Children's Home run by Prosperity Children’s Services Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 1 Registered provider: Prosperity Children’s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living in the home at the time of the inspection. The child spoke to the inspector about their experience of living in the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/04/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 3

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Summary of findings

Shortfalls in safeguarding practice and the leadership and management of the home have affected the progress of children who have lived in this home.

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Summary of findings

Care planning in the home is poor. As a result, children have not had positive experiences of moving into and out of the home. A lack of reflection and learning means that staff responses to safeguarding concerns have been consistently poor and have not resulted in positive outcomes for children or ensured that children are safe.

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Summary of findings

There have been changes to the leadership and management of the home. This has led to staff not having clear and consistent direction or guidance.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers do not address gaps in staff training and development. As a result, staff do not have the skills and understanding needed to support children effectively and safely or consistently meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, 2 children have moved on from the home, and one child has moved in. The child currently living in the home has only lived there for a short time. Although their experience of moving into the home was positive, this was not consistent for other children who have previously moved into and out of the home. For one child, their experience of moving out of the home was insensitively managed, and language used by staff was blaming and uncaring. Additionally, staff are not consistently prepared or skilled to support children’s needs when they move in.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s educational needs are not well understood by staff. As a result, their educational needs are not met. Staff do not support children in their learning or to access suitable education for their needs. Staff are not aspirational for children and do not work effectively with their placing authorities to escalate concerns when they are not accessing any form of education for a sustained period.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s health needs are not met. While the child currently living in the home has been supported to attend routine medical appointments, the health needs of children previously living in the home were not met. Children have not had access to appropriate sexual health support, and staff have not carried out meaningful work with children on relevant topics. Staff do not appropriately manage or support children to stop smoking, nor do they liaise effectively with external professionals who could offer additional assistance.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not consistently support children to develop healthy routines in the home. One child who previously lived in the home regularly slept until the afternoon and often slept Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 4 on the sofa with limited support from staff to develop a more structured and healthier routine.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have been supported to maintain relationships with their families where appropriate, and staff have supported children to visit their hometowns. However, supervision of family time has been inconsistent, and significant concerns arising from one child’s time spent with their family and friends were not appropriately managed by staff or escalated to the local authority social worker.

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

Staff do not always know how to safeguard children. Responses to known risks for children are poor, and staff do not take effective action to ensure that children are safe. Staff do not carry out meaningful or effective work with children in relation to their risks, and children are not supported to enhance their understanding of how to make safer decisions. As a result, children’s risks increase.

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

Staff do not take effective action to reduce the risk of exploitation for children. They do not demonstrate professional curiosity, and significant concerns relating to one child were not addressed or escalated effectively. Staff fail to liaise appropriately with external professionals to promote children’s safety and do not share information effectively. On several occasions, staff took no action to prevent a child from spending time with high- risk and unsafe adults in the community, and they failed to alert the police.

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

Staff do not take effective action when children go missing from the home. They do not follow children’s missing-from-home risk assessments or care plans to safeguard children when they are missing. Staff made limited or no attempts to follow one child when they left the home on multiple occasions at inappropriate times and did not report the child as being missing. This left the child at risk of harm in the community. Furthermore, staff do not follow plans to report children as missing when they are subject to restrictions on their liberty.

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

Staff do not appropriately support children or take action to minimise their exposure to illegal and harmful substances. Staff do not carry out meaningful work with children around the risks of substances. Staff do not escalate concerns to external professionals when children have been known to misuse substances. Evidence of substance misuse identified in a child’s bedroom has not been addressed or escalated to external professionals on multiple occasions. As a result, one child’s substance misuse increased during their time living in the home.

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

Children are not listened to or supported to raise concerns or complaints. The child said:

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

‘I don’t feel listened to, and I don’t know how to complain. I told [name of staff] I wasn’t happy about something before and expected to get a form or something, but I didn’t get anything, so what’s the point?’ Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 5 Responses to allegations are poor. Children are not always spoken to about concerns they raise, and external agencies are not always informed.

