Children's Home run by ECS CARE LIMITED in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 1 Registered provider: ECS 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

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and the manager registered with Ofsted on 3 December 2025. The manager has a suitable level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there was one child living at the home.

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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: not previously inspected

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 2

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Summary of findings

This is the first inspection since the home was registered. The child is settling in well at the home and building positive relationships with staff. Managers and staff are committed to providing stability for the child and speak warmly about the child. The child is engaging with a tutor at the home until a suitable school is identified. Staff are supporting the child’s complex health needs. However, staff can be overcautious, which limits the child’s opportunities to engage in a range of different activities. Staff say they feel well supported by managers and one another. Supervision and team meetings take place regularly. Monitoring and review systems are not effective, which is a missed opportunity to address shortfalls in staff practice and make improvements.

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improvement to be good

The child is building positive relationships with staff, who make time to listen. Staff are caring and committed to achieving the best outcomes for the child. Professionals say that the child appears happier and more engaged since moving to the home.

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improvement to be good

The child is engaging with a tutor each day at the home. The child says that they are pleased this has started following a significant period of no education. Staff support the child to engage in learning during the day and provide educational activities for them to complete. A parent said that the staff are strong advocates for the child accessing education and are helping to identify a suitable school.

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improvement to be good

The child is supported to spend time with their family. Staff actively promote meaningful and positive relationships with family members in a child-focused way. Family are welcome at the home and staff arrange transport for when they visit. This helps the child maintain a relationship with their family and supports their sense of identity.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child’s complex health needs and ensure that they attend health appointments. Staff have successfully supported the child to engage in specialist services. However, staff can be overcautious, reporting that they feel comfortable managing the child’s health needs at the home, but not in the community. This limits the child’s opportunities to engage in activities, particularly in the community, for example going to children’s activity centres.

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improvement to be good

Staff are supporting the child to understand their health needs and manage lifelong conditions. Discussions take place regularly with the child about their emotional and physical wellbeing. The child’s views are sought to inform improvements at the home, and these are acted on when appropriate. Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 3

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improvement to be good

Medication is managed safely and medical attention is sought in accordance with the child’s risk assessment. Although the risk assessments are detailed and provide clear actions for staff to follow, they are overly cautious in parts. There is a lack of effective communication with relevant health professionals about what the child can safely achieve, which impacts on their daily life.

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improvement to be good

The child receives help and support to manage their behaviour and feelings safely. Staff encourage the child to talk about their feelings and have regular discussions with them. Positive behaviour is consistently promoted by staff. Consequences are appropriate and proportionate, and the child understands why these are taking place.

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improvement to be good

Staff use restraint to protect the child and those around them appropriately. All incidents are recorded and the child is spoken to following an incident. However, the use of restraint is not adequately reviewed. This limits the manager’s opportunity to identify ways to improve de-escalation strategies and reduce the use of restraint.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that there are effective systems in place to keep the child safe online. They also support the child to learn strategies to keep themselves safe online.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment processes are in place. This helps to ensure that only adults who are safe to work with children are employed at the home.

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

A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager works at the home. She is supported by a deputy manager. Both are caring and committed to ensuring that the child’s needs are met and that the staff are well supported.

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

Staff say that they feel supported by managers and each other. The staff team is relatively new to the home, and staff are building positive relationships with the child and one another. The staff are committed to the child and achieving the best outcomes for them.

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

Although the child is settled at the home, the manager did not ensure that there was full consideration to their needs prior to them moving in. This means that staff do not have a full understanding of the child’s health needs, and some staff feel unable to meet all the child’s needs, particularly in the community. Furthermore, the managers do not ensure that there is regular and effective communication with health professionals to inform the child’s care planning. This means that the child is not being provided with a range of different experiences to support their development.

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

There are ineffective monitoring and review systems in place. This means that leaders and managers do not always identify and address shortfalls in staff practice. This is a Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 4 missed opportunity to develop staff learning and development, despite supervision and team meetings taking place regularly.

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

Leaders and managers do not challenge the local authority and external professionals effectively when important documentation is not received in a timely way. This means that key information is missing, which impacts on the care provided to the child because managers and staff do not have a full understanding of their needs. Furthermore, important meetings and conversations are not consistently recorded, which makes it difficult to monitor the child’s progress and limits multi-agency working.

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

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff rotas contain the necessary information required by regulation. This means that it is difficult to ascertain what staff have cared for the child each day.

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

The statement of purpose does not accurately reflect the current staff arrangements, their training, or qualifications. Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 5

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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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulations 5(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered provider must challenge effectively the local authority and relevant professionals to meet the needs of a child and ensure that progress is maintained with relevant plans. 28 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

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Requirement Due date

promotes their welfare. 28 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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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)(c)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff have the skills, knowledge, and qualifications to meet the individual health and emotional needs of the child.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must use and record supervision effectively to highlight areas of staff development.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, the registered person must use monitoring and review systems effectively to record and improve practice, ensuring that key documents have actions and timescales to prevent drift in care planning.

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and 28 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 7 that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that full and careful planning takes place prior to a child moving into the home.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that managers and staff have access to the child’s key documents in a timely way. This includes documents from the placing local authority, health, and education.

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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))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the individual children’s records include details of important conversations and meetings relating to them and that these are accessible to staff as appropriate. 28 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)) 28 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 8 In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff rotas contain up-to-date and necessary information.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to—

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Requirement Due date

a child, or a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered;

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Requirement Due date

a parent of a child, or a parent of a child for whom accommodation in the home is being considered;

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Requirement Due date

in the case of a qualifying school, the Secretary of State.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that the home’s statement of purpose is up to date and a copy sent to Ofsted within 28 days of the changes. 28 August 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: 2857144 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 57 Sonning Avenue, Liverpool L21 9JG

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Inspectors

Joy Viles, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Danielle Allen, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2857144 10 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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