Framework Housing Association

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 1 Framework Housing Association Registered provider: Framework Housing Association

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is operated by a private provider in the East Midlands. The provider can accommodate up to 47 individuals in single occupancy flats, up to 7 individuals in 3 shared or group living homes that are limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers, and up to 91 individuals in 23 shared or group living homes that are not limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, 29 looked-after children and care leavers aged 16 or 17 were accommodated.

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provider

The service manager registered with Ofsted at the same time as the provider in April 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 12 January 2026 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 14 January 2025 to 15 January 2026.

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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.

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Summary of findings

Overall, children benefit from positive relationships with staff who know them well and provide day-to-day support. Many children say they feel safe and can identify trusted adults. Professional feedback is largely positive and reflects staff commitment to children’s welfare.

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Summary of findings

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences and limits the service’s ability to demonstrate sustained and positive progress for many children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 2 Decisions about which children come to live in accommodation offered by this provider have not always been appropriate. Consequently, children are not always well matched to the remit of supported accommodation, contributing to instability for some children.

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Summary of findings

While systems and pockets of good practice are in place, weaknesses in consistency, escalation and learning limit the effectiveness of safeguarding arrangements. Safeguarding responses are not applied consistently enough to ensure that risks are consistently identified, reviewed and reduced in a timely way.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers are reflective and have some understanding of the service’s strengths and weaknesses, but oversight of training, supervision recording, and relief and agency staff compliance is underdeveloped. Although action has been taken to address shortfalls, improvements are not yet sufficiently embedded to ensure consistently good experiences and outcomes for all children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children generally experience positive and caring relationships with staff. The staff mostly know the children well.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Referral and admissions processes are not consistently robust, and thresholds for suitability and compatibility are not clearly or reliably applied. Children have been admitted whose needs exceed the scope of supported accommodation, and compatibility assessments are not always completed when children move within the provider’s network. Some children have been admitted without placement referrals. Admissions decisions are not always considered against the supported accommodation guide and additional guidance given by Ofsted. This has led to children experiencing placement instability, internal moves and unplanned endings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Some children can describe progress they have made, including developing coping strategies to manage self ‑ harm and engage more positively with services. Independence ‑ focused tools, such as independence skills booklets, are available and provide a useful framework for supporting children’s development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s progress is not consistently well evidenced. Support plans vary in quality and often lack clear actions, robust evaluation and measurable outcomes. Key-work or focused-work records and independence workbooks are not always completed in sufficient detail, making it unclear whether planned support has been delivered or reviewed. Children’s views and voices are not consistently captured within planning and review documents. However, children know how to make complaints.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are supported to participate in activities, leisure opportunities and community engagement, helping to promote emotional wellbeing and reduce isolation. For some children, particularly unaccompanied asylum-seeking children and young parents, support with healthcare, English for speakers of other languages and daily living tasks has contributed to stability and positive experiences. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 3 Clear financial oversight contributes positively to service stability and enables children to access a range of activities. However, there is inconsistency in the application of service charges for children living in shared accommodation, with some children required to pay a £20 charge while others are not. Children who are looked after and living with the provider already have their core living costs, including rent and utilities, met by the placing authority. There is no clear or

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children’s educational needs are not consistently met. Not all children are engaged in education, employment or training, and when children are not in education, employment or training it is not always clear that sufficient support is given to help them make progress. Some children spoke of wanting more support from the provider with regard to their education, training and employment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Not all children experience their accommodation as a welcoming or nurturing environment. Shortfalls in cleanliness, ongoing maintenance and the overall sense of homeliness, for example the use of signage and posters, detract from consistently promoting comfort, emotional wellbeing and sense of belonging for the children.

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How well children are helped and protected

Some children have benefited from personalised safety planning and specialist interventions. This includes access to child and adolescent mental health services and trafficking services.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff generally demonstrate a caring, trauma ‑ informed approach and use de ‑ escalation strategies. They support children to engage in personalised safety planning and to understand agreed methods for seeking help when feeling unsafe. This helps enable children to access support in a discreet and appropriate way and contributes positively to their sense of safety and emotional security.

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How well children are helped and protected

Risk management approaches are overly restrictive in some areas and do not consistently support children to develop independence. Blanket measures, such as restricting access to front door keys and installing window restrictors throughout the homes, limit opportunities for children to learn independent living skills. These arrangements are not always aligned with the statement of purpose.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safeguarding systems are in place, including incident reporting processes and management oversight. However, these arrangements do not consistently ensure that children are protected from harm. Responses to children going missing from home are variable. Timescales for identifying and reporting episodes of going missing range from as little as 5 hours to as long as 48 hours, despite children having known vulnerabilities. In dispersed and single occupancy settings, it is not always clear how staff promptly identify when a child is missing. Expectations about return home times, routines and curfews are unclear or largely absent. This limits staff confidence to escalate safeguarding concerns at an early stage and reduces consistency in practice. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 4 Ofsted generally receives reports of significant incidents. However, some serious

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How well children are helped and protected

events had not been reported. Local authority designated officer (LADO) referrals have not always been made following allegations against staff.

