Children's Home run by Homes 2 Inspire Limited in Somerset

Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire 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 part of a partnership with a placing authority to provide care for up to 2 children with social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

Two children were living in the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children's home

There has been no registered manager in post since 28 February 2026. A new manager has been recruited, but they are yet to start working in the home and to apply to register with Ofsted.

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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 inadequate

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/04/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 3

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Summary of findings

Children have made limited progress. Inconsistencies in staffing have impacted the quality of care and support that children receive and the relationships in the home. Children do not always have positive experiences. Poor leadership and management practices have had a significant impact on the running of the home and the care that children receive. There is limited oversight and review of staff practice and children's progress and experiences. Leaders and managers are aware of the shortfalls and have implemented actions to improve the care provided.

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improvement to be good

Due to ongoing changes and inconsistencies in staffing, many of the staff have not built the trusting, safe and secure relationships required to provide children with the care that they need. Staff who have built positive relationships with the children are having to overcompensate for staff who have not. This has led to unrest and instability for children. One child is experiencing a profound lack of boundaries and routine. This has adversely impacted their overall lived experiences.

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improvement to be good

Staff spend time with children with the aim of building positive relationships. They talk to children about important things in their life, such as friendships, puberty and their aspirations. Staff spend time with children to gain their views, wishes and feelings about the home and the care that they receive. However, children do not feel that staff listen to them and act following these conversations. This prevents children from building trust and feeling settled in the home.

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improvement to be good

One child is supported to engage with their online learning. Staff share information with other agencies and have advocated for the child to receive the support and education that they need. This has provided the child with a sense of achievement. Staff are not supporting another child to attend education. They are rarely encouraged to engage in meaningful, structured activities to promote learning and develop skills. This limits the child's opportunities to make progress, develop life skills and prepare for adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of children's health needs. Concerns about children's mental health are monitored and they are encouraged to engage with specialised support services. One child's self-harming behaviours have reduced. Prompt and thorough action has been taken to address a serious medication error. Staff encourage one child to lead a more active lifestyle, supporting them to access the gym and outdoor activities, such as football. One child said that staff provide them with good support to lead a healthier lifestyle. However, staff are not consistently providing support that is essential for their medical condition. This causes concern that the child may experience poor physical health, which could lead to hospitalisation. Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 4 Staff recognise how important family is to children. They build positive relationships with children's families. Staff consider all relevant risks and work with external professionals

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improvement to be good

to ensure that necessary safety measures are in place. This has resulted in children spending positive, quality time with those who they care about.

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improvement to be good

Staff have appropriately used restraint to prevent injury and harm to children and themselves. In addition, the number of incidents and damage to the home have reduced. However, guidance and techniques that aim to keep children safe and end incidents before restrictive measures are required are seldom effective. Leaders and managers' oversight of incidents rarely analyses and evaluates staff practice and children's behaviour. This limits opportunities to consider what could be done to improve planning, develop staff practice and better support children.

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improvement to be good

Children do not always receive support to reflect on their behaviours. When reflective conversations do take place, the quality of them is mixed. On occasion, children are supported to reflect on their behaviour and risks, such as self-harm, vaping and using cannabis. However, incidents of abusive language, arguing, serious assaults and damage to the home are rarely addressed. Staff's attempts to engage a child in reparation work have been unsuccessful. One child's negative experience in the home has led to them feel unsafe without their bedroom door being locked. This places children at increased risk of feeling unsafe and does not support them to understand the impact and consequences of their behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Planning for the event that children go missing from the home is robust. Staff share essential information and communicate with other professionals and children's friends and family members. Effective planning and risk management has led to one child having more freedom. This has meant that staff have knowledge of the child's location and the child no longer goes missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Allegations of poor and unsafe staff practice are investigated. Information is gathered from a range of sources to allow for thorough investigations that focus on staff practice, the child's experience and views, and whether further action is required. Children are consulted before staff return to work. This provides reassurance that concerns are acknowledged and appropriately addressed to ensure the safety of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of the home have been not effective in ensuring that children are receiving the quality of care that they need. Requirements made at the previous inspection have not been addressed. There is currently no registered manager in place. Interim management arrangements have provided some stability and staff said that they feel supported by leaders and managers. However, leaders and managers have not been effective in maintaining oversight of the home, addressing practice concerns and ensuring that children have positive experiences. Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 5 Leaders and managers accept that the inconsistencies in staffing have impacted negatively on children. A full staff team, including a manager, has now been recruited but is not yet in place. Leaders believe that this will be positive for the home. However, there has been no action taken to determine why providing children with a consistent

