Woodland Initiative

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 1 Woodland Initiative Registered provider: Woodland Initiative Limited

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

provider

A private provider owns this supported accommodation service. It offers 3 self- contained premises that are specifically for the sole use of one person.

p.1

provider

At the time of this inspection, one looked-after child or care leaver aged 16 and 17 was using the service.

p.1

provider

The provider and the previous service manager registered with Ofsted in June 2024. The nominated individual and registered service manager roles were held by the same person, who was also the director of the organisation. They resigned from these roles in August 2024. A new manager took on both roles and registered with Ofsted in June 2025. They left the service on 14 November 2025. A new manager is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted as the service manager and to take on the role of nominated individual.

p.1

provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 16 March 2026 and started that day. The inspector was on site on 18 and 19 March 2026.

p.1

Outcome

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children’s experiences, and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months.

p.1

Summary of findings

Some children have left the service since the last inspection because their needs exceeded the scope of supported accommodation. The one remaining child is making progress and enjoys positive relationships with staff.

p.1

Summary of findings

Leaders and managers have not carried out a review of the quality of the service since registration. This prevents them from developing the service. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 2 Staff now better understand risks to children’s safety. They are vigilant and responsive to any potential safeguarding concerns.

p.1

Summary of findings

Staff said that they feel appreciated and valued by the new management team. This support helps staff to better meet children’s needs as they prepare for adulthood and independence.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

Since the last inspection, 3 children have left the service because their needs were not aligned with supported accommodation. Staff offer nurturing support to the one remaining child, and the child continues to make progress. One professional said, ‘I know that [name of child] is very supported by the staff, and they have made immense progress since living there.’

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff spend quality time with the child and support them to develop life skills that will help them when they move to their own tenancy in the future. The child continues to learn skills such as budgeting, shopping, cooking, laundry and travelling independently. The system that leaders and managers use to track children’s progress shows the child the progress they have made and what they need to work on. This helps the child to celebrate their own progress and be proud of their achievements.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

The consistent staff act as positive adult role models and a reliable source of support to the child. Relationship-based practices are based on the staff members’ genuine interest in the child. Furthermore, the nurture and acceptance shown towards the child helps them to trust adults and open up to them about a range of issues that impact on their progress and development.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff encourage the child to reconnect with education services. Staff supported the child to complete a CV, and the child is actively seeking employment. This shows that the child is now learning to take control of their future and gain financial independence.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff prioritise the child’s physical and emotional wellbeing. This helps the child to arrange and attend health appointments with staff support should they need it.

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children

The quality of the accommodation provides a comfortable and homely environment. The child has personalised their room to suit their preferences. This helps them to invest in their home and develop life skills for the future.

p.2

How well children are helped and protected

At the time of the last monitoring visit, management monitoring systems were implemented to ensure that children’s accommodation was consistently well maintained and safe from avoidable hazards. These systems did not reliably show that the required checks were consistently being completed. The new proposed Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 3 registered service manager continues to develop these systems, but further work is required.

p.2

How well children are helped and protected

The location assessment does not include up-to-date crime statistics. This does not show how leaders and managers mitigate the known risks to minimise any potential harm to children.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

Although the child has not been physically held, the behaviour management policy does not guide staff on the action that they must take should this be required. This is a missed opportunity for managers to ensure that staff adhere to good practice guidelines in these circumstances.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

There are no robust systems to manage allegations against senior leaders in the organisation. This does not provide independent oversight to managing any allegations transparently and safely.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

The child’s safety and welfare are promoted effectively. The significant reduction of missing-from-home incidents and associated risks in recent months is evidenced in the child’s enhanced stability and improved sense of worth. The staff understand the child’s risks, and they have access to up-to-date risk assessments and the missing from home protocol should they need to use them. Safeguarding training supports the staff to be alert to any specific safeguarding concerns for the child.

