Children's Home run by Supercare Residential Ltd in East Sussex

Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 1 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Registered provider: SuperCare Residential 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 registered with Ofsted in June 2025 and is privately owned. It provides care for up to four children aged between five and 17 who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, four children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been in post since September 2025 and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Following the inspection on 25 and 26 September, Ofsted continued to receive serious safeguarding notifications from the provider and concerns from a variety of sources. As a result, Ofsted carried out a further inspection visit to the home to gather additional evidence. This visit took place on 23 October 2025.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 2 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that some children had access to washing facilities while the main bathroom was being renovated. Some children had not been able to wash or shower for several days and had to ask staff to unlock the staff toilet door when they needed to use it. This lack of basic facilities meant that children’s needs were not prioritised or met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not accessing the support that they need to be healthy and safe. This means that incidents of concern have escalated and have a significant impact on the well-being of children. For example, children do not go to bed until the early hours of the morning and are left to sleep by staff during the day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Sufficiency of staff has been an issue, with an excessive use of agency staff and an imbalance in gender roles. As a result, some children have expressed concerns about the absence of female members of staff at certain times. However, the manager acknowledges that there is a gender imbalance among the staff team and is actively working to resolve it with ongoing recruitment, which has also led to a significant reduction in the use of agency staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children move into the home after a thorough assessment has taken place, which includes visits to the children and opportunities for them to visit the home. Children’s bedrooms are decorated according to their personal tastes, ready for their arrival. However, for some children, essential forms are not kept on file. For one child, this resulted in a failure to adhere to appropriate procedures for sharing information with those who have parental responsibility.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not enrolled in education or attending school. However, the home employs a qualified teacher to support the children with their education and to make links with education providers with the aim of the children returning to education in collaboration with the local authority.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are encouraged to spend time with their friends and family, where appropriate, with staff facilitating visits. Positive communication between the manager and family supports this. The manager was praised for the communication with one child’s family, which has directly led to a positive change in care planning.

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

Children have not been kept safe. Staff do not consistently adhere to children’s support plans. This has resulted in inconsistent and unsafe practice, which has resulted in children being placed at risk of harm. In one example, a staff member purchased alcohol for a child, who became intoxicated. The staff member also consumed the alcohol and Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 3 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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

proceeded to drive the child while under the influence. This placed the child at risk of harm. The staff member has since been dismissed.

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

Waking night staff have been found to be asleep during shifts. On one occasion, a child was able to break a window and use this to harm themselves. On another occasion, a member of staff, believed to be under the influence of substances, was allowed to remain in the home. Staff being asleep and unaware of incidents occurring in the home places children at risk of harm.

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

Staff are not sufficiently experienced to ensure that all children’s safety plans are up to date and followed during times of crisis. For example, children have been able to leave the home through a window and access a national speed limit road. Staff have been unable to prevent this, and the children have engaged in activities that include them running in front of oncoming traffic. Furthermore, leaders and managers have failed to inform children’s placing local authorities or notify Ofsted of these serious incidents.

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

Leaders and managers have failed to consistently identify and report to external agencies when allegations are made. As a result, not all allegations have been reported or investigated. This means that children’s safety is significantly compromised due to the possibility of unsafe adults working in the home.

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

Some staff lack confidence and understanding of the risks they manage. During crisis situations, staff have reacted by locking internal and external doors in the home to restrict movement. Some incidents have resulted in staff contacting the police to manage behaviour, increasing the risk of criminalisation of the children. Staff lack assertiveness and skills to enable them to de-escalate behaviours during incidents.

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

Staff have been permitted to start working at the home before the completion of the necessary safer recruitment checks. Senior management became aware of this issue and put immediate measures in place, with these staff members being required to perform office duties away from the home until checks were complete.

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

Health and safety procedures have not been adhered to. This issue has recently been resolved, as the necessary checks to ensure that the home is safe for children are now being demonstrated to staff, with the manager overseeing these.

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

Since children have moved into the home, the risk of children going missing from home have decreased. Staff build positive relationships with children and have clear plans in place to follow. Staff are managing and reducing this risk.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that there is effective oversight of the home, resulting in significant shortfalls not being identified or acted on in a timely way. Not all serious incidents are reported to children’s placing local authorities or Ofsted. This Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 4 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

significantly compromises their ability to understand and know what is happening for the children who live in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers’ monitoring and reviewing systems have been ineffective. Managers have added inconsistent or poor-quality feedback to documents, which does not evaluate or show professional curiosity to inform planning. Independent oversight from the monthly independent visitor overlooked significant information, hindering effective additional monitoring and scrutiny.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff supervision sessions are inconsistent and of poor quality. Since the new manager has been in post, supervision has started to improve, but it is too early to determine how effective the changes will be. Staff say that they feel supported by the manager, and they often refer to them as being supportive, caring and ambitious.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff training is in place that covers topics essential for working in a children’s home and to meet the needs of the children. However, most of the staff are inexperienced in working in a children’s home, and undertaking lots of training in a short period has not helped some staff to retain or feel confident in applying what they have learned. The manager had a plan to provide refresher training over the next six weeks, but this has not yet taken place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been a change in all areas of management in a short length of time, resulting in a lack of consistency for staff and children. The manager is new in post but shows an understanding of the shortfalls. The manager is passionate and ambitious and cares about the children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professionals working with the manager and staff praise their dedication to the children, their caring approach and their good communication.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The children feel that the manager is approachable, and one child was observed during the inspection to be empowered to raise an issue effectively, leaving them feeling heard and respected. Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 5 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff keep children safe. Staff need to understand the risks to children and feel confident in how to manage those risks effectively, following their care plans, without relying on police to help manage behaviour. 31 October 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 31 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 6 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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. (Regulation 13 (2)(c)(d)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff receive meaningful training, and check that they have understood and retained the knowledge to be able to put this into practice.

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Requirement Due date

There should be effective management oversight recorded for incidents.

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Requirement Due date

The manager should carry out meaningful and effective monitoring to help evaluate incidents and provide oversight, and they should ensure that the independent visitor provides them with monitoring and reviews information that enables improvements and highlights areas of concern.

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Requirement Due date

The manager should ensure that there is an acceptable level of permanent staff of different gender groups and that the health and safety checks are carried out and overseen by the manager.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the manager must ensure that all staff members have an up-to-date enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service certificate and that the original certificate is seen and checked before they start working at the home. 31 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 31 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 7 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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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, ensure that supervision provided is in line with company policy so that it is timely and is of good quality.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that any children accommodated under S20 of the Children’s Act 1989 have signed consent and delegated authority from the person with parental responsibility on file so that it is clear in care planning what permissions have been provided for the child’s care. 31 October 2025

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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; and

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that any renovation works to the home do not impact on children’s ability to have access to bathroom facilities. 31 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and 31 October 2025 Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 8 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

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

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21(b)(c)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that doors are not locked to prevent children from being able to move around the home freely.

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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: 2839443 9 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: SuperCare Residential Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2-4 Packhorse Road, Gerrards Cross SL9 7QE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Coleman

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Inspector

Faye McCarthy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2839443 10 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspector

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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