Children's Home run by Beacon Childcare Ltd in Staffordshire

Inspection report children's home: 2620698 1 Registered provider: Beacon Childcare Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home is operated by a private provider and is registered to care for up to 4 children with emotional and behavioural needs. Two children live in the home, and one child moved out during the inspection. Both children contributed to the inspection.

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Information about this children's home

A suitably qualified manager is in post.

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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 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: 2 September 2025

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 2620698 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/09/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/04/2024 Full Good 10/10/2023 Full Inadequate 07/01/2022 Interim Not judged Inspection report children's home: 2620698 3

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Summary of findings

Children's experiences are poor, and their progress is limited. Children are not kept safe. The quality and safety of the children's care have declined since the last inspection. The culture within the home is negative and punitive and the children do not receive consistent, nurturing care. Ongoing challenges continue to negatively affect children's day-to-day experiences. Leadership remains weak, and leaders are unable to drive or sustain improvements to ensure positive outcomes for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Serious failings in safeguarding practice, combined with weaknesses in leadership and management, underpin the judgement of inadequate. The impact of these failures means children's experiences are poor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children do not experience stable care due to the instability within the staff team. As a result, children are unable to build positive, trusting relationships with all of the adults caring for them. Children do not like being cared for by unfamiliar staff, and this negatively affects the children's sense of security and hinders their progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is a negative and punitive approach to the children. Language used by staff and within children's records is not child-focused and portrays the children negatively, assigning blame and putting unhelpful labels on their behaviours. This demonstrates a lack of understanding of children's experiences and contributes to a negative culture, where children are cared for by staff who hold and share unhelpful and disrespectful views about them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

No children have moved into the home since the last inspection. One child moved on from the home during the inspection because the staff could not meet their needs. The child was excited about this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite the challenges, children's interests are supported. One child enjoys going swimming and is looking forward to celebrating their upcoming birthday. Children are also eating more healthy foods which promotes good health. One child said they enjoy eating fruit. Inspection report children's home: 2620698 4

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

There are widespread failures in safeguarding practice and children do not feel safe in this home.

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

Clear and consistent boundaries for the children are not established, and staff fail to manage incidents in ways that prevent situations escalating to crisis point. This weakness is further compounded by the reliance on agency and bank staff. As a result, the children are left feeling unsettled and uncertain about what to expect from staff. On one occasion, an inexperienced staff member took the children to the park against the manager's advice. This poor practice increased the risk of harm to the children and resulted in the children going missing together with a child from another children's home.

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

Staff responses, when children go missing from home, are poor. This places children at substantial risk of harm due to their young ages. Staff responses lack urgency, and staff are slow to notify the police, delaying vital support to help locate and return children safely. On one occasion the police were not notified that the children were missing for 1 hour and 14 minutes. On another occasion an agency staff member was unfamiliar with the local area, which means they were unable to search for a missing child effectively.

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

Restraint practice has been used once. While the use of the restraint was proportionate, the incident was not well managed. Staff did not work together to de-escalate the situation or support the child in a calm, therapeutic way. An agency staff member did not respond when the manager called for support. This lack of teamwork may have negatively affected the child's sense of safety and emotional well-being.

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

The management of allegations remains insufficient. Children's concerns are not explored with sufficient professional curiosity or scrutiny, meaning the manager's response does not provide assurance that the child's voice is fully heard or that risks are properly assessed and safeguarding arrangements strengthened. There is also an over-reliance on external safeguarding partners to make safeguarding decisions.

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

Children do not live in a safe or well-maintained environment that they can be proud of. The garden contains rubbish, discarded items, and overgrown brambles and nettles, creating hazards, and parts of the patio area are unsecured. Inside the home areas are worn and damaged, including a boarded-up front-door panel, and some furniture, such as the lounge sofa, is dirty and broken. Although some responsive action was taken during the inspection and the manager requested repairs, they continue not to be prioritised by senior leaders.

