Children's Home run by Hapin Care Limited in Liverpool

Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 1 Registered provider: Hapin Care Limited 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 organisation. It provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025.

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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

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: 2713120 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/07/2025 Full Good 28/08/2024 Full Good 05/02/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 3

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Summary of findings

Children have varied experiences of living in the home. For some children, they have settled well and have positive relationships with the staff team. For others, they have spent periods of time in their bedrooms and do not engage with staff or opportunities offered to them. Children sometimes spend time together in the home.

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Summary of findings

Staff understand children's known risks. However, there is an inconsistent approach to how such risks are managed.

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Summary of findings

Staff support children to share their views and feelings. Children's voices are not always evident across their documentation or reflected in how leaders and managers act on their views to improve the quality of care offered to them.

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Summary of findings

Monitoring systems are in place. However, these are not consistently effective.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, 2 children have moved into the home, and one child has moved out. Children say that they are happy living in the home. However, shortfalls in some aspects of the children's care and the leadership and management of the home impact on the children's progress and wellbeing.

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improvement to be good

When children move into the home, appropriate risk assessments are completed and children are spoken with to support them to settle in. When children leave the home, their endings are planned in partnership with children's services. Children's time in the home is celebrated.

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improvement to be good

Staff support children to attend alternative education provision. Staff help children to recognise the importance of education and speak with them about their future aspirations. When children are outside of education, the manager advocates to secure suitable provisions. One child has secured a summer job.

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improvement to be good

Children have opportunities to spend time with people important to them, and the suitability of this is agreed with key stakeholders. If this is deemed to be unsafe, action is taken.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to access a range of hobbies and interests. This includes pursuits such as boxing, mixed martial arts and football. Children are also working towards building their independence skills through budgeting and planning a holiday. Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 4 Children's health needs are broadly met, and when children miss health appointments, these are rescheduled and work is completed with the child to help them understand the importance of this. There are known risks of children using electronic cigarettes. However, children are not consistently challenged by the staff with regards to using these and the impact that these can have on their health. Furthermore, strategies in place to manage risks of children misusing substances are not effective.

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improvement to be good

Children say that they feel safe and happy living in the home. Staff discussions with children demonstrate that the children understand the boundaries in place to support keeping them safe in the home and in the community.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments for children are personalised to each child's needs. They cover all known risks and are written in a child-friendly manner. However, although they include strategies to manage known risks, staff do not always follow children's plans to keep them safe. For example, staff have not been completing key-work sessions with children in relation to the use of electronic cigarettes. As a result, there is an inconsistent approach to how staff act on and manage the reduction of such risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff have managed the majority of incidents with children well. For example, when one child struggled with their emotions and processing of situations, staff completed additional training to consider a personalised approach to de-escalating challenging behaviour. As a result, incidents have significantly reduced.

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improvement to be good

However, staff have not always responded to concerns for children's safety in a timely manner. For one child, where there were concerns for substance misuse, staff did not immediately search the child's bedroom for paraphernalia, when this is a known concern. This leaves the child vulnerable to potential further harm.

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improvement to be good

The recruitment of staff is not consistently safe. There are gaps in staff members' recruitment files, which does not ensure that the provider has assured themselves that staff are safe to work in the home. For one member of staff, a significant criminal offence had not been considered robustly.

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

The home is managed by a suitably qualified and experienced manager. She knows the children well and is aware of their needs, risks and behaviours. She is child focused and committed to ensuring that there are positive outcomes for them.

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

Feedback received from other professionals regarding the care children receive was positive. They say that communication is a strength of the home. For one child, the provider has recognised the complexity of their needs and has part funded a Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 5 psychological assessment to ensure that the manager and staff are best equipped to meet the child's needs.

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

Recording systems require strengthening. Information regarding children is recorded in numerous places, duplicated and sometimes considered in isolation. As a result, there is a lack of managerial oversight of the care being provided to meet children's needs. When the manager has been involved in incidents, there has not been a suitable other person to oversee and evaluate their practice.

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

The manager ensures that staff receive regular supervision to support them carrying out their roles. Staff say that they feel supported by managers and have been provided with developmental opportunities to improve their knowledge and skills. Staff feel involved in the children's lives and enjoy supporting them to make progress. However, staff appraisals undertaken do not include feedback of others in relation to their practice and care of children.

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

Staff have not been trained in all areas specific to children's care. For example, there are escalating concerns regarding children's substance misuse. However, some staff members are yet to complete this training. In addition, all staff are not trained in providing therapeutic care, despite this being detailed in the home's statement of purpose. It is not evident that staff are supported by the therapist allocated to the home to support in the staff's care of children and understanding their needs.

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

The manager has completed a quality of care review. However, they have not considered all aspects as required by regulation. This is specific to ensuring that children share their views about the home and the care they receive. Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 6

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that there are appropriate strategies outlined in children's plans to support reduction of risk. In addition, staff must follow the strategies set out in children's plans and support children to understand risks posed to them. 7 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 7 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 7 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

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that monitoring systems are effective in considering the care provided to children who live in the home, including children's feedback and how this is acted on.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, leaders and managers must ensure that staff have the relevant skills and experience to support children in line with their needs, risks and behaviours.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children's home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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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. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(a)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a rigorous assessment of suitability for the role is completed for all members of staff. Additionally, that any gaps in employment are fully documented, explored and considered in regard to suitability of working with children. 7 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 8 The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b) (5)) 7 August 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff must have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home's care. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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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: 2713120 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Suite 25 Foundry House, Widnes, Cheshire WA8 8UD

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Inspectors

Nicola Rutherford, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Jon Dutton, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2713120 10 regulates and inspects 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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