Children's Home run by N H Care Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 1 Registered provider: N H Care 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 is registered to provide care for up to 5 children who have special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 5 children were living in the home. The inspector spoke with some of the children and spent time observing and interacting with others.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in June 2025.

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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: 11 February 2025

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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: 1276111 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2025 Full Good 28/02/2024 Full Good 21/11/2022 Full Good 28/07/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Poor behaviour management approaches and inadequate oversight by leaders and managers have negatively affected children’s experiences of living in the home. A lack of effective managerial oversight has meant that poor practice has not been identified or addressed promptly, leaving children vulnerable to harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home environment lacks any sense of children’s identity or interests. Carpets throughout the home are worn and dated. Most children’s bedrooms are sparsely furnished and do not reflect their interests or personalities. The poor quality of the home environment does not demonstrate to children that they are valued or cared for. This also creates an institutional atmosphere that fails to promote a sense of belonging for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children approaching adulthood are not being prepared for their next stage in life. They are not supported effectively to develop the skills they need for independent living or for moving on from the home. Some children’s health appointments are overdue and have not been rescheduled because the manager was unaware that these appointments had been missed. The manager does not challenge delays in children’s care plans, nor do they ensure that care planning documents are up to date or accessible to the staff responsible for supporting the children. This disorganised approach to care planning leaves children at risk of unmet needs and delays in receiving essential support.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The manager has implemented some communication aids for children who need them. However, the manager does not ensure that these aids are accessible to staff or consistently used to support children’s communication. As a result, children’s ability to express their wishes, feelings and experiences is limited, and their participation in decisions about their care is reduced.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child has moved into the home since the last inspection. The manager and staff supported a short but well-planned transition, which helped the child to have a positive experience when moving into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the shortfalls identified at this inspection, children have made some progress. Children build relationships with the adults who care for them, and warm, caring and nurturing interactions were observed between staff and children. These relationships provide children with some stability and emotional reassurance, despite significant weaknesses in the overall quality of care.

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

Leaders’ and managers’ oversight of behaviour management practice is significantly weak. As a result, safeguarding systems are not sufficiently robust to protect children when they are distressed or at risk of harm. Staff and managers use physical Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 4 intervention to support children; on some occasions, these interventions are appropriate and proportionate. However, on other occasions, physical interventions have been used when they were not necessary, and the level of force applied was not justified. This places children at risk of harm and does not promote a calm, safe or trauma-informed approach to behaviour management.

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

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff are trained in the home’s approved behaviour management model. Consequently, most physical interventions have involved staff using techniques that are not part of the home’s approved training, including the use of floor restraints. This practice exposes children to ongoing risk because staff are repeatedly using interventions for which they are not trained, and which could cause physical or emotional harm.

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

Incidents involving the manager are not routinely subject to independent review. This lack of oversight limits external scrutiny and undermines the objectivity required when evaluating incidents. In addition, the sharing of information with professionals following incidents is not sufficiently robust, which further reduces opportunities for independent scrutiny. As a result, there is limited assurance that incidents have been appropriately assessed, that concerns have been identified, and that learning has been addressed in a timely manner.

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

Leaders and managers fail to provide staff with opportunities for reflective discussions following incidents. This lack of structured debriefing reduces the likelihood that staff will feel confident to raise concerns or reflect openly on unsafe or ineffective practice. As a result, important learning is lost, and unsafe behaviours may continue unchecked.

