Calvic Enterprises Limited

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 1 Calvic Enterprises Limited Registered provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

The service registered with Ofsted in December 2024 and is operated by a private provider. It offers accommodation for up to 9 looked-after children and care leavers in 4 properties.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, the service was supporting 2 looked-after children, both aged 16 years, in 2 separate properties.

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provider

The nominated individual and registered service manager both registered with Ofsted in December 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 23 February 2026 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 25 to 27 February 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

The service has a stable and diverse workforce that works with children with complex needs and challenging behaviour.

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Summary of findings

Historically, children whose needs are not suited to supported accommodation have been admitted without management oversight, leading to placement breakdowns.

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Summary of findings

Directorship in the company is under scrutiny, both internally and from the Home Office, creating uncertainty for the nominated individual and registered service manager. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 2 Staff follow procedures to help keep children safe. Lead professionals are kept informed of major incidents and progress; however, management oversight of incidents and allegations sometimes lacks clarity and is not accurately documented.

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Summary of findings

Children have positive experiences living in their homes. Staff support children with their education and mental health, but support plans do not accurately reflect children’s individual vulnerabilities and characteristics.

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Summary of findings

Some renovation and modernisation are needed to make the properties feel more homely. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said they feel safe in their homes and benefit from the consistent presence of staff who offer support and advice when needed. Homes sampled are in safe neighbourhoods and are well connected to local amenities and community resources.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

The provider uses permanent staff to cover rotas, which enables children to build trusted and positive relationships with familiar staff. These relationships help children feel heard and understood. Staff are willing and committed to supporting children, but this is not always reflected consistently in records. Some staff showed limited knowledge of children’s educational arrangements, indicating gaps in professional curiosity and experience.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff demonstrate awareness of children’s vulnerabilities. They believe the training they receive provides them with the confidence to support the children who currently use the service. However, one child reported feeling insufficiently supported by some staff members and said that communication difficulties, linked to language barriers, affected the progress they are able to make. For example, a child asked for support around disability entitlements and did not believe this was adequately explored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Support sessions are offered to help children work towards individual goals. Children’s views and wishes are captured during these sessions, demonstrating their voice is central to planning. However, sessions are not taking place with the expected regularity or consistency across the service, particularly for children who are on high support packages.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

The provider makes efforts to help children maintain family relationships and ensures that professionals are kept informed of children’s welfare and progress. One child and their allocated social worker spoke positively about the support available during family visits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said that staff encourage them to engage in education and access health or therapeutic services, particularly when they are experiencing difficulties related to mental health or substance misuse. One child explained staff were available to help with appointments. A specific intervention is also available in-house for children who require or request this. This provides an accessible opportunity for children to explore their emotional wellbeing in a supportive environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Properties are generally maintained to a good standard and have consistent furnishings and decor, promoting a sense of identity across settings. The provider took prompt action to install a downstairs shower to meet the accessibility needs of a child. However, some properties require renovation and repair. While a maintenance system exists, it is not consistently monitored or reviewed, resulting in key renovations being overlooked. One property has exposed boiler pipes, while another has an unkempt garden. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 4

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How well children are helped and protected

Children say they understand house rules and know what to do in an emergency, including who they should contact if they have concerns. This contributes to children feeling informed and aware of how to keep themselves safe.

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How well children are helped and protected

Important risks and concerns are recorded on children’s electronic files, but they lack clarity. Some risk assessments and support plans are generic or duplicated, rather than tailored to children’s specific needs and circumstances. This limits staff’s ability to understand and manage risks in a person-centred and proactive way.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff support children’s wellbeing and respond to behavioural needs in a respectful and measured manner. They use de-escalation and distraction techniques, for which they are appropriately trained. Professionals say they are kept up to date with relevant behavioural and welfare concerns, demonstrating positive communication with partner agencies.

