Children's home run by Phoenix Care & Education Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Care & Education Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and operated by a private provider. It is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, three children live in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

There was no registered manager in post at the time of this inspection.

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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 failures that mean children’s welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not applicable.

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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: 2832239 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Not applicable Not applicable Not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children are moved into the home quickly. Leaders and managers do not gather all information prior to children moving into the home in order to ensure that staff can meet their individual needs. They feel unable to manage the risks presented by one child, and this has resulted in notice being served for the child after a short period of living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are inconsistent efforts to support children into education. Leaders and managers appropriately raise their concerns with other professionals and advocate for children’s educational needs. However, children are not routinely woken before school in order to encourage attendance, and when children are not in school, staff do not always promote alternative structured activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff promote children’s health and well-being. For example, when children have not had access to speech and language therapy due to their lack of school attendance, staff have arranged for visits to take place in the home. This ensures that children have continuity of care to meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff understand the importance of children’s time with their family. They support children to regularly see their family and have welcomed family members into the home. However, on one occasion, staff have not followed a child’s safety plan concerning time with family when there were known risks in the community. This placed the child at potential risk of harm, and the inconsistency within boundaries and expectations caused upset for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff promote activities for the children. Children have been able to enjoy a range of activities, including a break away at a caravan. This supports children to have positive experiences and create memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is well decorated and well maintained. There is a lot of indoor and outdoor space for children to relax and engage in activities. However, the furnishings in children’s rooms are not always maintained to an acceptable standard. One child had a broken bed for several days.

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

Staff do not respond appropriately to incidents of self-harm for children. On one occasion, staff did not carry out a room search until the following day after the child had harmed. This left a child vulnerable to further harm. When the room search was carried out, staff took little time to reassure and engage the child. This led to the incident escalating and resulted in the child being physically restrained. Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 4 Staff do not understand their roles and responsibilities regarding physical interventions for children. Staff have not accurately recorded all incident details and failed to explore and document all injuries to a child following a restraint. This does not ensure the well- being of children or allow for effective oversight of incidents.

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

Staff do not always follow the complaints procedure. In response to a complaint made by a child, staff have not followed the advice of the local authorities designated office to follow their internal complaints procedures. This has meant that one child has felt that their views have not been heard.

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

There is not an effective response to concerns of substance misuse for children. Staff have not acted or alerted leaders and managers when there have been concerns raised for children misusing substances within the home. When there have been incidents of children misusing substances in the home, staff have not always had meaningful conversations with children or made changes to risk management plans to prevent further incidents.

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

When the children are missing from the home, staff search for them and contact family and friends to try and locate them. However, the quality of recording is inconsistent and there have been examples of staff demonstrating a lack of urgency in responding to children who are missing.

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

There are personalised plans in place for each child. However, children’s risk management plans do not cover all known risks or all strategies and guidance for staff to follow in practice. This does not ensure that staff are supported to address and manage all of children’s risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is not stable management in the home. There was no registered manager in post at the time of inspection. The responsible individual and other managers within the organisation have daily oversight of children’s care. However, changes in managers have led to inconsistency in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been inconsistency and negativity within the staff team. This has at times impacted on the children. This has been addressed by leaders and managers, and staff say that this has improved and say that they now feel happy in work and more supported.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not identified significant shortfalls in staff practice. Staff do not always raise safeguarding concerns for children to leaders and managers. This has meant poor practice, and safeguarding concerns have not always been appropriately addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are gaps in staff knowledge and training. Staff have not had training relevant to all children’s needs. For example, staff have not had training in relation to child exploitation. This has been identified as a need by staff and leaders and managers. Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 5 There have not been monthly visits to the home by an independent person prior to the children moving into the home. This is a missed opportunity for independent scrutiny of the staff team and the systems and processes in place in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff recognise and respond appropriately to safeguarding concerns for children, including following procedures in regard to restraints for children and carrying out room searches when necessary to ensure children’s safety and welfare.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the children’s risk assessments and plans detail all known risks and strategies for 4 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 7 staff to follow to manage and reduce risk.

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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 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

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.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there are consistent and effective management arrangements in the home to ensure effective oversight of children’s care. The registered person must ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to meet all of children’s needs. 4 January 2026

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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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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

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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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— 4 January 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 8 ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii);

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vii)(d)(i)).

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff follow internal complaints procedures, and that children are informed of the action being taken in response to their complaints.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that all children’s bedroom furnishings are maintained to an acceptable standard. 4 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 9

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are proactive in promoting children’s school attendance. When children are not in attending school, the registered person should ensure that staff provide children with suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15).

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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: 2832239 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Care & Education Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Phoenix Care & Education Ltd, 22–24 Balfour Road, Bootle L20 4NZ

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Inspector

Hayley Smith, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2832239 11 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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