Children's home run by Platform Childcare Ltd

Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 1 Registered provider: Platform Childcare 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 owned by a private company. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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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: 21 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: 2694819 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/01/2025 Full Good 17/01/2024 Full Good 28/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with children and observed their interactions with staff and each other. Children reported feeling happy and well cared for. They described positive relationships with staff and said they feel safe and supported in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home. Transitions are well planned and sensitively managed, with children actively involved in the process. This helps children to settle quickly and feel secure during periods of change. Children said they visited the home with their social worker before moving in, which helped them feel more confident about the move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive and trusting relationships with children. They provide good-quality care and support across all aspects of children’s lives. Children’s emotional resilience is regular assessed and used to inform their plan of care. This ensures that staff’s therapeutic input and educational support are tailored to each child’s individual needs and are having a positive impact.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are engaged in education. Two children attend full-time education in settings that meet their individual needs. One child is currently on a part-time timetable. Managers and staff work closely with education providers and local authority professionals to ensure that appropriate support is identified and implemented. Staff also provide additional educational support in the home to help children make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate for and support family time effectively. They maintain positive working relationships with family members, which helps to strengthen children’s family bonds and meet their emotional needs. Staff persevere in maintaining these relationships, even when challenges arise.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is spacious and generally comfortable. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect children’s individual tastes and preferences. However, on the first day of the inspection, the home was found to be cluttered and unclean, particularly in the children’s bedrooms, which were unhygienic. Staff have not provided sufficient support to help children maintain a clean and safe living environment. This shortfall detracts from the otherwise positive environment and requires improvement.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of each child’s individual needs. Care and support plans and risk assessments are regularly reviewed and updated in line with therapeutic assessments, ensuring they remain appropriate and responsive. As a result, children feel well supported and benefit from consistent, safe and personalised care. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 4 Staff demonstrate a clear understanding of individual risks and respond with a caring and consistent approach. They help children to understand their known risks through education and discussion, which supports emotional development and promotes positive coping strategies. However, staff do not consistently capture children’s views within records or reflect on how children’s participation informs and strengthens care planning. This limits opportunities to fully embed the child’s voice in decision-making.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff follow agreed protocols confidently and effectively to ensure children return safely. They work collaboratively with safeguarding professionals during and after missing-from-home episodes to ensure that safety planning is robust and risks are reduced. Managers maintain oversight to ensure that staff follow procedures and provide appropriate support. However, further improvement is needed in how staff consider and reflect on the emotional impact of these incidents on children. This would help ensure that support and education remain responsive and aligned with each child’s individual needs.

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

Physical intervention is used rarely and only as a last resort to ensure children’s safety. Staff demonstrate effective de-escalation and behaviour management skills, which help to reduce risks and promote children’s safety and well-being. Managers maintain appropriate oversight and ensure that children’s support plans are updated following incidents.

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

When there are concerns about staff practice or when children raise concerns about staff, the manager takes prompt action. They have reported concerns to those that need to know, investigated and, where necessary, suspended staff while investigations take place.

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

During one incident in the home, internal doors were locked in an attempt to contain the situation, which restricted children’s free movement in the home. The manager did not demonstrate sufficient consideration of whether this action was proportionate or necessary. This practice is not in keeping with the home’s ethos of promoting a safe, homely and supportive environment and requires review to ensure that children’s rights and well-being are consistently upheld. The manager has now put steps in place to prevent this from happening again.

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

The registered manager was not present during the inspection and is due to leave the organisation on 24 October 2025. Appropriate interim management arrangements are in place, with a deputy manager currently providing operational oversight. The deputy manager intends to apply for registration, which will support continuity of leadership.

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

Staff receive regular supervision sessions that include opportunities for reflection and professional development. Staff are suitably trained and speak positively about the relevance of the training they receive. Staff report feeling supported by managers and confident in their ability to provide therapeutic care. However, the impact of supervision Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 5 sessions, training and management support is not yet consistently evident in children’s day-to-day experiences or progress. Staff do not consistently reflect on their practice to evaluate the effectiveness of the care provided. As a result, opportunities to adapt support in response to children’s changing needs are sometimes missed. The manager is aware and will be providing tailored support to staff to ensure that the care children receive is in line with their care plans.

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

Staff and managers maintain strong working relationships with professionals and family members. This collaborative approach supports the development of effective care and support plans that meet children’s individual needs. A social worker described staff as empathetic, compassionate and trauma-informed, and praised the quality of communication around children’s strengths, relationships and key-work sessions. This helps ensure that professionals remain well informed and that children receive consistent care.

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

The manager has implemented monitoring and review systems to support their oversight of the care provided to children. While evaluation of records and incidents is generally thorough, these systems do not consistently assess the impact of care on children’s experiences or identify shortfalls in staff practice. Opportunities to capture learning and drive improvement are missed, particularly when children’s needs change or safeguarding concerns arise. As a result, the quality of care is not consistently enhanced through reflective practice.

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

On two occasions, the manager has not notified Ofsted of significant incidents in the home. This lack of timely information-sharing limits the regulator’s ability to maintain effective oversight of the home’s safeguarding arrangements and the quality of care provided. As a result, opportunities to scrutinise and respond to emerging risks are reduced, weakening overall safeguarding assurance for children. The manager has put in place systems so that this oversight is not repeated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the home is appropriately clean, especially children’s bedrooms. 14 November 2025

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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 14 December 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 7 registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must consider the impact of the care provided by staff, along with children’s wishes and feelings, to inform the development of the quality of care provided.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that, just as in a family home, children are able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. All decisions to limit a child’s access should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the

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Recommendations

Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 4.10)

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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: 2694819 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Platform Childcare Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: First Avenue, Centrum One Hundred, Burton-On-Trent DE14 2WE

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Inspector

Hayley Booth, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2694819 9 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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