Children's Home run by HMO NE Ltd in Sunderland

Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 1 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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 and managed by a private provider. The home provides care for up to 3 children who may experience emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post is vacant. An interim manager is in post and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There are 3 children living in the home. The inspector spoke with all 3 children during the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 2 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/04/2025 Full Good 16/04/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/10/2023 Full Good 07/06/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 3 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Summary of findings

Children are making progress in the home, and professionals and parents are happy with the care provided to them. All 3 children say that they want to remain living in the home long term. Staff have positive and nurturing relationships with the children, and they work hard to identify and manage risk. Some risks require further review and updating risk assessments to ensure that the needs of all the children are met consistently. There has been a high turnover of managers, and the manager post is currently vacant. An interim manager is in place, who has significantly improved practice and oversight since coming to the home. Overall, the children receive good care in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children say that they are happy in the home, enjoy living there and feel supported and well cared for by staff. All 3 children are making progress and say that they would wish to remain living in the home long term.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build positive and nurturing relationships with the children. All interactions observed between staff and the children were positive, playful and affectionate. Children say that they enjoy spending time with staff and taking part in activities with them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children come to the home, they say that they feel welcomed and that staff take their views into account. One child spoke positively about the staff making sure that they had a whole new wardrobe and that their room was ‘just the way I want it.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to prepare for their independence and next steps, with staff encouraging children to undertake tasks to build their skills and confidence. Children are helped to maintain and rebuild important family relationships, helping them to maintain connections that will be important to them in their future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are helped to overcome barriers to attending education, with one child saying that they now attend education because of the help given to them by the staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large, and children have a lot of individual space. Children’s bedrooms are reflective of their tastes and interests. However, some areas of the home require some maintenance to ensure that this is a welcoming environment and meets the needs of the children.

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

Children say that they feel safe and that they want to remain living in the home. Professionals and parents have consistently said that they think the children are safe and their risks have reduced since living in the home. Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 4 OFSTED USE ONLY

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

Staff work hard to build relationships and trust with the children, so that children feel comfortable sharing their views and the things that are going on in their lives. Children say that they feel like staff care about them and that they can speak to staff if they need help or support.

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

Since the interim manager has taken over the home, there has been a significant reduction in police call-outs. Previously, police were called to manage behaviour. The manager accepts that this was an area that needed developing in the home. The manager has provided training and reflection for staff about the appropriate use of the police.

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

Some risks have reduced, including instances of children going missing from home. However, some of the children’s risks are not fully reflected and updated in the children’s plans and risk assessments. Staff work hard to identify and manage risk. However, without effectively updated risk assessments and clear support plans, there is a gap in how effective and consistent this support can be.

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

Most serious incidents have been notified to Ofsted. However, there has been one occasion when police were called to the home, due to threats having been made to a child, that was not notified to Ofsted. This prevents Ofsted from scrutinising information to ensure that children are safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a high turnover of managers, and the manager post is currently vacant. Since the interim manager has come to the home, there has been significant progress made with staff practice and management oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager accepts that previous oversight was inconsistent, with there being gaps in recordings and managers’ actions. The current interim manager has used her own oversight systems to improve the overall consistency of the management response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported by the current interim manager and that there has been a greater level of management oversight than in previous management arrangements in the home. Staff receive regular and reflective supervision sessions since the interim manager has joined the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager seeks the children’s views in a variety of ways and undertakes consultations to seek feedback from children. When children make requests, these are considered, and children consistently receive a response. Similarly, when complaints are made, the manager ensures that the children are given feedback, with any actions clearly explained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some of the recording in the home is inconsistent in quality and lacks child-focused language. Similarly, some consequences that children have been given are not naturally matched to the behaviour of the children. This is something the interim manager is Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 5 OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

developing and has made progress in. The interim manager has plans in place to further increase staff consistency around this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a large number of agency staff who have worked in the home. This has reduced significantly since the interim manager has been in place, providing more consistency of care to the children. The manager has a plan in place to further reduce the number of agency staff being used in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There remain some workers in the home who have passed the relevant date for qualifications. This was a requirement made at the previous inspection and no progress has been made. For this reason, this has been restated. Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 6 OFSTED USE ONLY

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 21 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 21 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 21 October 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 7 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (1) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with a nurturing environment that is welcoming and is maintained effectively to meet the needs of all the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature and that a consistent approach is taken, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that they only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered

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Recommendations

the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should ensure that every effort is taken to achieve continuity of staffing so that children’s attachments are not overly disrupted, including ensuring that the employment of any temporary staff will not prevent children from receiving the continuity of care that they need. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 51, paragraph 10.1) Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 8 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Recommendations

 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 that the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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 for children's home: 2569358 9 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hallgate House, 9 Grange Terrace, Sunderland SR2 7DF

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Inspector

Dawn McCluskey, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2569358 10 OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspector

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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