Children's home run by HAZELMONT (KENT) LIMITED

Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 1 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Registered provider: HAZELMONT (KENT) LIMITED

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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 home was registered with Ofsted in September 2025 and is privately owned.

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Information about this children’s home

It provides care for up to 3 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

This was the home’s first inspection since registration.

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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 widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor, and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 2 OFSTED USE ONLY

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inadequate

Children’s overall experiences and progress are inadequate as managers have failed to ensure suitable oversight of safeguarding concerns and care practice. As a result, children’s risks are increasing, and they are not receiving sufficient care and support to engage in safe and healthy routines.

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inadequate

As a result of this inspection, a notice to suspend the registration of the setting has been issued with immediate effect.

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inadequate

Managers do not suitably consider the support that children need to keep them safe when they come to live at the home. The process for managing admissions to the home is unclear. Managers do not ensure that children are only admitted to the home if their needs can be met. Staff complete assessments with insufficient oversight from managers. The assessments fail to address staff training needs or the risks that children may present towards each other. As a result, children are not receiving the support that they need to settle, and risks are not being managed.

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inadequate

Staff have been unable to ensure that children understand the rules, routines and boundaries of the home. A lack of structure has resulted in children being unable to maintain healthy sleep patterns and mealtimes. Children are frequently awake through the night, eating in their bedrooms, and strategies have not been implemented to address this. As a result of the disruption to their sleep, children have been unable to engage in education and positive activities.

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inadequate

Staff have not created clear boundaries, structure or routines for children. Staff have failed to create positive and respectful relationships with children and have not been able to support children to feel emotionally contained and safe. As a result, children have pushed against the boundaries that were in place and staff have little control.

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inadequate

Systems in place for children to share their views are ineffective. Complaints from children are not recognised and therefore do not result in changes in the home. Children said that they regularly make complaints, which are not responded to. There were no records of complaints in the home and no system for staff to feed back to children that their views had been heard and considered.

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inadequate

Managers have not ensured that the home is decorated, maintained or furnished in line with children’s interests. Although communal areas of the home are clean, tidy and modern, the furnishings are sparse and do not create a homely environment. Children’s bedrooms have not been personalised to their own individual styles. Damaged furniture is not replaced in a timely manner, and there have been delays in ensuring that maintenance tasks are completed. One child’s room had several damaged pieces of furniture and poor levels of cleanliness. This bedroom was not Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 3 OFSTED USE ONLY

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inadequate

indicative that children are receiving appropriate support to maintain standards in their personal spaces.

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

There are significant failings in the management of safeguarding concerns. Managers were unable to provide accurate information regarding missing episodes, consequences, restraints and allegations. A failure to recognise and understand safeguarding concerns has resulted in a failure to ensure appropriate and timely support for children.

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

Staff demonstrate inadequate knowledge of safeguarding and child protection practices. Managers and staff have been unable to identify when incidents require further exploration with professionals. This has led to poor information-sharing. As a result, children’s support needs have not been reviewed, and strategies have not been implemented to keep them safe. There has been one occasion when staff and managers failed to identify a concern which should have been shared with the local authority designated officer.

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

Managers have failed to undertake appropriate reviews of the interventions used in the home. Inspectors found a record that included reference to a restraint. Managers failed to identify this in their review of the document. As such, no formal record was made, and the incident was never discussed with the child or staff member. When consequences have been used, they are not appropriately linked to children’s behaviour and have been punitive in nature. Children’s views are not ascertained following interventions, and the manager has not been able to establish if the use of interventions has been effective or proportionate.

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

Staff do not understand how to respond when children go missing. Managers have failed to ensure that there is clear guidance available to staff so that they can take a consistent and timely approach when children go missing from the home. Information in incident records is sparse and does not provide an accurate reflection of what staff have done to try to keep children safe. Staff have been unable to locate the guidance they need to follow when a child is missing. Staff do not always notify relevant professionals.

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

Risk management practices are not effective in responding to known and emerging risks for children. Staff guidance in relation to children going missing, behaviour management and online safety lacks key information. A lack of accurate guidance has resulted in inconsistent supervision of children. Children’s risks to themselves and other children have also increased. Learning from incidents and feedback is poor. When concerns have been raised in relation to supervision levels for children, action has not been taken to increase supervision. As a result, managers and staff do not take the required action to reduce the frequency or likelihood of incidents reoccurring. Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 4 OFSTED USE ONLY

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

The manager’s oversight of health and safety in the home is not sufficient. Routine checks are not being undertaken to ensure that the environment is safe and suitable for children. While staff complete weekly checks, these are not reviewed by managers. Managers have failed to identify that fire drills have not been completed with children in a timely manner, with one child living in the home for 2 months before a fire drill had taken place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not shown the ability to ensure that the home is managed in line with the Children’s Homes Regulations. Ineffective leadership and management arrangements have resulted in poor standards of care and shortfalls in safeguarding, record-keeping and monitoring of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not implemented systems to ensure that they can maintain suitable oversight of the standard and quality of care in the home. There have been substantial delays in managers completing reviews of incidents. There were many documents awaiting review. As a result, a significant number of shortfalls had not been identified, and necessary improvements in practice have not been made.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior leaders have failed to ensure that appropriate support and oversight were in place for a newly recruited manager. Leaders have not been consistent in their presence in the home. This has led to a lack of support for the manager and shortfalls in practice not being identified. Although a new responsible individual had been identified, they had not yet implemented a suitable action plan to respond to the areas of concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have failed to ensure that children receive care in line with the home’s statement of purpose. Staff have not received training in the behaviour management or therapeutic approaches included in the statement. As a result, staff are unable to deliver positive outcomes for children. A lack of effective training and guidance for staff has resulted in practice that has not supported children to make progress or keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision is taking place in line with organisational timescales. However, the focus of these sessions has been on record-keeping. As a result, there has been a missed opportunity to reflect and embed learning from incidents, admissions and discharges. Supervision is not effective in supporting the improvement and professional development of staff in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 5 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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 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

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

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)) 5 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 6 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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;

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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)(a)(c)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) 5 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended 5 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 7 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(ii)(c)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust; 5 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 8 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(x))

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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: 2826524 9 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: HAZELMONT (KENT) LIMITED

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Midlands House, Gipsy Lane, Willenhall WV13 2HA

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Inspectors

Sheniz Hudaverdi, Social Care Inspector Georgia Carty, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2826524 10 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspectors

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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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