p.3

How well children are helped and protected

The safety work that staff have completed with the child is helping the child to understand how to keep themself safe both at home and in the community. One professional said, ‘Staff are proactive in keeping the child safe and work with them rather than against them.’ Leaders’ and managers’ collaborations with other agencies promote effective working-together relationships. This helps to safeguard the current child and children who are placed in the future.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Since the last inspection, the proposed registered service manager has demonstrated a positive commitment to steering the development of the service. They have addressed the majority of the requirements raised at the last full inspection.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The proposed registered manager shows positive leadership. He is child centred and highly visible to the child and to the staff team. He is invested in leading and managing a supported accommodation service that adheres to the regulations. This has taken the team ‘back to basics’ to grow a service that reflects the proposed registered manager’s vision and expectations.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The proposed registered service manager has insight into what is working well and what needs to be strengthened. The improvements made so far will need time to fully embed in practice. The quality of review report has still not been completed. This was a requirement raised at the last full inspection because no report has been submitted since the service was registered. This is a missed opportunity for the Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 4 manager to analyse the safety, experience and progress of children and set any actions to improve. Furthermore, the manager has not sourced suitable arrangements for his own supervision. This may limit opportunities for the proposed registered manager to reflect on decisions and emerging risks and supervise and develop the staff team effectively.

p.3

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The statement of purpose does not reflect the current practice across the service. For example, children’s entitlements and how people can access the child protection policies are not included. The independence model that is used to promote and monitor children’s outcomes contradicts the information in the statement of purpose, which refers to 3-hourly welfare check-ins with children when they are out.

p.4

The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff said that they now feel appreciated and valued in their role and that this helps to motivate them to embrace the changes being made to the service. They now receive regular supervision, training and guidance to support them in their role. This is alongside regular team meetings, handovers and check-ins with the manager. This helps to keep the staff up to date with the child’s progress. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 5

p.4

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain a system for monitoring and improving the quality of support provided by the supported accommodation undertaking by completing a review (“a quality of support review”) at least once every six months, which must take into account—

p.5

Requirement Due date

the views of children, including any feedback and complaints received;

p.5

Requirement Due date

feedback from individual children on the impact the supported accommodation has had on the child’s life, especially regarding how well prepared the child felt for transition into supported accommodation and how well prepared the child feels for transition out of supported accommodation;

p.5

Requirement Due date

feedback from each child’s accommodating authority, staff and any relevant persons;

p.5

Requirement Due date

any relevant research and developments in relation to the way in which the needs of children are best met.

p.5

Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of support review, the registered person must produce a written report setting out the actions the registered person intends to take as a result of that quality of support review.

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the review report to the CIECSS within 28 days beginning with the day on which the report is completed, and make a copy of it available on request to each child’s accommodating authority. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2)(3)) 29 May 2026

p.5

Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the following matters in respect of the supported accommodation undertaking— 29 May 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 6 the services it provides for children it accommodates and supports;

p.5

Requirement Due date

the arrangements in place to ensure a child is fully aware of their entitlements throughout the duration of their placement in supported accommodation;

p.6

Requirement Due date

details of how a person involved in the support or protection of a child can access the supported accommodation undertaking’s child protection policies. (Regulation 9 (c)(j)(r))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose is reviewed to reflect current practice. This includes updated information in relation to children’s entitlements, access to the child protection policies and welfare checks of children.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

p.6

Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 18 (4)(b))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the proposed nominated individual and proposed registered service manager are appropriately supervised. 29 May 2026

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

p.6

Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children from abuse or neglect,

p.6

Requirement Due date

and sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular—

p.6

Requirement Due date

provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the accommodating authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the premises in which the child is accommodated are located;

p.6

Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response; 29 May 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 7 describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(d)(f))

p.6

Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the safeguarding policy details the procedures to manage allegations against senior leaders and managers.

p.7

Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the behaviour management policy sets out measures that should be taken following any exceptional use of restraint which may only be used in relation to young people in the service where it is deemed an appropriate and proportionate response to preventing injury on the very rare and unforeseen occasions where the young person presents an immediate danger to themselves or those around them, or to prevent serious damage to property. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 56)  The registered person should ensure that the location assessment focuses on any potential safeguarding concerns and that it involves consultation with appropriate local services which may include the police, the local authority’s children’s services, clinical commissioning groups and other persons the registered person deems relevant. This information should be used to identify and mitigate against

p.7

Recommendations

a range of risks such as extra-familial risks and exploitation. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’, page 28)

p.7

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children 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 Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 8

p.7

Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Woodland Initiative Limited

p.8

Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: Brimahar, Lowfield Lane, Fitling, Hull HU12 9BJ

p.8

Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Woodland Initiative 9 to 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

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

p.9