Stratus Care Group Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 1 Stratus Care Group Limited Registered provider: Stratus Care Group Limited Full inspection

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

The service registered with Ofsted in October 2024 and is operated by a private provider. It offers accommodation for up to 4 looked-after children and care leavers in one shared or group living home.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, the service was providing accommodation for 2 children aged 16 and 17.

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provider

The organisation was registered in October 2024. The service manager left the organisation in April 2026. A new manager is in post but has not yet applied to register with Ofsted.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 22 June 2026 and started that day. The inspector was on site from 24 to 26 June 2026.

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Outcome

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately 6 months.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers admit children to the service who are not yet ready to live in supported accommodation. Furthermore, they do not consider the needs and vulnerabilities of children already living there when new children move in. This is detrimental to children’s experiences and progress.

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Summary of findings

Some members of staff do not have the skills to identify and act on safeguarding concerns or risks to children’s safety. Leaders and managers do not always share all relevant child protection information with external agencies, including Ofsted. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 2 Leaders and managers do not have effective systems in place to monitor the quality of the service and identify areas for development to enable children to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff make efforts to support children to develop the skills they need to live independently. For example, they help children to access the financial support to which they are entitled. However, not all children are ready to live in supported accommodation when they are admitted to the service. This, along with inconsistent engagement, limits children’s progress. When planned support sessions are not successful, there are no effective processes in place to ensure that this is addressed. As a result, children are not consistently developing new skills or increasing their understanding of potential risks as they move towards adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Some children have been exposed to bullying behaviour by other children living in their home. Weaknesses in considering the compatibility of children during the admission process have meant that there have been incidents of bullying and verbal abuse, which have included children calling the police about each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are not involved in designing their support plans or in the running of the service. Importantly, children said that they do not feel listened to when they have voiced concerns about the behaviour of others or about the premises that they live in. Children do not receive feedback on the issues that they raise. Consequently, they feel that staff do not treat all children equally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said that the shared areas of their home are not welcoming. Children have moved in who are not yet ready to live in supported accommodation and do not have the skills to maintain their accommodation to an acceptable standard. Other children have said that this has sometimes affected the homeliness of the environment and how they feel about where they live.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not support children effectively to engage with education or to seek employment and training opportunities. For some children, their attendance in education has declined since moving into the accommodation. This does not support their development or their progress towards independence and adulthood.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children said that they have positive relationships with staff. When children are ready to live in supported accommodation and willing to engage with staff in support sessions, they learn to carry out household tasks and prepare meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff help children to maintain and further develop relationships with the people who are important to them. This gives children a social network to support them in the future. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Children said that they do not always feel safe in their home. Children have experienced unkindness and bullying, and staff have not supported them when they have raised concerns.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not ensure that children’s plans and risk assessments reflect their identified vulnerabilities and needs. For example, the known risks for some children when they moved into the accommodation are incorrectly recorded as low. Consequently, there are no effective strategies in place to manage and reduce these. This potentially places children at risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Systems for monitoring why children who have gone missing have not spoken to an independent person on their return are not effective. This means that patterns and antecedents to children going missing are unknown. Furthermore, it is not clear whether the local authority has met its statutory duties towards children who have been away from their home and may have experienced harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers do not inform Ofsted, without delay, when serious incidents occur. This limits Ofsted’s ability to monitor the actions taken to protect children from harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff take time to help and support children to understand the risks that social media can pose. This enables children to develop strategies to keep themselves safe online.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers admit children, who at the point of referral, are not ready to live in supported accommodation. This means that some placements are outside the scope of the supported accommodation regulations and that children are at risk of harm because they do not yet have the skills to keep themselves safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers understand the plans for children but do not have suitable systems in place for quality assuring and monitoring these. This limits their ability to identify when children are achieving their goals. Leaders and managers do not challenge local authorities when children are not making progress and their risks are not decreasing. This prevents children from receiving the support they need or moving to a more suitable placement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not carry out effective quality of support reviews. As a result, opportunities to reflect on strengths, areas for development and children’s experiences are missed, resulting in delays to necessary service improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff are positive about the support they receive from the new manager and say that communication across the staff team is good. Although staff receive regular Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 4 supervision, leaders and managers do not ensure that staff receive the training they need to identify children’s needs and support them effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Children’s social workers and other professionals are generally positive about the service and say that staff communicate with them regularly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The new manager has identified areas that require improvement, including the levels of engagement with children and the quality of monitoring and review processes. However, systems to address these shortfalls have not yet been implemented, and the pace of improvement is too slow. This is detrimental to children’s experiences and progress. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 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 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.

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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 supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

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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

lead and manage the supported accommodation undertaking in a way that is consistent with the ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the undertaking’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of children to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of children to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(f)) 16 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

*The protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met.

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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— 16 August 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 6 have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation or any other harm, and act to reduce such risk;

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Requirement Due date

work collaboratively with children to help them understand how to keep safe, by offering guidance and support on how to minimise any potential risk of harm. (Regulation 5 (1) (2)(a)(i)(f)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

The accommodation standard is that children experience a comfortable and secure living environment.

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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 the premises used as supported accommodation—

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Requirement Due date

are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child individually and all children collectively;

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Requirement Due date

are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces. (Regulation 6 (1) (2)(b)(v)(viii)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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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 children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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Requirement Due date

keep the child’s support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child’s needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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Requirement Due date

engage and work with the accommodating authority if the registered person has concerns or if the child’s support needs 30 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 7 to be changed, including where that change may mean that the child requires more intensive support. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(f))

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Requirement Due date

If a child dies, the registered person must without delay notify—

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Requirement Due date

the local authority in whose area the premises used as supported accommodation are located (if that local authority is not the accommodating authority);

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Requirement Due date

the integrated care board (established under Chapter A3 of Part 2 of the National Health Service Act 2006(19)) for the area in which the premises used as supported accommodation are located;

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Requirement Due date

any relevant person not included in sub-paragraphs (a) to (e).

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Requirement Due date

If there is a referral of a person working for the supported accommodation undertaking pursuant to section 35 of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006(20), the registered person must without delay notify—

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Requirement Due date

any relevant person not included in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b).

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify the CIECSS and any relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation or child criminal exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child and the registered person considers that incident to be serious; 16 August 2026 Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 8 there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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Requirement Due date

concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry);

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Requirement Due date

there is an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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Requirement Due date

if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

any other individuals or organisations who or which have been notified;

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27(1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)(f) (4)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint or representation, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 31 (3)) 30 September

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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—

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Requirement Due date

the views of children, including any feedback and complaints received; 30 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 9 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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

any relevant research and developments in relation to the way in which the needs of children are best met. (Regulation 32 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: Stratus Care Group Ltd 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: Stratus Care Group Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: christian@stratuscare.co.uk

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Inspector

Laura Grundy, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: Stratus Care Group Ltd 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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