Children's Home run by Fair Ways Community Benefit Society in Hampshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 1 Registered provider: Fair Ways

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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 owned by a large charity and is registered to provide care for up to 6 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, there were 4 children living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager have been registered with Ofsted since 23 May 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered provider has recently appointed a new responsible individual, and we are currently checking this person has the relevant capacity, experience and skills to carry out the role.

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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: 18 November 2025

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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: 2827029 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/11/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 3

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Summary of findings

Staff are not consistently delivering care that helps all children to make progress. There are positive relationships between children and staff. However, recent disharmony between children has made it harder for them to participate safely in positive group activities.

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Summary of findings

Children are not always supported by staff effectively to help them to become increasingly safe. Learning from incidents is not well-embedded or used to support staff development and safer practice.

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Summary of findings

Staff receive some good support from an experienced manager. However, leaders and managers had not identified many of the shortfalls identified prior to this inspection.

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improvement to be good

Children’s progress is variable. One child has made notable progress since moving into the home. Other children are making some progress, however, this is less consistent and not always in line with their assessed needs or potential because staff are not familiar with children’s care planning and goals.

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improvement to be good

Relationships between staff and children are generally positive. Inspectors observed interactions characterised by warmth, humour and mutual respect, which help children to feel comfortable and build trust with staff. Staff actively celebrate children’s achievements with them.

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improvement to be good

All children are actively engaging in education, and staff demonstrate a commitment to supporting their learning. However, children’s educational targets are not actively recorded or regularly reviewed. As a result, staff do not always have a clear understanding of each child’s goals or the strategies required to help them progress.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to access community resources that enhance their overall wellbeing. However, a recent increase of incidents between children has reduced the opportunity for shared activities. As a result, children are not consistently benefiting from the social experiences that help build and strengthen healthy peer relationships.

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improvement to be good

When children move into the home, this is child led and informed by good multi-agency arrangements being in place. However, ongoing care planning lacks consistency. Some staff are not familiar with children’s care plans, which leads to a sense of uncertainty for children and inconsistency in staff practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 4 Although children express their wishes and feelings through meetings and discussions with professionals, they do not have access to effective independent advocacy. The independent visitor regularly visits the home and speaks with the children. However, children say that they do not feel heard, which undermines their confidence that their views influence decisions about their lives.

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improvement to be good

Therapeutic intervention is provided by appropriate skilled and experienced professionals. However, the practices outlined in the home’s statement of purpose are not yet embedded into practice. Senior leaders have failed to ensure that staff are sufficiently trained in the home’s specific model of care. There are plans in place to ensure that staff gain the required knowledge and skills to enable the model of care to be consistently applied to support the progress of children.

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improvement to be good

Children do not benefit from regular purposeful key-work sessions. This means there is limited capacity for children to talk about their experiences prior to living in the home and to explore the impact these experiences continue to have on them.

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improvement to be good

Staff actively support children to access necessary medical and health professionals, including specialist services. This helps to ensure that children’s physical and mental health needs are consistently met.

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improvement to be good

Staff recognise the importance of children spending meaningful time with their families and with the people who matter most to them. Therefore, children maintain strong connections to their heritage, identity and sense of belonging.

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improvement to be good

There is a lack of strong and proactive responses from staff and managers when serious incidents occur between children. In addition, children are not always supported to understand their behaviour or the impact it has on others. This limits opportunities to reduce risk, promote learning and strengthen positive peer relationships.

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improvement to be good

For some children, staff have agreed protocols with the child’s network to ensure effective responses to repeated and verifiably unfounded allegations. However, staff have sometimes relied on the terms of the protocol to respond to allegations of harm. In doing so, staff have not addressed concerns according to the appropriate safeguarding channels at the earliest opportunity, nor taken the actions needed to ensure children’s wellbeing and safety.