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How well children are helped and protected

Mandatory training in areas such as child sexual and criminal exploitation, trauma, self ‑ harm and behaviour management is not consistently evidenced to have been refreshed or completed by most staff. These deficits reduce assurance that staff consistently have the skills and knowledge required to protect children effectively. In addition, following a serious incident, training was not refreshed for all staff. This limits organisational learning and the ability to prevent similar incidents in future.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers adhere to safer recruitment procedures. This helps to ensure that staff are safe to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are open, reflective and cooperative. They demonstrate some insight into areas requiring improvement and a willingness to act promptly on issues identified during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There is a generally good level of staffing across the homes, which supports children’s safety and day-to-day care needs. Staff report that regular team meetings are held and are found to be useful in supporting communication, reflection, and shared understanding of practice expectations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There are, however, inconsistencies in staffing arrangements that do not align with the statement of purpose. This includes the use of high staffing levels and waking night provision that are not clearly linked to children’s assessed needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

A quality assurance framework is in place, including audits, mini-inspections and file reviews. These activities have led to some improvements, such as clearer expectations about support planning and staff practice. New support plans are being implemented to strengthen how children’s needs and risks are identified, supported and managed, with improved recording of children’s progress. These areas had previously been identified by the provider as shortfalls in practice. However, there are weaknesses in governance oversight, demonstrated by a backlog of incident reviews and failures to make statutory notifications to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Supervision for permanent staff takes place regularly, and staff report feeling supported, listened to and encouraged to develop practice. However, supervision records do not consistently demonstrate clear objectives, actions or impact on practice despite the new supervision system in place. Leaders and managers do not have oversight of supervision of relief (bank) staff and agency staff. These issues have the potential to impact on the quality of support provided to the children. Induction processes, training and development processes support staff to acquire skills to support children. Staff can identify how training has helped them to support Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 5 children, for example training in respect of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. However, leaders and managers are unsure who has completed what training. Records are incomplete, limiting assurance that necessary training has taken place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

There is insufficient oversight of relief and agency staff to ensure that training is understood and consistently applied to meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have halted staff appraisals; none have taken place in the last year. They will not resume until the end of this year. The embedding of the new supervision system was the reason for the pause in appraisals. This has the potential to impact on staff morale, practice and performance, and in turn on children’s support, progress and outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The last quality of support review report did not sufficiently incorporate feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons. However, the report is evaluative and does show that leaders and managers are committed to making continuous improvements. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 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

prepare and implement child protection policies;

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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 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)(b)(f)(i)(iv)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the LADO is informed without delay when children make allegations against staff. 25 January 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 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— 13 March 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 7 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 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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(f)(g))

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the event concerned; 25 January 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 8 any other individuals or organisations who or which have been notified;

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)(f) (4)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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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 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)) 1 April 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 9

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that as young people aged 16 and 17 are still children and can face risks, particularly of extra-familial harm, sexual exploitation, criminal exploitation or involvement with gangs, staff maintain good and consistent communication with young people and are familiar with the young person’s patterns, routines and mental health needs. Staff should be alert to concerning situations and take swift action if they cannot locate or make contact with a young person if that young person has not returned to the setting as expected. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 54)  The registered person should ensure that the supported accommodation setting provides a nurturing, supportive and homely environment that meet the needs of young people. To foster a homely environment, young people should be able to access all shared areas of the setting unless there are specific reasons why this

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Recommendations

would not be the case. Given the high level of independence of the young people who live in supported accommodation, it is not expected that staff would impose limits on privacy and access, unless confronted with an exceptional circumstance that means these limits are needed temporarily to safeguard the young person or other young people in the setting. Any decisions to limit a young person’s access to any area of the setting and any modifications to the environment of the setting should be short term and made only where this is intended to safeguard the welfare of a young person or any other person. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual young person’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 29)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and

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Recommendations

fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and young people in the setting. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 51)  The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the supported accommodation provider’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual young people in a way that will be helpful to the young person. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 58) Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 10

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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: Framework Housing Association 11

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Claire Windebank

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: Webenquiries@frameworkha.org

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Inspectors

Shelley Chowdhury, Social Care Inspector Clare Hannah, Social Care Inspector Steve James, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Framework Housing Association 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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Inspectors

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