Children's Home run by N H Care Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 1 SC467264 Registered provider: N H Care 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

A private company operates the home. The home registered with Ofsted in 2013 to provide care for up to 4 children with emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home. All 3 spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children's home

The registered manager's post has been vacant since 20 March 2026. Since that time, day-to-day oversight of the home has been provided by the provider's operations manager alongside a manager from one of the provider's other homes. A permanent manager has recently been recruited. They are yet 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 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: 11 February 2026

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: On 17 February 2026, Ofsted issued 2 compliance notices, under Regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and Regulation 13, the leadership and management standard. A monitoring visit took place Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 2 on the 21 April 2026. At that visit, it was identified that the compliance notice under Regulation 12 was met. The compliance notice under Regulation 13 was reissued. Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2026 Full Inadequate 26/11/2024 Full Good 02/01/2024 Full Good 10/05/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 4

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Summary of findings

This was the home's first full inspection following an inadequate judgement in February of 2026. The inspection identified progress. The compliance notice raised under Regulation 13 has been met, alongside requirements made under Regulations 5 and 33.

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Summary of findings

While the inspection identified that children were settled and making progress, gaps in management oversight, poor care planning, delay in action from children's plans being addressed, poor staff practice around consequences and medication management and lax safer recruitment practices resulted in a judgement that the home requires improvement in all areas to be good.

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Summary of findings

The shortfalls identified resulted in requirements being made under Regulations 13, 6, 14 and 32. Alongside 2 recommendations.

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improvement to be good

Children do not always receive care that is effectively planned or that meets their needs. Children's plans are not always up to date and, at times, do not accurately reflect their needs or arrangements for keeping them safe. Actions identified as necessary in children's plans are not always followed through. For one child, this means that they continue to lack support around their identity. Similarly, opportunities to help that child access therapeutic support or address key risks have been missed.

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improvement to be good

Despite this, children are settled and making progress. They enjoy living in a home that is clean, spacious and well furnished. Children's bedrooms are personalised to reflect their individual tastes and interests. Throughout the home, photographs celebrating children's experiences and achievements are on display. These aspects create a homely environment where children can relax and enjoy themselves.

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improvement to be good

Children like living in the home and score it highly, with one child giving it an 8 out of 10, and another scoring it a perfect 10. They enjoy positive relationships with staff and the range of activities they can do. Children feel that staff help them and can talk about the progress they have made while living in the home. Children's progress is supported and encouraged using rewards and incentives. For one child, this has resulted in improved school attendance.

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improvement to be good

Children's important relationships are well supported. Staff enable children to spend time with people who are important to them, including friends and family. Feedback from family members is positive. They highlighted good communication, positive relationships, stability for children and clear and consistent boundaries as strengths of the practice in the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 5

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improvement to be good

The use of consequences has been punitive rather than restorative. Manager's oversight of the use of such consequences is not always robust, and learning is not disseminated effectively. Similarly, some aspects of restrictive practice, such as the use of a seat belt clip, are not subject to regular review. These factors have the potential to reduce children's trust in adults and negatively impact on the positive relationships they have.

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improvement to be good

Processes around children's medication lack rigour. When children are prescribed 'as required medication', the relevant medical professionals are not involved in creating or reviewing protocols around their use. For one child, who has not used their medication for a long time, there has been no medication review. Similarly, there were errors in staff auditing medication. The lack of clear guidance, review and effective auditing introduce opportunities for errors that may impact on children's health.

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improvement to be good

Since the most-recent monitoring visit to the home, there has been one incident of staff restraining a child. While the use of restraint was necessary and proportionate, the incident could have been avoided through better use of de-escalation strategies by staff members. Management oversight of this incident was thorough, identifying learning and areas for development. Conversations with children and staff following this incident were detailed, offering them space to reflect on children's experiences.

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improvement to be good

Children feel safe living in the home, and safeguarding incidents have become rarer. Staff have actively involved a child in their safety planning, and have worked in close partnership with external professionals, seeking and applying relevant advice. This joined up approach to keeping children safe has resulted in a significant reduction in incidents of that child going missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

When children make allegations, staff take them seriously. Leaders and managers take action to ensure the safety of everyone, and the relevant professionals are informed. Children are updated on the outcome, ensuring that they feel safe and listened to.

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improvement to be good

For one child, there has not been a thorough assessment of the suitability of them using an electric scooter in public. Steps to remedy this were taken by managers during the inspection.

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

A new manager has been appointed and is going through their induction while safer recruitment checks are completed. The interim management arrangements and the oversight by the responsible individual have improved the quality of care that children receive. However, there remain gaps in oversight of certain areas of children's care, particularly in care planning and the use of consequences. This increases the risk of children receiving inconsistent care. Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 6 Safer recruitment processes are not always robustly applied. A new member of staff has been able to work with children unsupervised without full recruitment checks being completed. Once this was identified, leaders and managers took steps to address this shortfall.

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

Managers have made efforts to ensure that all staff have the relevant qualification to allow them to care for children. All staff are now enrolled in the relevant course, and managers seek regular updates from the course provider about the progress that staff are making. Similarly, staff have all completed, or are enrolled in, training that is relevant to children's needs.

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

Leaders and managers have ensured that all staff are now receiving staff supervision. Team meetings are providing staff with the space to reflect on the care that children receive and their own practice. As a result, staff enjoy working in the home and feel well supported.

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

Leaders and managers have taken steps to address the use of agency staff, who have not worked at the home since the last inspection. This is contributing to children experiencing increased stability. When staff have left, children have been well supported through these endings.

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

Feedback from professionals is positive. They have highlighted partnership working and communication as particular strengths of the practice in the home. There is good evidence of the managers escalating their concerns and challenging partner agencies when they believe that children are not receiving the service to which they are entitled. Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that they have good oversight of the use of consequences in the home and the auditing and administration of medication. The arrangements for activities for children should be in line with current legislation.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is restated. 9 July 2026

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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

ensure that staff— 9 July 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 8 provide personalised care that meets each child's needs, as recorded in the child's relevant plans, taking account of the child's background;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that—

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Requirement Due date

relates to the child's development (within the meaning of section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and

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Requirement Due date

is not arranged or provided as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006(23),

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Requirement Due date

satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

that the care is approved, and kept under review throughout its duration, by the placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that the registered person keeps the child's general medical practitioner informed, as necessary, about the progress of the care throughout its duration. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iv)(d)(i)(ii) (3)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that actions identified in children's plans are actioned without delay, and that the use of 'as required' medication is informed by the relevant health professionals and subject to regular review.

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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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children's plans are regularly updated and accurately reflect their needs and the arrangements for keeping them safe. 9 July 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.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only— 9 July 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 9 employ an individual to work at the children's home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person has taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about each of the matters in Schedule 2 in respect of the individual, but the enquiries in relation to any of the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete;

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2;

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the circumstances are exceptional; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered person ensures that the individual is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual's duties, pending receipt of any outstanding information on the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2, which is then considered satisfactory by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must take reasonable steps to ensure that any individual who is working at the home and who does not fall within paragraph (2)(a) and (b) is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual's duties. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(d) (7)(a)(b)(c)(d) (8))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that when schedule 2 checks are not yet received, those members of staff do not work with children, except in exceptional circumstances, and unless supervised appropriately. Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 10

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that any sanctions used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, 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)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny. This relates specifically to the use of seat belt clips. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, paragraph 9.36) Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 11

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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: SC467264 12

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 69, Steward Street Business Lofts, Steward Street, Birmingham B18 7AF

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Inspector

John Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC467264 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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