Children's Home run by Mirus Care Ltd in Warwickshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 1 Registered provider: Mirus Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private organisation. The home provides care for up to 2 children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were present during the inspection, and both spent time with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is overseen by a registered manager who has appropriate qualifications and experience.

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Information about this children’s home

This home registered in August 2025. This is the home’s first inspection.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 2

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences of living in the home and their outcomes are variable. While there have been no serious failures, children are not yet receiving good enough care to prevent them from being at risk of harm. Children are not consistently engaging with health services. While one child is supported to attend regular hospital appointments, another child has struggled to engage with routine health appointments, and these remain outstanding. Additionally, the child is awaiting a medication review with mental health services, which is delaying access to medication for a diagnosed condition. A lack of escalation by staff has contributed to delays in the child’s health needs being met.

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improvement to be good

Since the home registered, 2 children have moved in and no children have moved out. Both children moved into the home quickly, which was unavoidable. Despite this, staff supported them to settle in by making their bedrooms comfortable and offering activities that aligned with their interests, for example trips to the zoo and parks. Children are developing positive relationships with staff.

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improvement to be good

The home is generally presented well. A spacious lounge-dining area is welcoming and comfortably furnished. A ‘chill-out’ room provides children with additional space to relax and play games. However, damage to the home caused during incidents is not always repaired quickly. For example, a door frame to a child’s bedroom has been removed and detracts from a sense of homeliness. Children are encouraged to personalise their bedrooms, and one child has created murals on their walls, using this space for artistic expression.

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improvement to be good

Staff are ambitious for children to engage with education. However, at the time of the inspection, neither child was attending school or engaging in educational activities during the day. Staff are working with the professional network around the children to develop plans to support them to return to school.

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improvement to be good

Children are supported to spend time with family and friends who are important to them. Staff promote these relationships by taking children to meet up with family and friends and are working closely with the placing authority to accommodate alterations to arrangements. This demonstrates a child-focused approach and supports children’s sense of identity and belonging.

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improvement to be good

Risks associated with children are not known or understood by staff. One child is assessed as being at risk of criminal exploitation. However, staff have not received Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 3 training on this risk. This increases the child’s vulnerability because staff do not hold critical knowledge to recognise behaviours that indicate the child is being exploited.

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improvement to be good

Children’s plans are not updated to include new information to reflect their individual needs and risks. Children’s social workers are not consistently informed of emerging risks to children. This hinders understanding of the children and how staff can provide them with effective care that protects them from harm.

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improvement to be good

There have been no incidents of physical restraint since the home registered. While this indicates an effective use of de-escalation strategies, there has been an occasion when the police have been called out to manage children’s behaviour. On a further occasion, when police were called due to a child going missing, the police became involved in managing the child’s behaviour when they returned to the home. This was the result of staff having limited experience and skills to meet children’s needs and led to the child being criminalised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager demonstrates a commitment to the home and children in his care. However, there are significant shortfalls in the monitoring and oversight of the home, which have increased children’s vulnerability. A failure to share significant information with children’s social workers following incidents has compromised their safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not ensured that staff have the skills and knowledge to meet the individualised needs of children. There are inconsistencies with respect to staff training. Some staff have completed mandatory courses, such as medication administration and internet safety, whereas others have not. This prevents children from receiving consistent care. For example, although self-harm is an identified risk for one child, not all staff have received training on this topic.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not sufficiently staffed, which has led to frequent use of agency workers. While an attempt to use the same agency workers maintains a degree of consistency for children, those employed do not have the specific skills and knowledge to care for the children in the home. Permanent staff with limited relevant experience are encouraged to lead shifts early into their employment. Formal supervision meeting minutes evidence staff expressing they feel that they lack support and experience, which has not been effectively responded to by the manager. This practice is not child- focused and places children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professional feedback is mixed. One school described good communication with staff, which supported arrangements for a child to re-engage with education. However, one social worker questioned the quality and nature of care provided by staff to children, as it was different from what had been agreed at the point of the child’s admission to the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 4 Team meetings take place regularly in the lounge of the home. Due to the open-plan design of the home, there is a risk children can overhear conversations. Children have been present during team meetings. Meeting minutes show that discussion about children’s needs and experiences is limited. This is a missed opportunity to reflect on and develop practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 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 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iv)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)) 28 February 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 6 The registered person must ensure that staff have the skills and training to understand how to build relationships with children who have experienced trauma and that all staff caring for children, including agency staff, receive practice-related supervision.

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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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff understand risks for children and know how to support them so that they are kept safe and that any concerns for children are shared with relevant professionals as needed. 28 February 2026

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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— 28 February 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 7 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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 and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received;

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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)(a)(b)(c)(d)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all staff, including agency staff, have the appropriate skills, training and experience to meet children’s specific needs, and that staff rotas and shift arrangements reflect this. In addition, ensure that staff leading shifts have the appropriate experience to do so, that not more than half of the staff on duty at any time are agency staff and that leaders and managers undertake effective monitoring of incidents and records of them to ensure safeguarding procedures have been followed.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— 28 February 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 8 an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; or

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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 40 (4)(b)(e))

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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: 2838519 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Callingwood Hall, Callingwood Lane, Tatenhill, Burton-on-Trent DE13 9SH

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Inspector

Becky Rutter, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2838519 10 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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