Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 1 Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living Registered provider: Lone Care Services Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

The supported accommodation service is operated by a private provider in London.

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provider

The service can accommodate up to 23 children and young people in the five shared or group-living homes that are not limited to accommodating looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, this service was providing supported accommodation for three children.

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provider

The provider and service manager registered with Ofsted on 17 November 2023.

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Inspection dates: 24 to 28 November 2025

The inspection was announced on 24 November 2025 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 26 to 28 November 2025.

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Outcome

Consistently strong service delivery leads to typically positive experiences and progress for children. Where improvements are needed, leaders and managers take timely and effective action. The next inspection will be within approximately 3 years.

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Summary of findings

Children feel safe, heard and supported in their journey toward independence.

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Summary of findings

Staff enable children to build trusted relationships.

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Summary of findings

Staff are ambitious for children and enable them to achieve their goals. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff know the children well and are committed to providing stability and security for children who have experienced trauma during their lives. Staff make time to listen to children to promote their welfare. Children overcome past adverse experiences because of the help they receive from staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children express their feelings, wishes and goals, and receive good-quality support to develop and thrive. One child said, 'The support I get from staff, they are always there for me; they are proper caring and understanding.'

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff treat children with respect and provide support that is sensitive and responsive to the children's individual identity and diverse needs. Interactions between staff and children demonstrate positive engagement in terms of an ease of conversation, advice sought and information exchanged. Children, in turn, have a high regard for staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children take a lead role in identifying their own needs in terms of learning skills, staying safe, and moving forward. This forms the basis of individual discussions with staff and enables children to receive effective and timely help to prepare them for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children, including those with communication differences or for whom English is an additional language, are encouraged and supported to be involved in plans and decision-making. Services, such as translation services, independent advocates and solicitors, help to ensure that they have the right support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff are ambitious for children and support them to access education. Most children are in college. When they do not attend, staff discuss options based on their interest and goals. One child decided on an apprenticeship programme, as well as support in making applications, completing CVs and interview preparation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

When children first move in, the staff support them to learn about their home and its local area so they can access health, education and employment services and transport systems to use the leisure and recreational resources. Children receive a welcome pack that helps them in the initial stages of settling in. The staff encourage children to develop and maintain safe, supportive social relationships with friends and family. This helps with building a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage the children to personalise their bedrooms and support them to keep their environment clean. The quality of accommodation promotes children's sense of belonging and positive self-esteem. While the homes discourage stigmatisation, two of the premises require some remedial work to refresh the accommodation due to wear and tear. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Children say that they feel safe and settled in their homes. Children accept the help from staff to keep them safe from harm. There is a targeted approach to reducing risks of harm. When children go missing from their home, the staff work with the children to identify risks, so they understand how to keep safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children can identify trusted adults who they talk to about any concerns, and they know how to complain. The provider's complaints policy is accessible to children. Children are kept informed about what has happened with their complaints. They feel that adults listen to them, take their concerns seriously and respond appropriately.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children receive help to manage their behaviour safely. Staff work alongside children to help them understand their emotions and reactions so children can manage their emotional responses in a more controlled way. Positive behaviour is promoted, and staff use de-escalation techniques and strategies that are specific to the individual needs of each child.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safer recruitment practice is in place to ensure that unsuitable individuals are not working with vulnerable children. However, the managers do not consistently ensure that verbal verification of references is sought. Therefore, managers cannot be fully assured that they are aware of all employees' relevant background information.

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How well children are helped and protected

The registered service manager and staff manage safeguarding incidents appropriately, and they manage situations between children well. The manager and staff apply clear, consistent boundaries that contribute to children feeling safe. While the staff promote the children's welfare, leaders are not familiar with the process of how to notify Ofsted of these incidents when the registered manager is absent. Consequently, Ofsted has not been notified of all significant events involving children, as required by the regulations.

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How well children are helped and protected

The homes are safe and protect children from harm or the risk of harm. They provide a comfortable, nurturing environment for children and allow them privacy.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The registered service manager has effective oversight of the premises. They have a stable team of staff who are committed to meeting the needs of children, advocating on their behalf, and supporting them towards independence. A support worker said, 'The management team promotes a positive transparent culture focused on the best outcome for young people.'

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Leaders and managers have a robust induction framework to support new staff. This includes completion of the provider's mandatory training, shadowing opportunities, regular supervision sessions, and mentoring. This ensures that the staff can meet the identified needs of the children they are responsible for. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 4 Leaders and managers consider all the children's needs before a new child moves in. This ensures that children can live together harmoniously. This helps children to settle in quickly and leads to greater stability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

The registered service manager has processes in place to monitor the quality and effect of the support the staff provide to children. However, the manager has missed an opportunity to seek feedback from individual children on the effect that the supported accommodation has had on their life. This oversight has prevented the manager from understanding if the children feel well supported when they move in and out of the supported accommodation as this is not captured in the quality review reports. This hinders the manager's ability to improve the service for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Leaders and managers ensure that children's plans address their identified needs and are reviewed when appropriate. The staff work proactively and positively with other agencies and professionals in advocating for children so that their needs are met. When concerns are raised by external agencies about children not attending appointments, these are responded to in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Managers and staff receive good support and regular supervision sessions. These focus on the staff's wellbeing and are child focused, reflective and support staff in their professional development. This enables an environment where best practice can thrive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Staff say that they feel supported by the managers and communication is effective across the service. One support worker said, 'Communication is strong, and staff are encouraged to raise ideas or concerns to improve the service.' This feedback has helped to improve the young person's guide.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Children's case records reflect their starting point, the progress that they make, their identified risks and the agreed strategies to respond to these. Children can access their records, and they are supported to understand the journey they have made while in the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers:

Leaders and managers create a learning culture. There is a clear commitment to learning together, continuous improvement and meeting regulatory requirements around supporting children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 5

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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 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; a child protection enquiry—

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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)(i)(ii)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that there is a clear process in place so that leaders and staff understand how to notify Ofsted of any significant incident that involves a child, without delay, in the absence of the registered service manager. 31 December 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 31 December 2025 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 6 completing a review ("a quality of support review") at least one every six months, which must take into account—

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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 prepared the child feels for transition out of supported accommodation. (Regulation 32 (1)(b))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that recruitment practice demonstrates that managers have sufficiently explored staff suitability and fitness to work with children. The registered person should ensure that, where possible, leaders and managers complete verbal verification of staff's references. ('Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards', page 16).

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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: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 7

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Lone Care Services Ltd

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 51 Markfield Road, Caterham CR3 6RQ

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Hazira Bin Ahmed

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: bilal.afzal@lonecareservices.co.uk

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Inspector

Phyllis Dyer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Lone Care Services Ltd t/a West London Young Living 8 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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