Children's Home run by LM Care Homes Limited in Warwickshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 1 Registered provider: LM Care Homes 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 privately owned and provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home and spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in October 2025. The registered manager has left, and a new manager has been appointed. They have not applied to be registered with Ofsted. This is 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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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 2

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Summary of findings

Children’s progress and experiences are mixed. When children move into the home, their plans are not always thorough. A lack of good daily routines impacts children’s health and wellbeing. Staff do not always consistently manage children’s behaviours well. Furthermore, some staff do not receive regular and practice-related supervision to develop their practice and learning.

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Summary of findings

The staffing arrangements at nighttime are ineffective in preventing a child from leaving the home. Managers do not ensure that staff receive appropriate training and appraisals to support their learning and development needs to better support children.

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Summary of findings

Staff promote children to be independent, offer a range of activities and support family time. They demonstrate a good understanding of safeguarding and reporting procedures. Staff speak positively about the new manager, and overall feedback from professionals is positive.

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences of living in the home are mixed. Before one child moved into the home, the plans did not fully consider the views of important people in the child’s life. Furthermore, there was a lack of professional curiosity about known risks and behaviours. This impacted staff’s ability to fully understand the child’s vulnerabilities and risks. Consequently, staff were unable to meet the child’s needs, and this led to the child experiencing an abrupt ending and unplanned move. This impacted on the child’s sense of stability or security.

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improvement to be good

Staff support and encourage children to attend routine health appointments. They speak with children about their health needs, seeking support from external health professionals, such as specialist services for substance misuse. However, children are not always supported by staff to ensure their emotional health is protected. For example, staff did not provide clear and consistent boundaries when one child was spending a significant amount of time in their bedroom playing on electrical devises. This impacted their emotional wellbeing and affected the child’s participation and engagement in education and social interactions.

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improvement to be good

Children are offered a wide range of enjoyable activities. One child has recently joined the gym and is being supported to identify a local football club. Additionally, staff support children to learn skills such as cooking and to complete household tasks. These opportunities help children build confidence in key areas and make positive memories of living in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 3 Staff support children to spend time with family and friends. They work closely with social workers to plan safe and meaningful time with the people who are important to them. Additionally, staff welcome family members into the home and offer practical help, such as transport, when needed.

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improvement to be good

Children live in a warm and homely environment. They are supported to personalise their bedrooms, and staff involve children when making decisions about the home. For example, one child is helping to make changes to the home’s second lounge, developing it into a games room. This ensures children feel part of decisions made about their home.

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improvement to be good

Waking night staff do not remain alert when children are awake through the night. On occasion, one child left the home at night without staff knowing. Initial strategies implemented, such as door alarms to the child’s bedroom and window restrictors, were ineffective in preventing the child from leaving the home during the night. Following these incidents, additional strategies were put in place to safeguard the child.

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improvement to be good

Some staff do not have the skills and confidence to manage behaviour well. Strategies identified by the home’s therapist to support one child’s sensory needs are not fully understood and used by staff. As a result, attempts to de-escalate behaviours have become effective. There have been 2 occasions that have required police involvement to manage behaviours.

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improvement to be good

The child currently living in the home said that they feel safe and well cared for. They have trusted adults they can talk with, and they understand how to make a complaint if needed. This contributes to their overall sense of safety.

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improvement to be good

Staff are clear about their safeguarding responsibilities. They are confident in raising concerns and understand how to escalate them should they need to, including using the whistleblowing procedure.

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improvement to be good

The manager has good safer recruitment processes in place. This helps them to assess the most suitable adult to work in the home with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has monitoring systems in place to help them review the quality of care children receive. However, these are not always effective. Staff do not always have the required skills and knowledge in managing complex needs and one child’s sensory needs were not identified and addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is a wide range of training and development opportunities for staff. However, staff did not receive specific training in respect of one child’s individual needs before the child Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 4 moved into the home. This affects staff’s confidence and ability to fully support the child’s vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have not consistently received regular supervision or probation reviews. Although the new manager is addressing this, this is a missed opportunity to support staff in their practice, develop their learning and skills and ensure they evaluate staff members’ emotional wellbeing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Overall feedback from professionals is positive. One social worker said, ‘They have been amazing. I feel really lucky to have found them. They have embraced [Name of child] and celebrated their successes.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff feel supported by the new manager. He is child focused and committed to improving the quality of care children receive while living in the home. One staff member said, ‘He is very supportive, always here for us and includes us in decisions.’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 5

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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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that effective strategies are in place to reduce risk of harm and that strategies implemented are understood and followed by staff. 20 May 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— 20 May 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 6 that arrangements are in place to—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risks and vulnerabilities are fully considered before they move into the home. In addition, ensure that any risks can be managed safely and children are supported appropriately when they move out of the home.

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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; 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)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must have effective monitoring and reviewing systems in place to improve the 20 May 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 7 quality of care provided for children. In addition, ensure that staff have the skills and experience to meet children’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that healthy habits and routines are promoted to support children’s health and wellbeing and that staff consistently follow these approaches. 20 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(b) (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff receive effective supervision and that probation reviews take place. 20 May 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 8

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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: 2849171 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: LM Care Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Springfield House, Springfield Road, Horsham, West Sussex RH12 2RG

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Inspector

Kirsty Truesdale, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2849171 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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