Exe-Changes Limited

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 1 Exe-Changes Limited Registered provider: Exe-Changes 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. It offers accommodation for up to seven looked-after children and care leavers in three shared or group living homes.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, the service was providing accommodation for six children aged 16 and 17.

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provider

The provider and the service manager registered with Ofsted in March 2024.

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Inspection dates:

The inspection was announced on 29 September 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 1 and 2 October 2025.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action.

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Outcome

The next inspection will be in approximately three years.

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Summary of findings

Children say they feel safe and are happy. They make good progress from their starting points. Staff understand children’s needs and work with them by building positive relationships. This enables children to feel supported and able to develop the skills they need for independence.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers visit the homes often and meet with staff regularly. They have an excellent understanding of the children’s needs and genuine warm relationships with them. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 2 Leaders and managers acknowledge the developments that are needed to ensure that the regulator is confident in having effective oversight of the service. Leaders respond positively to suggestions for improvement and act swiftly to make appropriate changes. They are passionate about delivering high-quality support to children.

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Summary of findings

Children, staff and external professionals speak highly of the positive impact the service has on children’s progress and development. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children receive support from a committed and caring team of staff who know them well. Children say they feel supported by staff and have good relationships with them. One child said that their placement has been above expectations. Another child said that staff have helped them build their confidence to access employment and important appointments with services to support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage and help children to maintain meaningful relationships with the people who are important to them. They have a good understanding of how these relationships support children’s journey into adulthood and promote their emotional well-being. One child discussed being able to re-establish relationships with family members with the support of staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are skilled and experienced in supporting and advocating for children. All staff demonstrate good knowledge of the children they are supporting and a commitment to improving outcomes for them. One member of staff has recently received support to extend their role to assist children with accessing education and training opportunities. This is already having a significant impact in helping children to achieve their aspirations. Children speak about the help they have received to identify and access training and employment opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Feedback from professionals is overwhelmingly positive. They say the support children receive is positive and helps them. They say that communication with the service is excellent.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children live in quality homes that provide them with all the essential items they need to learn how to live independently. Children say they are happy with their homes and personalised bedrooms. Communal areas are welcoming and homely, and they provide children with places to relax and socialise.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff encourage children to take age-appropriate risks and support them in learning from these. They help children understand the impact of their behaviour in a way that makes sense to them. They understand children and work with them using positive relationships.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff listen to children and act on their wishes and feelings when it is safe to do so. However, children’s voices are not always evident in their records. Leaders and managers are aware of this shortfall and are actively considering how to incorporate the child’s voice into support plans and risk assessments in a way that is meaningful to children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers have appropriate recruitment systems in place to be confident that they employ staff who are suitable to support children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 4 Children who go missing receive a well-coordinated response that reduces risk. There is a good understanding of push-pull factors that influence children and a systemic approach to reducing missing-from-home incidents through relationship- building. There is good evidence of the service manager collaborating with other agencies to reduce the risk of harm to children. They manage risks to children well. However, this would be strengthened by management oversight being documented clearly in risk assessments and children’s plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The service manager has excellent oversight of the service and is passionate about ensuring that staff deliver positive outcomes while providing nurturing and caring support to children. The service manager is a fully present and dynamic leader who inspires the team to deliver high-quality support to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers can explain children’s needs well. They are suitably skilled and experienced and demonstrate high aspirations for children, wanting to ensure that they succeed. They are aware of the areas for development, and they recognise that more work is required to ensure that children’s risk assessments and plans are improved to include the child’s voice. Additionally, they understand the importance of documenting their oversight of children’s records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Although leaders and managers recognise that they support children who arrive with needs that may challenge them, they are confident in staff being skilled and able to support children. This is reflected in the progress children make. Staff are child centred and skilled, with a range of professional backgrounds and experiences. Staff are positive about the quality of management support, and they value the training they receive, regular formal supervision and peer support. Mandatory and bespoke training is provided, which helps to inform staff’s knowledge and practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns and work closely with other professionals to keep children safe. However, they do not always notify Ofsted of all serious incidents. This prevents the regulator from having effective oversight of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have responded quickly to make improvements and used the inspection process as a learning experience from which to continue to build on positive outcomes and experiences for children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 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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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any 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 or child criminal exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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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);

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Requirement Due date

there is an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

any other individuals or organisations who or which have been notified; 1 December 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 6 any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)(f) (4)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that children are actively involved in shaping their support plan, which should consider their views, wishes and feelings. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 34)

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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: Exe-Changes Limited 7

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Exe-Changes Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Laura McCrum

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Inspector

Karen O’Neill, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Exe-Changes Limited 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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