Safe Hands Care & Support Services

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 1 Safe Hands Care & Support Services Registered provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service was registered on 16 December 2024 and is operated by a private provider in the north west of England. It can accommodate up to 22 individuals in five shared or group-living premises that are limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers and in seven single-occupancy premises.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, 11 looked-after children aged 16 or 17 were being accommodated.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted in December 2024.

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provider

Inspectors were aware prior to this inspection of a recent significant and serious incident in the service. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the incident were considered alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 29 September 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 1 to 3 October 2025.

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Outcome

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately six months.

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Summary of findings

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 2 Leaders and managers admit children outside of the registration conditions of supported accommodation. Children are admitted with complex needs that the service cannot meet.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers’ oversight of this service is ineffective. As a result, children do not always experience quality support that promotes their safety and well-being.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not ensure that plans for children are comprehensive and meaningful. As a result, children do not always experience quality support that promotes their safety and well-being.

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Summary of findings

Children are not always safeguarded effectively. Child protection information is not consistently shared with partner agencies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers do not always obtain sufficient information about children’s vulnerabilities and needs before they move into the service. They accept children with needs that the service cannot meet. As a result, not all children make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers place children with complex needs in shared housing without fully considering the needs of other children living there. For example, a child who is not allowed unsupervised contact with other children has been placed in shared accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff sometimes remove risks rather than supporting children to learn how to manage them. For example, some children receive their weekly allowances in three cash instalments. Staff remove sharp knives in shared homes. Children in shared accommodation do not have front-door keys, and window restrictors are fitted to most windows. These practices do not help children to gain the independent living skills that they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff provide high levels of support for some children, which is inconsistent with supported accommodation. For example, several children receive support during the day and night. Other children are supervised continuously by staff, often as part of bail conditions. Staff are required to contact some children every three hours when they are in the community.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers do not support children consistently well to develop the skills they need to stay safe and live independently. Support work with children does not always address children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that children live in a homely environment. Communal areas in children’s accommodation are not always welcoming. In one home, stairway carpets are stained, and not all lights have lampshades fitted. Another home has a mattress in the lounge. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 3 Staff support children to register with dentists, doctors and other primary healthcare services. They refer children to access specialist healthcare agencies, such as mental health and substance misuse services. Staff support children to establish links with cultural and religious communities. This helps children to develop a sense of belonging in their new surroundings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Partner agencies, such as social workers, are mostly positive about the communication they have with leaders and managers. They feel that staff care for the children. They identify ways in which the service has supported children, for example through the promotion of education, employment and training opportunities.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that children’s plans incorporate all their identified vulnerabilities and risk management strategies. Risk assessments are not always updated and often contain generic information.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not consistently produce children’s support plans following their move into the service, including for children with complex needs. Furthermore, when children do have plans, staff in some homes do not find it easy to access them due to issues with technology. This increases the likelihood that staff may not respond effectively to children’s needs.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers fail to ensure that children’s risk management arrangements are appropriate for supported accommodation. For example, some risk management plans state that children may have access to the internet withdrawn or their phones checked by staff. Additionally, other children are subject to continuous surveillance by staff to ensure compliance with bail conditions.

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How well children are helped and protected