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improvement to be good

On one occasion, when a child disclosed information relating to a member of staff, this was not addressed in line with the home’s child protection policy. The member of staff remained in the home, albeit not in immediate contact with children. No action was taken by leaders and managers to address this decision. Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 5 Serious incidents are generally notified to the relevant professionals. On occasion, leaders and managers have omitted to send these to Ofsted. As a result, the regulator does not have a comprehensive oversight of all safeguarding matters.

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improvement to be good

Investigations into incidents and staff practice concerns are managed promptly, which demonstrates an appropriate initial response to concerns. However, there is no learning shared with staff or the wider organisation when these investigations are concluded. Senior leaders and managers do not have informed oversight of investigations completed by other registered managers regarding staff from this home. As a result, opportunities for learning and review are being missed, and this limits the managers’ ability to reduce incidents of harm.

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improvement to be good

Children’s risk assessments are comprehensive, and staff generally have a good understanding of each child’s behaviours and needs. However, inconsistent interpretation of the wording within these assessments means staff do not always follow them consistently. This is particularly evident in areas such as supervision levels and staff ratios. As a result, children become confused when expectations and approaches change from one staff member to another. In addition, children could be exposed to unsafe situations if not appropriately supervised.

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improvement to be good

When children leave the home without permission or return late, staff follow the agreed process. However, the reason for the child’s absence is not explored thoroughly when the child returns. Nonetheless, staff make every effort to ensure the safe return of children at the earliest opportunity.

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improvement to be good

The administration of medication is generally good. When errors have occurred, the registered manager and staff have taken appropriate action to address these shortfalls. As a result, the number of errors has reduced.

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improvement to be good

Health and safety, including fire safety, is maintained. A concern raised during the inspection was immediately rectified.

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

The home is managed by an experienced registered manager and a proactive deputy. However, their knowledge and experience are not always shared effectively with staff, meaning staff are not consistently equipped to fulfil their roles and responsibilities or to support children’s progress. This reduces the home’s capacity to ensure continuous improvement and to provide consistently safe, high ‑ quality care for children.

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

Monitoring systems are not currently effective and learning from safeguarding incidents is not being used to inform the development of the service. In addition, quality assurance processes have not identified the shortfalls found during the inspection. This limits senior leaders and the registered manager’s ability to maintain a clear understanding of the home’s performance and to take timely action to address emerging concerns. Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 6 Leaders and managers actively seek feedback from children, parents and stakeholders. The independent person offers an additional layer of scrutiny. However, recommendations and learning are not consistently reflected in practice.

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

Positively, all staff told inspectors that they are well supported and receive regular supervision. Staff said they welcome this as an opportunity to discuss practice and their own wellbeing. Therefore, the requirement set at the last inspection has been met.

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

Team meetings provide staff with a reflective space to discuss operational tasks and actions. Additionally, new staff say that they received a thorough induction to enable them to confidently commence their first shift.

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

Leaders and managers support staff to learn strategies that help them maintain expected standards. As a result, all staff have completed mandatory training. In addition, relevant staff are enrolled on the appropriate courses to gain the necessary qualifications within expected timeframes. Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 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 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

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

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(v)) 30 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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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

is given appropriate advocacy support. (Regulation 7 (2)(b)(iii)) 31 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 8 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

mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(iv)(vi)(vii)(b)) 30 September 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1)(ii)(iv)(v)) 31 August 2026

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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 30 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 9 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

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)(b)(c)(f)(h))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. If a child’s progress is not in line with their agreed targets or next steps, staff should seek expert advice from education professionals, such as the virtual school head, SENCO, learning mentor or teacher. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)-(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 10 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: 2827029 11

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Registered provider: Fair Ways

Registered provider address: Fair Ways, Building 1000, Lakeside North Harbour, Western Road, Portsmouth, Hampshire PO6 3EN

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Inspectors

Jill Sephton-Wright, Social Care Inspector (Lead) Vicki Horton, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2827029 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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