Upwards Care Solutions

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 1 Upwards Care Solutions Registered provider: Upwards Care Solutions Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is owned and managed by a private provider. The service can accommodate up to 106 children in 32 group-living homes for the use of looked-after children and care leavers. The provider operates in North East Yorkshire and Humber and the North West area.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, the service provided support for 60 children aged 16 to 17 years.

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provider

The service registered with Ofsted in May 2024. The registered service manager post has been vacant since August 2025, and the nominated individual post has been vacant since October 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 10 November 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 12 to 14 November 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

Locality managers do not ensure that children who move into the service are in scope of the regulations. This means that for some children, their needs and vulnerabilities are not met, and they are at risk of harm.

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Summary of findings

The effectiveness of the support that children receive varies greatly. When children can keep themselves safe and have basic independence skills, they do well and make good progress. However, for children who are vulnerable to harm outside of the home, their support does not meet their needs or keep them safe. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 2 Children are not consulted about their support. In some instances, children have not seen or read their support plan or their risk assessment. Their lack of autonomy over their support hinders children’s engagement, and this leads to poor experiences and progress for some children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s experiences vary when living in this service. When children move in who are ready to live in supported accommodation, they make good progress and have positive experiences. However, when managers make decisions to move children with complex needs into the service, they are placed at significant risk of harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said they do not always feel safe in their local communities. They described substance misuse and gangs as reasons why they do not like to go out at night. Location risk assessments are generic and do not reflect the known risks in individual areas or detail how the provider will mitigate these risks and ensure that children are safe from harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are not consistently involved in the design or development of their support planning. Most children said that they have not seen or read their own plan. These arrangements fail to promote children’s views and hinder their engagement with support sessions and direct work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children are ready to move on from the service, their welfare and well-being are not always prioritised through clear and timely planning. Children said that they are not always aware about where they will live when they become an adult. For some children, this has led to uncertainty and anxiety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

The support and encouragement children receive to enrol at college or seek employment varies depending on the individual staff member and manager supporting the child. Staff’s lack of ambition for children leads to future inequality.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Most children learn independent living skills through a skills work booklet that staff help them to complete. However, learning about personal safety in preparation for adulthood is not considered. This is a missed opportunity for children to learn how to stay safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff explore children’s cultural needs when they first move in. Strong links in the local community with a range of cultural communities and places of worship help children to follow their faith and cultural traditions. Positively, for children who speak English as an additional language, they receive support from bilingual staff who speak their first language. This helps children to build relationships with staff and understand information being shared with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children spoke positively about the core staff who support them. They said they have staff who they can talk to and share their concerns with.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children move into the service without careful consideration of their known needs and vulnerabilities. At the time of agreeing children’s placements, some children have needs that surpass the scope of supported accommodation. As a result, they Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 4 require restrictions such as locked doors and windows to protect them from harm. Leaders and managers authorise these restrictions without consideration of the impact on other children living in the premises.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers carry out an assessment when considering the suitability of a child moving into their premises. They refer to this as a ‘matching assessment’, and it is usually undertaken by a senior manager. Matching assessments are not effective and do not consider children’s individual needs or how as a cohort children will live safely together. As a result, some children who move into the premises negatively impact on those already living there.

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How well children are helped and protected

Risks to children outside of the home are not always managed well. Leaders, managers and staff do not ensure that appropriate or meaningful strategies are in place to protect children from known harm. This leaves children without the appropriate safeguards to keep them safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

When serious incidents occur, records do not always demonstrate what action staff take to keep children safe. Furthermore, these records do not demonstrate how staff reflect with children following a serious incident to both educate them about personal safety or to ensure that their well-being has been considered.

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How well children are helped and protected

The standard of accommodation varies in the service. Some children live in homely environments with personalised bedrooms; however, this is not consistent. Some premises require remedial work and decoration. In addition, CCTV is used in the communal areas of every premises. Leaders and managers have failed to consider if this is necessary to safeguard children. Equally, children said they do not like CCTV because they feel that staff are watching them.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children raise concerns or make allegations against staff members, they do not always receive information about the actions that have been taken or the outcome of their allegation. This does not give children confidence that their concerns are taken seriously.