Several children have been subjected to harm by members of staff while in their homes. This included drug use in a child’s bedroom and financial exploitation of children. On one occasion, a member of staff failed to adequately support a child who had become unwell. Leaders and managers have not updated children’s plans to set out how they will be protected and supported following these events.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that access to children’s accommodation is secure. In one home, children can walk through a fire exit into a neighbouring home. Staff stated that they did not lock the front door of a shared home during the daytime because staff were in the building. This approach does not provide children with a safe and secure home.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers store and administer medication for some children. In some cases, there are no clear plans in place to help children to do this themselves. This does not help children to develop independent living skills. Furthermore, leaders and managers agreed to store medication that a child had acquired, which had not been prescribed to the child. They oversaw the administration of this medication on a number of occasions. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 4 Leaders and managers do not always ensure that they implement robust processes for the recruitment of staff. They fail to ensure that appropriate recruitment arrangements are in place when family members apply for employment in the organisation. In addition, they do not always take sufficient steps to identify and explore gaps in applicants’ employment histories.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers notify the police and the relevant placing authorities when children are missing from home. When children return home, they are offered a return interview by an independent service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers accept children who, at the point of referral, are not ready to live in supported accommodation. This means that some placements are outside the scope of the supported accommodation regulations. Leaders and managers do not always take sufficient steps to ensure that they are in receipt of all relevant information at the point of referral.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not always take effective steps to ensure that children are supported when it becomes apparent that the service is unable to meet their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers sometimes implement staffing models that are inconsistent with supported accommodation provisions. These include high staffing levels to supervise children regularly due to their complex needs, including throughout the night.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers use a range of methods to monitor the quality of the service. However, quality assurance processes are not effective, as they do not identify weaknesses in children’s plans, for example. Furthermore, leaders and managers do not complete a quality of support review at least once every six months. This is a missed opportunity to reflect on areas of identified strengths and weaknesses and the experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not consistently inform Ofsted when serious events occur. For instance, they did not inform Ofsted when a child was admitted to hospital for several days or when a child was arrested. This limits the regulator’s ability to maintain oversight and ensure that responses to serious incidents protect and support children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers notify the local authority designated officer (LADO) when they become aware of allegations of staff misconduct. They act promptly to address misconduct. Four staff members have been dismissed since the service was registered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers ensure that staff receive a wide range of training that helps them to understand children’s needs. For example, the LADO recently delivered Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 5 training to the staff team on professional boundaries and whistle-blowing responsibilities. Staff said that they found this training beneficial.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff said that they receive good-quality supervision and are well supported by managers. However, leaders and managers are unable to evidence that all supervisions sessions are held within the organisation’s policy timescales. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

*The protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met.

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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

are familiar and act in accordance with child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with children to help them understand how to keep safe, by offering guidance and support on how to minimise any potential risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with other professionals and agencies, and share information where relevant to keep children safe;

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Requirement Due date

understand the relevant roles and responsibilities assigned to them by the registered person in relation to protecting children. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 23 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 23 November 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 7 relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

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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 supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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Requirement Due date

implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with children and to keep them safe from harm;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of children to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of children to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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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 plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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Requirement Due date

keep the child’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child’s needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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Requirement Due date

engage and work with the accommodating authority if the registered person has concerns or if the child’s support needs to be changed, including where that change may mean that the child requires more intensive support; 23 October 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 8 ensure a plan for support is in place to support the child to develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the child is ready to live more independently. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(c)(k))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child and the registered person considers that incident to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry);

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Requirement Due date

there is an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 23 October 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for monitoring and improving the quality of support provided by the supported accommodation undertaking by completing a review ("a quality of support review") at least once every six months, which must take into account—

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Requirement Due date

the views of children, including any feedback and complaints received;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from individual children on the impact the supported accommodation has had on the child’s life, especially regarding how well prepared the child felt for transition into supported accommodation and how well 23 October 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 9 prepared the child feels for transition out of supported accommodation;

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Requirement Due date

feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons;

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Requirement Due date

any relevant research and developments in relation to the way in which the needs of children are best met.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of support review, the registered person must produce a written report setting out the actions the registered person intends to take as a result of that quality of support review.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the review report to the CIECSS within 28 days beginning with the day on which the report is completed and make a copy of it available on request to each child’s accommodating authority. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2) (3))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that supported accommodation settings are homely and welcoming environments. They should ensure that children can access all shared areas of the setting unless there are specific reasons why this is not possible. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 29)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Carmen Nosegbe

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Inspectors

Steve James, Social Care Inspector Helen Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Safe Hands Care & Support Services 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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