Children's Home run by Florinee Homes in Peterborough

Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 1 Registered provider: Florinee Homes 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

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to 6 children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted during September 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

Three children have moved into the home, and one child has left the home.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living at the home. The inspector observed all 3 children and spoke to 2.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 9 December 2024

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

09/12/2024 Full Good 22/01/2024 Full Good 24/05/2022 Full Outstanding 02/06/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 3

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inadequate

Leaders and managers have not maintained the home to a good standard. Damage in the home has not been repaired. Due to the amount of damage, communal areas are sparsely furnished and the home requires redecoration. While leaders and managers are aware the home surroundings require improvement, there has been a delay in taking action. Staff have restricted children’s access to parts of the home. Reasons for this do not always relate to children’s needs. For example, one area is kept inaccessible to children because staff use it as a smoking area. It is integral to children’s wellbeing that they feel comfortable in their own home and find it to be a pleasant and inviting environment.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers are reliant on the use of agency staff to support children through the night. Leaders and managers have made efforts to use the same agency staff. However, the number of different agency staff working in the home is significant. This negatively affects the quality and consistency of care provided to children.

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inadequate

Staff speak with the children already living in the home when a child is due to move in. Staff now only do this once there is certainty that the move will go ahead. This is to prevent uncertainty for the children. However, this approach did not sufficiently prepare one child, and this had an impact on their wellbeing. Staff welcome children into the home and spend time with them to ensure that they are settling in. Staff create memory books for children to take with them when they leave the home.

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inadequate

Staff support children to take part in activities. However, when children express a desire to take part in activities there can be a delay in staff facilitating them. A child has expressed a desire to play football and go boxing. Another child has expressed a wish to go on bike rides with staff. These activities would support children’s positive mental and physical health.

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inadequate

Staff support children to access education, and they are making progress. When a child is not accessing education, the manager works with the placing authority to address this. For one child, the manager is advocating for the child’s wishes and preferences. Staff support children to maintain good health. Staff have ensured that children are registered with universal health services and are up to date with health appointments. Staff support and encourage children to access mental health services.

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inadequate

Staff take time to get to know children and are mindful of how their actions affect children’s wellbeing. The staff team is supported by a therapeutic specialist who offers training and advice around how to work with and respond to children. These methods are being used by the staff in practice to support a therapeutic approach. This has supported staff to build trusting relationships with children. These trusting Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 4 relationships have helped a child to sleep in a bedroom for the first time. Staff support children to develop their independence. Staff have helped children learn how to do laundry, cook and go grocery shopping.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not maintained a safe living environment. There is an exposed well within the home grounds which is not safe and secure, and staff are locking a fire door. This poses significant risks to children living in the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Leaders and managers’ assessment of children’s needs before moving into the home is insufficient. This means no plans have been developed to manage dynamics between children to ensure their safety. Plans that have been developed do not take account of all information known about children. Therefore, the plans are not effective, do not meet all children’s needs and do not keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Leaders and managers’ limited understanding of children’s needs has resulted in staffing numbers being insufficient to keep children safe. This failure has resulted in children being harmed or placed at risk of harm. Children said they do not feel safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff practice of holding children to keep them and others safe does not promote the welfare and safety of children. The failure of staff to intervene when necessary raises serious concerns about staff’s preparedness and the effectiveness of behaviour management strategies.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not consistently speak with children following incidents. Consequently, children miss important opportunities to receive support, reflect on what happened and feel listened to. Leaders and managers discuss incidents with staff during team meetings, supervision and handovers. These discussions are not always sufficiently robust to enable leaders and managers to fully evaluate incidents or drive improvements in practice. These shortfalls increase the likelihood of repeated harm and may limit children’s progress.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not applied safer recruitment practices when appointing staff. The manager has limited oversight of safer recruitment as this has been delegated elsewhere within the organisation. This has meant staff have not been recruited safely to work with children.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff understand and follow safeguarding processes when children go missing. Staff will follow children and try to keep them safe, even where this has meant staff are harmed. Staff are aware of what action to take when children make allegations. An allegation made by a child was responded to positively by staff, and action was taken to keep all involved safe. Staff feel confident in raising concerns about the practice of staff and feel that they are listened to by leaders and managers.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: inadequate

Staff rarely use consequences in response to children’s behaviour. When consequences are used, they focus on reparation. Staff primarily promote positive Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 5 behaviour by using rewards and by supporting children to work towards agreed goals and targets.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not have effective monitoring and review systems to support continuous improvements in the quality of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have limited oversight of incidents in the home, the plans in place to keep children safe and the effectiveness of those plans. This lack of oversight reduces their ability to respond effectively to children’s needs and to ensure safe, consistent practice. Leaders and managers planned to reduce staffing levels without fully considering a recent serious incident or the lessons that should have been learned from it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager provides staff with supervision. Supervision has a focus on staff wellbeing, performance of staff, children’s needs and safeguarding. Staff said they find supervision helpful. However, the manager is not providing staff supervision and appraisals within the timescales expected by the provider. This limits staff development and prevents effective performance monitoring. This increases the likelihood that children’s needs will not be fully met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager is new to the role and has spent time getting to know the staff team, with a focus on promoting teamwork. Staff said they feel there is good team morale, a positive team working culture and they feel supported by the manager. The manager provides regular team meetings for staff. Team meetings provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on the care being provided to children. The manager provides staff with access to training to meet children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has made improvements in seeking external feedback from professionals and families. Therefore, the previous recommendation has been met. Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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. 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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 home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(b)(d)) 27 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 7 In particular, ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

 children’s individual needs and associated risks of children are taken into account when admitting children into the home;  when creating plans to support children’s needs and associated risks, these plans take account of all known information;  plans are created to reduce risk of harm to each child and that the effectiveness of these plans is reviewed;  plans created take account of the dynamics between children and prevent them from harming each other;  staff are aware of plans to protect children and are following them;  staff have the skills and knowledge to intervene to defuse incidents and keep children safe;  staff are spoken to after incidents to offer support and identify learning;  children are spoken to after incidents to offer support and help children develop positive behaviours;  the home environment is furnished and maintained, including when there has been damage to the home;  the well situated within the grounds of the home is safe

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Requirement Due date

and secure and does not pose a risk to children.

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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

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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 27 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 8 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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

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)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

 monitoring and review systems are developed which improve the quality of care provided to children and keep children safe;  all incidents are reviewed and any learning identified is implemented;  there is sufficient staffing in place to meet children’s needs and to keep them safe;  the workforce is sufficient to care for children without overreliance on agency staff;  all staff have supervision and appraisals in line with the provider’s expectations;  safer recruitment practice is adhered to when recruiting staff;  children have timely access to positive activities of their choosing.

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Requirement Due date

*If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005( a ) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(a)(b)) 27 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 9 In particular, ensure that fire doors are not locked and do not prevent exit in an emergency.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 27 March 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 for children’s home: 2522796 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 13, Swan Court, Forder Way, Cygnet Park, Hampton, Peterborough PE7 8GX

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Inspectors

Laura Copus, Social Care Inspector Patrick Rowell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2522796 11 and inspects 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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