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How well children are helped and protected

Children are offered support promptly following incidents, and staff take steps to help children reflect and move forward in a constructive way. Information from these events leads to updates in safety and support planning, but this is not consistent, nor does it sufficiently reflect each child’s individual needs. For instance, fire risk protocols do not consider children’s individual vulnerabilities and disabilities, which reduces the effectiveness of the safety planning process.

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How well children are helped and protected

The provider’s recruitment process is effective in identifying gaps or discrepancies in recruitment information. There is good oversight of staff training, helping ensure that the workforce maintains required competencies.

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How well children are helped and protected

On one occasion, leaders shared a concern with the local authority designated officer but failed to follow up when there was no reply.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff members had limited previous experience in care or support work before joining the service. An induction process exists, but management oversight of induction records and monitoring of staff progress is limited. As a result, gaps in development or practice may not be identified or addressed in a timely manner.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Historically, there is evidence the service accepted children on an emergency basis with minimal management oversight. This resulted in disrupted placements for children and staff being placed in unsafe situations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The service is currently providing support to a child who requires a high level of assistance. Managers recognise the need to monitor the situation and are mindful of the potential of the support exceeding what is appropriate for supported accommodation. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 5 There has been some recent, significant instability with directorship in the company. Concerns have been referred to the appropriate agencies. This has created uncertainty for the nominated individual and registered service manager regarding expectations around transparency and decision-making. For example, the Home Office has recently reviewed the company’s approach to staff sponsorship compliance, and the outcome of this investigation is unknown.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leadership arrangements in the service have improved, with clearer admission and matching processes now in place. Lines of communication during the admission of new children are more structured, supporting better-informed decision-making. However, there is a lack of documentation about why matching decisions were made or how risks are assessed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Managers demonstrate openness and transparency when discussing historic shortfalls. They expressed frustration about earlier failings but also showed a commitment to improving systems and processes to enhance outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Thorough internal investigations have been carried out in relation to significant incidents. They have been used productively to understand what went wrong and to implement appropriate actions, increased monitoring, and additional mentoring for staff and managers. However, on one occasion, leaders shared a concern with the local authority designated officer but did not chase it up when no reply was received. In addition, significant incidents and missing-from-home episodes have not always been reported to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

An auditing system is in place to address consistency issues in record-keeping and strengthen accountability across the service. New recording systems have also been introduced to better capture each child’s journey, including an education, employment and training summary document, to promote stronger communication between staff and the children. These improvements have yet to be fully embedded, meaning that inconsistencies in how information is recorded and used remain.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders prioritise staff training and offer a blend of external and internal sessions, both face to face and online. This helps improve staff’s confidence in supporting children with complex needs and vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Regular supervision and team meeting minutes document the views and suggestions of staff, demonstrating that managers listen to them. Staff consistently describe managers as ‘approachable’ and ‘knowledgeable’ and say that they are willing to provide guidance and support, which is helped by having the head office located near all the properties. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

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 staff work effectively as a team, where appropriate, to meet the needs of children;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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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 staff have the skills necessary to support children to identify, access and receive their entitlements in a way that helps them to learn to identify, access and receive their entitlements independently in the future; (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f)(i)) 10 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 10 April 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 7 ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation—

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Requirement Due date

are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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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 plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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Requirement Due date

keep the child’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child’s needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that processes are in place to enable children to access support from other organisations and community services, such that they are encouraged and enabled to access a range of services, including those offered by advocacy organisations and training providers;

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Requirement Due date

in the event that the registered person or a member of staff considers that an accommodating authority or a relevant person is failing to provide the support set out in a child’s relevant plans, make representations, or, as the case may be, enable staff to make representations, to the accommodating authority or relevant person with a view to ensuring that the child’s needs are met. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(b)(c)(g)(h)) 10 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) in relation to each child accommodated by the supported accommodation undertaking which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 2,

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 10 April 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 8 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

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)) 10 April 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 9

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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: Calvic Enterprises Limited 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Victoria McKenzie

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Inspector

Chris Jay, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Calvic Enterprises Limited 11 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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