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

Risk management plans remain weak. Known risks that the children face are not consistently assessed or updated when incidents occur. Therefore, staff do not have the guidance they need to keep children safe. This increases the likelihood that risks go unnoticed or unmanaged, leaving children more vulnerable to harm. Inspection report children's home: 2620698 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality and safety of children's care have declined since the last inspection and risk management is weak. Lessons have not been learned and some of the previously raised requirements are not met. Monitoring systems remain ineffective, and the home's improvement plan is not met. As a result, long-standing shortfalls remain. This demonstrates that leaders are unable to make or sustain changes to ensure safe and positive outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager wants the best for children, but he continues to work some shifts which reduces his capacity to fulfil his managerial duties. This limits his ability to provide effective oversight and drive necessary improvements. He feels supported by the responsible individual, but they are leaving the organisation. This weakens the manager's support network.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staffing continues to be a significant concern and the poor culture in the home goes unchallenged by leaders. In addition, leaders do not ensure that the staff have the skills that they need to care for the children well. While staff receive training to meet children's needs this is not effective in practice. This compromises children's safety and wellbeing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff share mixed views about the home's leadership. Overall morale is low, and staff report feeling exhausted and unsafe at work due to their ongoing struggles to meet the children's needs. The core staff team is small, and staff turnover is high, with two staff members resigning after only a short period of time. This instability of the staff team reflects weak leadership and is having a detrimental impact on staff well-being and the consistency and stability of care provided to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

While the manager has improved relationships with children's social workers, communication with parents remains a significant shortfall and has not been addressed. One parent has no confidence in leaders to keep the children safe, and they are unhappy with many aspects of their child’s care. They described communication as 'shocking' and they feel poorly informed and insufficiently involved in their child's care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff and the manager are now receiving regular supervision, which they describe as helpful and offer opportunities for reflection on their practice. Inspection report children's home: 2620698 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 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

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 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)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff understand their responsibilities to safeguard children and be able to manage the children's behaviours effectively to prevent incidents escalating to crisis point. 10 May 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2620698 7 Staff must work together effectively and be able to recognise risks and take effective action to reduce the risk of harm to children. Staff must also follow children's missing from home protocols to keep children safe and promote their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

Risks that the children face must be assessed and their plans must be updated after incidents to ensure guidance helps staff to keep children safe.

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Requirement Due date

The rear garden and the internal environment of the home must be safe and free from hazards for the children. The home must be maintained to a high standard, and any broken furniture must be replaced, with repairs completed in a timely way.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must have the skills to manage allegations that the children make. All allegations made must be sufficiently explored and scrutinised to ensure that the child's voice is heard, risks are assessed and safeguarding arrangements are strengthened.

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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; ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 10 May 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2620698 8 understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child

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Requirement Due date

and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— 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)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review and strengthen monitoring systems in place to ensure they are effective and drive improvements in children's care. Any shortfalls must be promptly addressed to keep children safe and promote their welfare in line with the home's statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, ensure all staff are skilled and competent to meet children's needs and keep them safe. Training must be embedded into practice, the home's culture improved, and action taken to raise staff morale.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children's home's overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children's needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand and apply the home's statement of purpose; ensure that staff— understand and apply the home's statement of purpose; protect and promote each child's welfare; treat each child with dignity and respect; 10 May 2026 Inspection report children's home: 2620698 9 provide personalised care that meets each child's needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child's background; (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children are cared for by staff who treat them with dignity and respect. Language used about children must be supportive and child-focused, helping them feel valued and to reach their full potential.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child's placing authority effectively in the child's care, in accordance with the child's relevant plans seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child's needs;

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children's home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that communication with children's families is effective, to keep them informed about the child's care and resolve any queries without delay.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was made at the last inspection and is restated. 10 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children's home: 2620698 10

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards'. Inspection report children's home: 2620698 11

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Beacon Childcare Ltd

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 155 Bromford Lane, Erdington, Birmingham B24 8DJ

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Inspectors

Amy Richards, Social Care Inspector Julia Tompson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 2620698 12 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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