Children's Home run by Sphere Care Solutions in Salford

Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 1 Registered provider: Sphere Care Solutions

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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 owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 2

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improvement to be good

At the time of this inspection, no children were living at the home. One child has lived at the home for a very brief period of time since the home opened. The child moved out of the home in an unplanned way due to significant damage to the home.

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improvement to be good

Prior to the child moving into the home, their risks and needs, as well as staff skills, were well considered. The manager implemented a well-structured assessment and admission process that effectively identified the child’s needs and how staff can meet them.

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improvement to be good

Staff worked with the child with sensitivity and empathy. The staff maintained a stable and calm approach in line with the home’s model of care. This demonstrates that the child was cared for consistently during a significant period of challenge.

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improvement to be good

Staff supported the child in developing their sense of identity and challenged their negative views of themself. They nurtured the child’s interests by helping them to identify activities of their choice.

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improvement to be good

Staff did not undertake direct work sessions with the child in order to obtain the child’s wishes and feelings. Talking to the child about their feelings was reactive, and there was no planned work to support the child to make progress in areas such as independence skills, education and health. Additionally, no work was planned to gather the child’s views about living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Safety plans were put in place capturing the child’s emerging risks and behaviours. While these plans considered a range of behaviours and offered staff guidance, they were not shared with staff in a timely manner.

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improvement to be good

When the child moved into the home, information regarding local authority plans, behaviour support plans and risk assessments were not shared with the staff. As a result, staff members were not aware of significant information relating to the child’s vulnerabilities and risks. This impacted on the care that the child received.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not feel confident in managing children’s behaviours and have not had training in physical intervention techniques or behaviour support strategies. This limited their ability to manage the child’s behaviours safely. As a result, the police were used to manage the child’s challenging behaviour. These weaknesses in behaviour management have had an adverse impact on the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 3 When the child was missing from the home, staff followed procedures and tried to locate the child. However, conversations were not consistently held with the child in order to explore the reasons why they were missing from home. The recording of missing-from- home incidents was inconsistent and not always completed. This limits opportunities to identify patterns and implement effective safeguarding responses.

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

The manager is committed to children and the staff team. She is realistic about the challenges at the home and about the areas that require improvement. The manager has implemented an action plan to ensure that improvements are made.

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

Team meetings take place regularly and are well attended. The manager provides an opportunity for reflective learning to improve staff practice. Leaders are clear about their expectations of staff in team meetings and staff are given the opportunity to learn and develop their practice.

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

The manager knows the team of staff well and understands their individual strengths and areas for development. When there are issues with staff practice, the manager addresses these through supervision and team meetings.

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

Rotas are planned to ensure that there is sufficient staff available to meet the identified needs of children. However, the rota does not record the full names of the staff working at the home each day.

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

Door locks are used on some communal doors, which restricts children’s access to parts of the home. This practice does not promote a homely environment.

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

Recording of information is inconsistent at the home. Some incident reports are reflective and include a detailed account of what happened. However, incident reports are not completed following all incidents at the home. The manager has included addressing this shortfall in practice in the action plan. Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the children’s individual missing-from-home support plans contain relevant information and strategies and are in place as soon as the child moves into the home

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that factual and accurate recordings of incidents and missing-from-home episodes are completed. 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 5 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

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

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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 must ensure that all staff have training relating to the known needs of the children, and in line with the statement of purpose, prior to a child moving in. 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 6 that each child’s relevant plans are followed.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that care plans and information about children are accessible to staff.

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the home’s rotas contain a record of actual hours worked. 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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develop positive relationships with them;

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take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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help each child to express views, wishes and feelings; and,

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regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, key-work sessions must take place to allow children to express their views, wishes and feelings. 9 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 9 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 7 children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises;

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Requirement Due date

and any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to removing internal locks on the communal doors.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Specifically, this is in relation to clearer recording when completing incident reports. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2830751 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sphere Care Solutions

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 152a Deansgate, Bolton BL1 1BB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Olugbenga Odebunmi

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Inspector

Sally Mitchell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2830751 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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