Children's home run by Kids Inc Residential Services Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 1 Registered provider: Kids Inc Residential Services Limited

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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 run and provides care for up to three children with social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities. At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager has been in post since October 2025 and is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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: 3 December 2024

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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: 2728469 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/12/2024 Full Good 05/12/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child spoke with both inspectors during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has recently moved out of the home into a residential school that is closer to their family. The responsible individual felt that this move was not in the best interest of the child and raised their concerns appropriately. The responsible individual advocated for an extension to ensure that the child was supported in a planned way, sensitive to their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is a detached property. It is nicely furnished and children’s bedrooms are personalised with their favourite things. The home’s layout meets children’s needs well, and additional resources for children with mobility needs are in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s education and learning. This includes staff travelling long distances to take children to school, identifying schools that meet the children’s needs and supporting children with homework. When children are not in school full time, the staff and manager ensure that this is resolved quickly and the child is supported to maintain a routine.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are keen to ensure that the children’s views, wishes and feelings are considered. For one child, this is clear. However, for children who are non-verbal, there is a delay in ensuring that systems are in place to develop children’s communication skills. Additionally, children are not routinely supported to attend their reviews. This compromises the manager’s understanding of children’s experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a range of activities both in and out of the home. One child enjoyed their first break abroad to Barcelona where they got to do all the activities that they had chosen with staff. They made a photo album of this trip, which they enjoy looking through as it provides them with fond memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff are supported by a therapist, who praised them for their creativity and understanding of the children. The therapist works with the staff to identify specific targets for the children. However, these are not always completed. Additionally, children’s records do not fully evidence their day-to-day experiences, well-being or progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy good health and attend their routine health appointments. The staff follow children’s health plans as directed by professionals, including completing daily physiotherapy. Any concerns that arise that could impact the child’s health are quickly identified and addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to spend time with their families and understand the importance of these relationships. They provide supervision for family visits, when required, and Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 4 willingly support children to see their families, even when this involves a very long journey.

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

Children are supported by staff who know them well. One social worker said, ‘They [staff] are brilliant. Other homes have been unable to meet [child’s name] needs. They have come on a lot here, especially with their mental health needs.’

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

Children are supported to develop ways to manage their emotions and use appropriate strategies. As a result, incidents for children have decreased and are rare. One child said, ‘They help things make sense to me.’

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

Physical intervention is not used at the home. However, the manager has identified that children could perceive low-level touch or guides as restrictive. Despite this, these interventions are not recorded, so the manager is unable to review, monitor and evaluate the use of such strategies.

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

There has been one complaint made by a child. This was responded to swiftly and managed well. The responsible individual informed the child of the outcome in a way they understood. This practice ensures that children feel able to raise any concerns and feel listened to.

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

The manager follows safer recruitment processes to ensure that all staff are suitable to work with the children.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding procedures to keep the children safe. These procedures are now routinely discussed in team meetings and staff supervision sessions.

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

The registered manager resigned in August 2025. The new manager was previously the deputy manager and plans to submit their application to register with Ofsted. The manager knows the children and staff well. The manager and responsible individual are aware of the shortfalls in the leadership and management of the home, and they have an improvement plan in place.

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

There are gaps in management oversight. This includes incidents involving children not being recorded. When incidents are recorded, they lack the manager’s evaluation. As a result, shortfalls in staff practice are missed and staff do not have the opportunity for reflection.

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

The responsible individual and previous interim manager reviewed incidents retrospectively and identified clear guidance and expectations for the new manager and staff to follow in the event of further incidents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 5 Staff say that they feel supported by leaders. However, they have not always received the level of support or supervision sessions that they require. This has improved more recently.

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

The independent person visits the home monthly and leaders ensure that the recommended actions from these visits are addressed to drive improvement. However, the independent person has not been effectively supported to obtain feedback from parents to ensure that their views about the quality of care provided to children are captured.

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

The requirements raised at the last inspection have been met. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 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 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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all children are supported to develop their communication skills when they move into the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that, regardless of how children communicate, their views, wishes and feelings are sought and are reflected in their plans.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children are encouraged to attend their reviews should they so wish and that any adaptations are made to support this. 26 December 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 7 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.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed and that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children’s records evidence their day-to-day experiences and well-being.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children’s agreed plans are followed and their progress is clearly evidenced. 26 December 2025

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; 26 December 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 8 a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure;

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that any intervention that can be perceived by children as being restrictive is recorded.

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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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(f)(g)(2)) 26 December 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 9 The registered person must ensure that the manager has effective oversight of incidents involving children so that any shortfalls in staff practice are identified.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the staff are provided with support and supervision sessions that help them to develop their practice.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that they support the independent person to obtain feedback from children’s parents. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 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: 2728469 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Kids Inc Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 11 Gatley Road, Cheadle SK8 1LY

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Inspectors

Kerri Lynch, Social Care Inspector Sonja Vega, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2728469 12 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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