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How well children are helped and protected

Some children living in the service are at risk of harm outside of the home, for example exploitation, substance misuse and gang affiliation. Staff share information about these concerns with relevant agencies; however, they do not take sufficient action to educate children about these known risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

At the time of the inspection, the registered service manager post was vacant. The post has been vacant since August 2025. The provider intends to split the current service into four separate registrations. Three managers are already in post and have applied to register with Ofsted. They are providing management oversight for their allocated services. One geographical area does not yet have a manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

A new nominated individual has been appointed and applied to register with Ofsted. The proposed nominated individual is aware of areas where the service needs to Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 5 improve and has begun to make necessary changes. Staff spoke positively about the proposed nominated individual and the changes that he has begun to make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The organisation’s statement of purpose does not contain all the relevant information required. As a result, parents, professionals and children are unclear about what they can expect from the service. Additionally, leaders and managers do not ensure that they carry on the service in line with their statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Monitoring systems are ineffective and do not provide leaders and managers with an overarching understanding of children’s progress. Equally, patterns and trends relating to serious incidents and children’s behaviour are not identified through monitoring and therefore not addressed or understood.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

When children do not settle or their needs increase, leaders and managers do not sufficiently consider the suitability of their placements or their safety. They fail to challenge placing authorities and other agencies when they do not make decisions in children’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not consistently notify Ofsted about serious incidents, in particular when a child moves into the service who is known to be at risk of exploitation. Additionally, they have failed to notify Ofsted about the conclusion of child protection enquiries. As a result of the failure to send notifications, Ofsted cannot assess the effectiveness of the staff and managers’ actions to keep children safe from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers rely on temporary and agency staff to provide support to children. Over half of all support worker posts are vacant. Children identified this as an area they did not like. Furthermore, leaders and managers do not routinely check the qualifications, skills or training of agency staff before they provide support to children. As a result, they cannot assure themselves that the agency staff are suitable to support children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in 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

ensure that the supported accommodation undertaking has sufficient staff to support and accommodate children safely and effectively;

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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)(d)(f)) 14 January 2026

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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 protected from harm; 14 January 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 7 are enabled to keep themselves safe;

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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. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

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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 the location of the premises used as supported accommodation is suitable for the category or categories of supported accommodation provided, by—

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Requirement Due date

reviewing the appropriateness and suitability of the location of each of the premises used as supported accommodation (“a location assessment”), and in doing so, consulting and taking into account the views of each relevant person;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation—

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Requirement Due date

are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained;

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Requirement Due date

are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces;

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Requirement Due date

comply with all relevant statutory provisions dealing with health and safety or fire safety matters;

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Requirement Due date

only use devices for monitoring or surveillance in communal areas and then only if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purposes of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children,

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to each child’s need for privacy. 14 January 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 8 (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(a)(i)(b)(vi)(viii)(x)(c)(i)(iv))

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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 children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

in the event that the registered person or a member of staff considers that an accommodating authority or a relevant person is failing to provide the support set out in a child’s relevant plans, make representations, or, as the case may be, enable staff to make representations, to the accommodating authority or relevant person with a view to ensuring that the child’s needs are met. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f)(h)) 14 February 2026

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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

(concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry). (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(d)(ii)) 14 December Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 9 The registered person must compile a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the following matters in respect of the supported accommodation undertaking—

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Requirement Due date

the organisational structure, including management structure and staffing arrangements;

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Requirement Due date

the arrangements for and policies on protecting and promoting the mental and physical health needs of children, including medication handling, recording and safekeeping;

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Requirement Due date

how it supports the cultural, linguistic and religious needs of children;

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Requirement Due date

details of how a person involved in the support or protection of a child can access the supported accommodation undertaking’s child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and

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Requirement Due date

notify the CIECSS of any revisions and send the CIECSS a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 9 (1)(h)(n)(p)(r) (3)(a)(b)) 14 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) in relation to each child accommodated by the supported accommodation undertaking which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 2. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)) 14 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep records of other information relating to the supported accommodation undertaking set out in Schedule 3.

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Requirement Due date

maintain the records in Schedule 3, which may be kept in electronic form;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are accessible to children, the CIECSS and each accommodating authority; 14 January 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 10 retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 25 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: Upwards Care Solutions 11

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Upwards Care Solutions Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Suit 1, 4th Floor Building, 1 Wilson Business Park, Monsall Road, Manchester M40 8WN

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Nominated individual:

Email address: mike@upwardscaresolutions.com

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Inspectors

Beth Forster, Social Care Inspector Leah Stannard, Social Care Inspector Helen Wallis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Upwards Care Solutions 12 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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