Children's Home run by Care 4 Every Child Limited in Derbyshire

Inspection report children's home: 2534185 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Every Child Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2025.

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Information about this children's home

Since the last inspection, one child has moved from the home, and there were 3 children living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be 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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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 28 January 2025

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2534185 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/01/2025 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Good 21/06/2022 Full Good 20/04/2021 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 2534185 3

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improvement to be good

Children benefit from stable care and positive relationships with staff. This helps them feel settled and valued. However, weaknesses in safeguarding practice and inconsistent leadership oversight mean that children are not consistently protected from harm. Managers do not always identify shortfalls in practice or take timely action to address these concerns.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide children with consistent support to develop their personal hygiene, self ‑ care and independence skills. They ensure that children attend essential health appointments. For example, one child who had previously refused to see their GP about their emotional health was supported through staff's patience, encouragement and understanding, enabling them to access the help they needed.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to maintain important relationships. One child recently returned to the care of their family following careful planning between staff, the child's social worker and the family. The child's visits with their parent gradually increased over a period of weeks. This enabled both the child and parent to receive the support they required. Staff have enabled this child to maintain contact with another child in the home. This helps children sustain positive connections.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote children's educational needs. One child attends school full time, while 2 children are supported to access alternative provisions and learning in the home. Staff understand the barriers that children face, encourage children's participation and recognise their achievements.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond to children's individual interests and wishes. They promote independence and celebrate progress. For example, one child who previously struggled to keep their room tidy is now able to maintain a clean space with ongoing support. Staff acknowledged this progress by purchasing the child a pet that they had asked for. Another child is working towards building a gaming computer and is supported to earn additional pocket money to buy the components they need.

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improvement to be good

Children's care planning documents provide staff with information about children's known risks. However, they do not always give staff clear strategies to manage these risks. In addition, the provider's recording system does not offer clarity or accurately reflect current decisions. Information is not routinely updated on the online system, and staff rely on paper records that are only transferred electronically once a month. This does not provide confidence that staff are working with the most up-to-date information. Inspection report children's home: 2534185 4 One child has a history of self-harm and has recently experienced low mood and expressed suicidal thoughts. Despite this, the manager agreed that the child could have access to a razor for personal hygiene. Although an agreement is in place, this is not reflected in the risk assessment. This arrangement does not provide sufficient assurance

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improvement to be good

that the child is safeguarded should they choose to use the razor in an unsafe way.

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improvement to be good

Another child has significant online ‑ safety risks, and their plan sets out strict controls on their access to devices. These measures are in place due to an ongoing police investigation. Despite these measures, the child has been able to access another child's device at night. The risk assessment does not provide staff with strategies to manage or reduce this risk.

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improvement to be good

Despite these shortfalls, children benefit from stable placements and positive relationships with staff, who know them well. Children are generally settled. Incident levels are low, and staff provide consistent day-to-day care that supports children to keep safe and feel listened to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although risk management assessments and plans are in place for child, these have not always been effective in securing children’s well-being and safety, resulting in a small number of serious incidents occurring. Managers and leaders have failed to ensure all risk management plans are sufficiently robust, and that all staff understand clearly how risks are to be managed for children. The new manager has implemented stronger systems to share changes in children’s risks, however at the time of this inspection not all staff were up to date with critical decisions impacting on children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders have not always notified the regulator in line with statutory requirements or followed safeguarding guidance. A child made an allegation about a staff member, and this incident was not reported to the regulator in a timely manner. When a notification was eventually submitted, it did not include any information about the allegation. The manager did not follow up the allegation with either the child or member of staff or report this. A second serious incident was not reported at all. This related to a senior member of staff not following a child's risk assessment, resulting in the child injuring themselves, which could have been prevented. These shortfalls in reporting and the lack of essential detail do not provide the regulator with an accurate reflection of safeguarding practice in the home and there are missed opportunities to secure external oversight, so allegations are managed quickly and in line with statutory guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders have oversight of key events and evaluate incidents and recording is clear. However, they have not consistently ensured effective management oversight and quality assurance. Systems have not always ensured that staff have adhered to risk management strategies or that serious events and allegations were robustly evaluated and escalated. This limits leaders' ability to identify learning and maintain effective safeguarding oversight. Inspection report children's home: 2534185 5 Leaders have not sufficiently evaluated the impact of staffing arrangements. Staff said that they are regularly deployed to work in the company's other homes. This affects continuity of care and relationships and does not always prioritise children's experiences in the home. The absence of waking night staff has meant staff undertaking sleeping-in duties have had to respond to incidents during the night, resulting in them not getting

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

adequate rest before working the following day. Leaders have not fully assessed or mitigated the risks associated with this arrangement for staff or for children. Leaders have not ensured that staff supervision arrangements are consistently effective. Staff do not always receive regular supervision, which limits leaders' oversight of staff performance. However, team meetings and staff supervision records support staff with opportunities for reflection, discussion of children's needs and the exploration of safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders have not demonstrated how they evaluate the quality of care or identify areas of development. In addition, leaders have not fully supported the annual survey facilitated by the regulator, which is a missed opportunity to seek feedback from others to drive improvement. Leaders acknowledge these weaknesses and have begun to take steps to strengthen oversight and quality assurance systems. Inspection report children's home: 2534185 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, 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 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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i) iii)( v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders ensuring that risk assessments clearly set out strategies for managing known risks and that staff consistently follow them to keep children safe. The provider must ensure that children's records are kept up to date and that staff have access to the most current information to inform safeguarding practice. 22 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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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)(c)(e)) 22 January 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2534185 7 This particularly refers to leaders notifying the regulator of all serious incidents and allegations in a timely manner and ensuring that notifications contain full and accurate information.

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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

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; and

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

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Requirement Due date

Leaders must ensure that oversight and quality-assurance sys- tems are effective in identifying shortfalls, ensuring that staff follow risk-management strategies and that safeguarding prac- tice is applied consistently across the home.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders must also ensure that staffing decisions prioritise children's experiences, provide continuity of care and are fully assessed for their impact on children's emotional wellbeing 22 January 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2534185 8 before staff are deployed elsewhere. Leaders must ensure that night ‑ time staffing arrangements are safe, are fully risk ‑ assessed and enable staff to respond effectively to incidents overnight. The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Leaders must ensure that all staff receive regular, reflective supervision that explores safeguarding practice, reviews incidents, challenges decision ‑ making and supports staff to meet children's needs safely and consistently. 22 January 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report"). (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(c) (3))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically refers to managers completing a review of the quality of care provided for children and any actions they will take to make improvements. 22 January 2026

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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 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 children's home: 2534185 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Every Child Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Allen Mills Howard & Co, Library Chambers, 48 Union Street, Hyde, SK14 1ND

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Children's home details

Responsible individual: Angela Hodgkinson

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Inspector(s)

Tazim Akhtar, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 2534185 10 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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