Children's home run by Liv Children Care LTD

Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 1 Registered provider: Liv Children Care 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

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to four children with learning disabilities. There were two children living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 8 May 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered provider has recently appointed a new responsible individual, and we are currently checking this person has the relevant capacity, experience and skills to carry out the role.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 12 September 2024

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: in January 2025, Ofsted issued a compliance notice under Regulation 27 of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 due to the length of time that the home had been without a registered manager. Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have made good progress from their starting points and have positive experiences of living in the home. One child has lived in the home for over two years and has a strong sense of belonging. Another child has lived in the home for a shorter period and staff have worked hard to support them to maintain relationships with familiar adults in their life. This is important progress for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Careful planning enabled one child to have a positive experience of moving into the home. This is the child’s first experience of living away from their family. They have continued to attend the same school and regular visits from their family have helped this child to build positive foundations at the home, which has enabled them to settle. This child’s needs were carefully considered alongside those of the other child living in the home to ensure that they could live together positively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children experience some social communication difficulties. Consequently, staff use a range of communication strategies and resources to help support children to make choices and express their wishes and feelings. For one child, this has led to an improvement in their spoken communication, and this will help to improve their ability to integrate into the wider community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from individualised care and support, and staff know them well. Staff understand children’s preferred communication preferences. Staff respond proactively to children’s presenting needs and use social stories to help children understand their day- to-day experiences. This supports children to participate as much as possible in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive relationships with staff and have access to several ways of communicating with staff to ensure their needs are met. Staff are well attuned to children’s physical presentation, and this helps them to know when children need support. One professional stated, ‘The ability of staff to communicate with [child’s name] plays a key role in maintaining a secure and trusting relationship with them.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a wide range of positive activities, and this included a summer holiday that children enjoyed. Staff create a range of picture books for children to help sustain these memories and promote their understanding and retention of their life experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child is not yet accessing formal education, and staff have been providing alternative education. This has been adapted and improved over time to ensure suitable learning opportunities for this child. More recently, expanding to include regular access to a farm setting that supports learning through access to animals and husbandry. This child has thoroughly enjoyed this opportunity, and exposure to same age peers will help to prepare them for when they return to formal schooling. Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 4

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of children’s needs and carefully think about how they can help children to be safe. One child is subject to restrictions of their liberty and regular reviews have ensured that this child is kept safe while experiencing some degree of freedom. For example, staff maintain a safe distance from this child when they visit a farm as part of their education, as they have thrived in this environment and the close proximity of staff is likely to detract from this. This demonstrates that staff can carefully balance this child’s rights and safety.

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

When children are moving between different environments, staff have well-developed strategies to help prepare them. Staff have created grab bags and children also benefit from a range of sensory resources to help them manage their feelings and emotions. Consequently, children feel confident and understand what their plans are.

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

Children benefit from frequent conversations with staff to help them to become increasingly aware of how to keep themselves safe and learn about the usual risks associated with daily living. Appropriately worded social stories help children to be aware of their expectations while in the community, such as safety in the car and common risks outside of the home. Staff promote consistency by integrating safety topics into pre- activity conversations with children.

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

Staff are well attuned to children’s needs and use their knowledge of children’s individual personalities to pre-empt when they may need extra support. The consistency children experience from staff has been important in helping children to feel safe. One social worker stated, ‘Consistent staffing has contributed to [child’s name’s] sense of security and provided them with stable and reliable support.’

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

Well-informed assessments assist staff to respond with confidence when children need help. Children’s records demonstrate that staff know what works best for them, and staff continually use feedback from children alongside their own observations to ensure that they are responding in the right way to children.

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

Staff work well with a clinical team to think about how they can best meet children’s needs. Clinical staff also provide direct therapeutic support for children in accordance with their plans. This means that children’s individual needs are well understood, and staff benefit from professionals with clinical expertise to help inform their approach to helping the child.

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

Children’s needs are carefully considered when assessing their ability to live alongside each other. A comprehensive assessment with clinical oversight helped the management team to make well-informed decisions regarding children living together. The subsequent positive peer relationship that has emerged between two children is directly linked to the efforts undertaken to understand their individual needs and what was needed to help them. Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 5

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

Staff have not benefited from consistency in leadership and management and there have been several changes in the management structure since the last inspection. Although staff have responded well to the stability that the registered manager has created since they joined the home at the start of the year, the registered manager has not yet been able to embed all their planned changes.

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

Since the registered manager joined the home, there have been repeated examples of disharmony and minor conflict between staff. While this has not had an impact on children, this creates friction between staff and has at times impacted on the registered manager’s ability to be able to maintain positive staff dynamics. Although leaders and managers are aware of the strained relationships between some staff members, they do not yet know what has led to this. There are some identified plans to try and explore this further.

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

Staff are not always clear about their shared roles and responsibilities. This had led to disagreements between staff about who will take responsibility for completing mandatory tasks in the home, and ambiguity regarding the responsibilities of senior staff. Some staff have made disrespectful comments towards their colleagues or the registered manager. Consequently, the members of the staff team are not working to the best of their ability and leaders and managers recognise this may impact on children’s experiences of living in the home, if this is not resolved.

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

Staff do not have protected time to enable them to complete their mandatory training, meaning that this creates a passive expectation that staff complete this in their personal time. As a result, there are numerous gaps in staff training across several areas. Although this has not impacted on children, it does not promote a positive working culture, and it is difficult to see how this training will be completed without disrupting important work-life balance for staff.

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

The registered manager has submitted a quality of care review, but this does not include any feedback from children about their experience of living in the home. The report does not include an appropriate action plan outlining any actions that the managers feel are necessary to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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

Since the registered manager joined the home at the start of the year, they have implemented a range of changes which have positively impacted on children’s lives, for example using social communication aids and visual prompts to help support children’s ability to communicate and make choices.

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

The registered manager has a clear vision for what they want to achieve, and they have helped staff to develop a renewed sense of optimism about how they support children. Staff consistently praise the registered manager and the positive influence they have within the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 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, 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home.

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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

In particular, ensure that staff relationships do not create a difficult working environment and that all staff, including team leaders, carry out the required responsibilities of their role. 31 January 2026

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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.

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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 staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that staff have sufficient time to complete their mandatory training and that accurate records are kept of this. All staff should complete their 31 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 7 required training in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that information included with Regulation 45 reports includes feedback from children about the experience of living in the home, and where appropriate adults who know them well. In addition, the Regulation 45 must have a clear action plan setting out any actions that the registered manager feels may help to maintain or improve the quality of care provided in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Home Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2715823 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Liv Children Care LTD

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 147 Stamford Hill, London N16 5LG

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Inspector

Ashley Edwards, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2715823 9 regulates 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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