Vera Chilly Social Care

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 1 Vera Chilly Social Care Registered provider: Vera Chilly Consultancy Services Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

A private provider owns and operates this supported accommodation service. The service has 5 shared premises and can accommodate up to 17 children. The accommodation is limited to looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, 2 children were being supported.

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provider

The organisation and the service manager registered with Ofsted in March 2024. The nominated individual and registered manager roles are held by the same person, who is also the director of the organisation.

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provider

A full inspection was carried out in August 2025. That inspection identified serious and widespread weaknesses in relation to leadership and management and support for children. A restriction of accommodation notice was served. Two compliance notices, relating to the leadership and management arrangements and tailored support to children, were also issued.

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provider

A subsequent monitoring visit took place on 15 October 2025 to monitor the registered person’s compliance with meeting the steps identified in the compliance notices and to establish if the restriction of accommodation notice had been adhered to. This found that the restriction of accommodation had been adhered to and the compliance notices met. The progress the provider had made meant that the restriction of accommodation was lifted. The areas monitored at that monitoring visit where improvements were still required were reflected in requirements.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 8 December 2025 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 10 to 12 December 2025.

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Outcome

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 2

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Summary of findings

Children live in good-quality accommodation, which is conveniently located for them to access community resources. Children have personalised their rooms to reflect their preferences. Accommodation is generally safe and well maintained. One pagoda to the rear of one property had an unsafe roof. The provider promptly rectified this.

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Summary of findings

Children experience stability in their lives because they are supported by staff they know well. The children spoken to were positive about the staff’s support and guidance. Children have positive relationships with staff. This contributes to children’s sense of belonging and confidence.

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Summary of findings

Staff can explain children’s needs well. The manager has ensured that children’s support plans, risk assessments and targets provide staff with information and strategies they require to consistently support children’s current and changing needs. However, the manager has not included some important information in the children’s records.

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Summary of findings

Staff support children to register with dentists, doctors and other health services. They support children to attend health appointments. This helps ensure that children’s health needs are being met.

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Summary of findings

Children receive individual academic tuition and are making good progress with their studies. Staff support and encourage them to do so.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children like the accommodation they live in, which is homely and welcoming and where children want to spend time. Children are supported to personalise their rooms as they choose, and one spoke of being pleased to be supported to keep a pet. Staff understood the child’s need for pets and how this helps them to regulate their emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers have maintained effective links with local authorities and other professionals. There is good communication about safeguarding concerns. Records detail the actions taken in response to concerns and how these contribute to keeping the children safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have good relationships with the staff who support them. The importance of trusting, secure relationships is understood by the manager and staff, to underpin progress for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are supported to maintain relationships with family members. The staff have good relationships with families. One family member said, ‘The staff are equal to the manager; they are caring and attentive. I have big experience of working with providers and this one has great staff and I am very complimentary of the manager to have got this team together.’ Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 3 Children are supported to engage in education, training and employment in an area that interests them. When there are barriers, staff collaborate with children and external agencies to help children engage meaningfully in alternative education, training or employment opportunities. For example, one child said, ‘Staff are helping with maths and English tutoring done online as I don’t want to go to college and I have maths GCSE exam.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children know how to make a complaint, and a small minority have done so. Complaints have been explored by managers, and children have been informed of the outcome of the investigation. This information has also been shared with the local authority.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children say they feel safe in their accommodation. The provider has responded to issues identified at the last inspection and changed restrictive practices. Children said they have noticed the changes since the last inspection. They say they have been able to be more independent, with reduced numbers of staff. This has provided opportunities for children to exercise their independent living skills in preparation for moving on.

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How well children are helped and protected

There are some positive and trusting relationships between children and staff. Staffing consistency helps to ensure that staff have a good understanding of children’s risks and vulnerabilities.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children do not return home as planned, staff try to locate them before reporting them missing. Staff know and understand the risks to individual children when they are missing and follow the organisation’s procedures well. They demonstrate curiosity when children return and use information provided by children to better understand how to support them to become increasingly safe. One child said, ‘I was struggling and going missing but since then, staff have been really good. They have always been good but I feel staff are really understanding me now and I am really happy here.’

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How well children are helped and protected

Children who require specialist support, such as substance misuse or mental health services, access the support that they need. External professionals speak positively about the support children receive. One professional said, ‘I have one young person placed at this establishment. I can only give praise to the care [name of child] has received from the placement. They have been proactive in seeking out health needs and regularly attend meetings, with valid input, and advocate for them.’

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers have made improvements to the recruitment procedures. They now follow safer recruitment processes. This helps to reduce the potential for unsuitable people to gain employment with the provider. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are child focused. They have identified areas for improvement. There is a suitably revised workforce development plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff consistently said that they are well supported by leaders and managers to carry out their roles. They receive regular supervision, but the records are of a varying standard and lack reflection and detail.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff are positive about the recent changes in the service. They spoke of their full involvement in discussing the previous inspection outcomes and developing the actions necessary to improve. This has helped the staff to provide appropriate support to the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

When children’s needs and vulnerabilities increase, leaders and managers now liaise weekly with relevant professionals to share information and agree any actions to be taken. However, there is no record kept of these meetings and therefore they are not included in the children’s records. This creates a gap in the children’s life story should they want to look at their files in the future. This also potentially hinders staff’s ability to develop meaningful plans in line with children’s agreed goals and objectives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are eager to provide an effective service to children. They use a range of different methods to monitor the quality of the service, and are taking steps to make changes based on the feedback they have received. However, monitoring is not yet fully effective and has not identified the shortfalls in some records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Induction procedures have been improved. Staff complete a range of mandatory training courses to ensure they have a good understanding of their role and their responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Multidisciplinary teamwork is good. Social workers are positive about communication from staff and managers. One social worker stated, ‘I commend them on their joint working.’ Another professional said the provider is nurturing, committed and dedicated to supporting a child, ‘the communication is positive, responsive and appropriate. [name of child] feels very supported and feels a sense of belonging. This is so important and impressive to see.’ Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 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 keep records of other information relating to the supported accommodation undertaking set out in Schedule 3.

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 25 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that records contain all the necessary information to enable any child who wishes to access them in the future to understand the decisions that influenced the support they received. 6 February 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the homes are adequately maintained. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 27)  The registered person should ensure that a record of supervision is kept for staff. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered. It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and staff member have a copy of the record, which may be electronic. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 51)

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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: Vera Chilly Social Care 6

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Vera Chilly Consultancy Services Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Suite 41 Wentworth House, High Street North, Dunstable, Bedfordshire LU6 1JJ

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Vera Nnadozie

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: Vera.Nnadozie@verachillysocialcare.co.uk

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Inspectors

Clare Hannah, Social Care Inspector Chris Jay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Vera Chilly Social Care 7 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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