures. The manager has plans to address these gaps in staff knowledge and ensure training for staff equips them for the role. These gaps in knowledge have not affected the staff’s decision-making around safeguarding for the children.

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

Staff use physical intervention as a last resort to keep children safe. Children are supported to express their emotions more positively, and as a result, there has been a decrease in incidents involving staff. However, debriefs with children and staff after incidents of physical intervention are not always completed. These are missed opportunities for children and staff to reflect on incidents and how they felt about what had happened. Managers’ reviews of incidents do not always scrutinise practice and identify lessons learned to inform future practice.

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

The children live in a safe home environment. Managers promptly address any health and safety concerns that arise. Health and safety inspections and fire inspections are undertaken by external providers to provide additional scrutiny of health and safety practice.

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

Leaders and managers ensure that safer recruitment processes are followed. All appropriate checks of candidates take place before an offer of employment. This ensures that individuals applying for roles within the team are safe to work with vulnerable children. Leaders and managers are actively recruiting to fill staff vacancies. Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home does not have a registered manager. However, senior leaders are actively recruiting to fill the position. In the interim, the deputy manager is carrying out the manager’s role and is being supported by the responsible individual. The manager also receives peer support from the manager and deputy from the organisation’s sister home. This support is helping the manager to increase her knowledge of the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager knows the children well and has good relationships with them. She can demonstrate her knowledge of children’s progress and the targets set for children where progress could be further improved. The manager speaks warmly about the children and is committed to them achieving positive outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders promote development opportunities for staff, including newly created leadership roles. The implementation of new roles allows staff to take more accountability of the running of the home. These changes support staff’s knowledge and confidence when working with the children. Newer members of staff are positive of the levels of the support they receive being new to their roles. Staff receive good inductions, which include undertaking mandatory training and shadowing experienced staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that staff benefit from regular team meetings. This time is used effectively to discuss the progress of the children and development of the staff team. Team members can have their views heard and suggest ideas during these meetings. The staff are supportive of each other and of the home manager. Staff receive annual appraisals and ongoing regular reviews of the targets set.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from professionals is mixed. Some professionals highlight the progress children make and the care they receive from staff. Some professionals highlighted their concerns around communication and information-sharing from the staff. In response, the manager and senior leaders met with external professionals to agree a consistent way of communicating. As a result, there is now a clear plan in place around communication to ensure important information around the safeguarding of children is appropriately shared.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision for staff is variable in frequency and quality. Some staff have not had supervision at the frequency set by the workforce plan, with some staff not having supervision for three months. Supervision notes are not fully reflective of the discussions held during the session. Agency staff who provide care for the children regularly in the home do not receive supervision. This is a missed opportunity to support agency staff and gain valuable feedback from individuals working closely with the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has oversight of the home and is aware there are some areas of improvement. As a result, an action plan has been created to address these Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 6 concerns. However, a number of shortfalls have not been identified and therefore not addressed. The manager has acknowledged that the action plan needs to be strengthened to ensure all shortfalls can be rectified. Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 7

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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

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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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)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 10 November

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that supervision of staff is undertaken within the organisation’s timeframe and that supervision notes reflect the conversations had during the supervision.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, the registered person must ensure that regular temporary staff receive regular supervision. 10 November

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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

promotes their welfare. 10 November Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 8 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, the registered person must ensure that oversight of incidents includes analysis of the incident and ways of working that could prevent a reoccurrence.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that action plans to develop the service highlight all shortfalls and how these are to be addressed.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, the registered person must ensure that knowledge gained from training is embedded into staff’s practice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any consequences used in the home are restorative and help children to understand natural consequences. The registered person should consistently review the effectiveness of the measures being taken. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that children’s case records detailed in Regulations 35-39 are kept up to date while they remain in the home. In particular, the manager must ensure that all records, including risk assessments and support plans, are updated with relevant information that is consistent and guides staff to deliver effective care and support for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that the home is a well-maintained environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 9 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: 2529331 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Assure Care Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 4, Northbrook Industrial Estate, Hollybrook Road, Shirley, Southampton, Hampshire SO16 6PB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Newman

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Inspector

Louise Webling, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2529331 11 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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