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

staff team has been so difficult and what can be done to prevent staff from leaving. This risks the likelihood of children continuing to have negative experiences due to the churn of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is limited management oversight of documents about children. At times when there is oversight, essential information and risk are not highlighted or considered. Leaders and managers were unaware of an allegation made by a child, the shaming of a child by a staff member, a member of staff shouting at a child and an assault on a staff member, despite these concerns being recorded in children's documents. Leaders and managers said that action would be taken to address all of these concerns. However, the failure to see and address these concerns has left children at risk of harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not fully consider how the care that children receive impacts on the lived experiences of children. Children's plans provide little guidance for staff on how to meet children's needs. They provide no mechanism for managers to evaluate how staff are supporting children to make progress. Leaders and managers are not ensuring that staff are completing essential work with children around risk. The progress that children make is not evaluated and there is rarely evidence of the monitoring of staff practice to consider how this impacts children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Planning for a child to move into the home was not robust. Leaders and managers identified risks that were individual to each child who would live in the home. However, they did not complete analysis or evaluation of the potential impact of each risk on the other child and how this could be managed, reduced or mitigated. On planning for a child to move into the home, the child already living in the home was consulted. However, managers did not provide the child with accurate information on how life in the home could change or how this could impact on them. This has led to serious incidents occurring in the home and both children having upsetting and negative experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not reflected effectively after a child moved out of the home due to staff not being able to meet their needs. The review that has been completed does not consider the experiences of the children who lived in the home, nor does it highlight any learning points for the staff and the wider leadership and management team. This does not reflect a learning culture.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff complete all training identified as mandatory by the provider. However, more- specific training that would benefit staff and decrease risks, such as bite-release training, has not been considered.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff attend regular team meetings and supervision sessions. These focus on the care of the children and have a safeguarding aspect. Managers have recognised a need to Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 6 change the culture in the home and the need for staff to work as a team and communicate more effectively with each other. Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 7

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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 has sufficient staff to provide care for 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they monitor and review documents about children and staff practice.

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Requirement Due date

In addition: 25 May 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 8  the registered person must ensure that they evaluate the progress that children make;

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Requirement Due date

 the registered person must ensure that staffing in the home provides children with the care and consistency that they require;

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Requirement Due date

 the registered person must ensure that staff make children feel listened to and treat them with honesty, openness and transparency;

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Requirement Due date

 the registered person must ensure that children are engaged with meaningful and reflective discussions following incidents and in relation to areas of known risk; and

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Requirement Due date

 the registered person must ensure that thorough reviews of children's experiences, decision-making and staff practice are completed following children moving out of the home.

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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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended 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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(a)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that planning to meet the needs of children and meet the aims of the placement is clear and directive.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that they provide staff with clear guidance on how to meet children's needs.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that robust 25 May 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 9 evaluation and analysis of all available or required information about all children is completed before a decision is made for a child to move into the home.

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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— that staff—

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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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are supported to have positive relationships in the home and to not intentionally harm or upset each other.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that appropriate action is taken to address behaviours that cause harm to others.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that staff educate children about risk. 25 May 2026

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 25 June 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 10 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child's education and training targets, as recorded in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child's learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are supported to attend education or to complete educational activities.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that work is completed to highlight the importance of education and to identify and overcome barriers to accessing education.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; 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

that staff help each child to— 25 May 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 11 achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child's wellbeing. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children's health needs are well planned for and prioritised.

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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— that staff—

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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. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should ensure that staff provide children with routine and boundaries. 25 May 2026

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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: 2812978 12

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Black Country House, Rounds Green Road, Oldbury B69 2DG

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Inspector

Carla Simkiss, Social Care inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2812978 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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