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

Children are given opportunities to talk about their experiences following incidents. However, leaders and managers do not ensure that the agreed adaptive communication aids are used to support children to express their views, wishes and feelings. As a result, these discussions do not routinely help children understand their rights or provide clear opportunities for them to make a complaint if they wish. This means that children’s voices are not consistently heard, understood or acted on, leaving them vulnerable and limiting their ability to influence their own care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight and monitoring of the home are inadequate. Existing monitoring systems have failed to identify significant shortfalls in safeguarding practice and in the overall quality of care. Leaders and managers do not have effective oversight of children’s day-to-day experiences and are unable to recognise strengths or address weaknesses in practice. As a result, children are left vulnerable because concerns are neither identified nor responded to promptly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The appointed responsible individual has delegated their responsibilities to another senior leader within the organisation. The responsible individual did not notify Ofsted of this decision. This lack of transparency prevents the regulator from maintaining clear Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 5 oversight of who holds leadership responsibility and accountability for the quality of care provided to children. As a result, there is reduced assurance that children are being cared for by a leadership team with the appropriate authority, capacity, experience, skills and oversight to keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although leaders and managers ensure that children benefit from some continuity in staffing, they have not evaluated the impact of the high use of external agency workers.. Frequent changes in the adults caring for children limit opportunities for them to form secure, trusting relationships with staff who know them well or understand their communication styles and needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Additionally, leaders and managers do not assure themselves that agency staff have been safely recruited. The registered manager has not ensured that all safer recruitment checks are completed before agency staff work in the home. This exposes children to potential risk because the suitability of adults caring for them has not been verified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff have the necessary training, skills or experience to meet children’s complex emotional or health needs. For example, agency staff have not completed training relevant to children’s individual needs, and both permanent and agency staff lack the required training to care for children with diagnosed mental health conditions. This severely limits staff’s ability to respond to children in a therapeutic, attuned and safe way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers use team meetings as a space for shared reflection and learning. However, staff are not receiving regular supervision, and some have not had supervision for several months. This practice does not align with the home’s supervision policy and means that staff do not have consistent support or a professional space to reflect on their work with children. As a result, opportunities for learning, safeguarding reflection and emotional support for staff are missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Feedback from professionals is mixed. Some report positive communication and support from staff and managers, while others have raised concerns about the quality of care provided to children. This inconsistency reflects the lack of robust leadership oversight and reinforces that children’s experiences vary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff describe feeling supported by colleagues and managers, and parents speak positively about the care their children receive. While this reflects some strengths in relational practice, it does not mitigate the significant shortfalls in leadership, safeguarding oversight, or leaders’ failure to ensure that staff are safely vetted and appropriately trained to support children. Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 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 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 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

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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that their review and oversight systems are effective, so that practice is safe and improvements are made to the quality of care that children receive. 19 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 7 *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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff receive regular practice-related supervision from a person with appropriate skills and experience, in accordance with the organisation’s policies and procedures. 19 April 2026

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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;

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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

(Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)((iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff consistently apply the agreed behaviour management approaches when supporting children. 19 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 8 The registered person must also ensure that staff have the appropriate skills to manage children’s behaviour in accordance with the home’s behaviour management policy.

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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.

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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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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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 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must advocate for children and challenge local authorities when there are delays in decisions about children’s next stages. This specifically relates to ensuring that plans for children approaching 18 are finalised as early as possible and that they are adequately prepared for adulthood.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must also ensure that children’s health appointments are kept up to date. 3 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing—

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Requirement Due date

injury to any person (including the child);

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Requirement Due date

serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). 19 April 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 9 Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that when children are restrained the intervention is necessary, proportionate and applied with least force.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vii)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the home environment is welcoming, well maintained and personalised to reflect children’s interests and identities, and that it creates a homely and nurturing environment for children. 3 May 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 10 The registered person must also ensure that adaptive communication aids are available and accessible to enable children to share their views and contribute meaningfully to their daily care.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that appropriate action is taken to confirm that all agency staff have been safely recruited and that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to Schedule 2. 19 April 2026

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5)(a) to (c); and

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (1) (7)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that the responsible individual has oversight of the service and supervises the management of the home. Additionally, Ofsted must be notified without delay of any changes that affect their role in providing oversight of the home in line with regulatory requirements. 3 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 11

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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: 1276111 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 69 Steward Street Business Lofts, Steward Street, Birmingham B18 7AF

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Inspector

Nateisha Cardoza-Evans, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1276111 13 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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

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