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

Physical intervention is rare and is only used as a last resort. However, when incidents occur, they are not always recorded in enough detail to support effective evaluation and the identification of any areas for development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager left the home in October 2025. A new manager is now in post and has applied to register with Ofsted. Since taking up the role, the manager has made several changes to the staff team and has a clear vision for its development. However, the manager has not appropriately addressed concerns regarding gaps in staff skills identified following a breakdown in children’s placements. Limited reflection and learning took place before a new child was admitted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not maintained consistent or effective oversight of incidents, daily logs or room searches to ensure that records are clear and any concerns can be quickly identified. As a result, concerns that have not been verbally shared by staff are often missed and left unaddressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not ensured that boundaries in the home are consistent or used effectively to minimise risks. Children’s plans have been subject to quick changes with limited rationale, and it is often unclear what a child can or cannot do at specific times. Boundaries and house rules suddenly change, and children struggle to make sense of these changes due to the limited explanation or clear manager oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff training is not sufficient. Staff have not had any training in a child’s known, primary need and therefore do not have the skills or knowledge to understand and meet that need effectively. Following children moving on from the home, staff have not received additional training in identified areas of concern.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Concerns have not been escalated with the child’s placing authority when necessary. The manager has not challenged a lack of response from the child’s local authority social worker or escalated concerns when unsafe decisions have been agreed. For one child, essential professionals’ details were unknown, and the manager had not made any attempts to contact them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff say that the manager is approachable and supportive. Staff receive regular supervision, and team meetings are well attended and used to share information and discuss concerns or areas for development. Plans are in place to address some identified shortfalls in the staff team; however, these are not yet embedded into practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

have the knowledge and skills to keep children safe; 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 7 understand children’s risks and know how to respond in line with their care plans and risk assessments;

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Requirement Due date

carry out meaningful direct work with children to help them develop a better understanding of their risks and how to stay safe.

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 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

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 8 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the manager has sufficient oversight of the home, including incidents, and that any learning identified is implemented across the staff team.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, staff must receive appropriate training and have a clear understanding of children’s risks.

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Requirement Due date

Furthermore, there must be a consistent approach to practice across the staff team, and any shortfalls must be appropriately identified and addressed.

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the 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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

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; 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 9 the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; or

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Requirement Due date

that staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(e)(i)(ii)(f))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children experience moves into and out of the home that are nurturing and in line with their individual care plans.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

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

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 10 make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home; (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(ix)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff understand and implement the home’s ethos as outlined in the statement of purpose and that children are given appropriate freedoms in line with their risks and care planning.

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care; 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 11 help each child to understand how the child’s privacy will be respected and the circumstances when it may have to be limited;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to prepare for any review of the child’s relevant plans and to make the child’s views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review; and

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Requirement Due date

make each child aware of and, if necessary, remind them of each of the matters in sub-paragraph (d)(i) to (iii);

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Requirement Due date

is enabled to provide feedback to, and raise issues with, a relevant person about the support and services that the child receives;

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Requirement Due date

has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

how to make a complaint or representations in relation to the home or the care the child receives and how any such complaint or representations will be dealt with; and

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Requirement Due date

what advocacy support or services are available to the child, how the child may access that support or those services and any entitlement the child may have to independent advocacy provision; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the views of each relevant person are taken into account, so far as reasonably practicable, before making a decision about the care or welfare of a child. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(iii)(e)) Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 12 Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children’s views are listened to and responded to effectively.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, children must be supported to raise complaints if they wish and have access to correct information on how to do so.

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Requirement Due date

Furthermore, children’s views, including any complaints, must be appropriately recorded. Children must have access to an advocate should they choose.

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 13 help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff strive to build positive relationships with children and maintain a consistent, nurturing response.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, children must be supported to develop safer conflict management.

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Requirement Due date

Furthermore, staff must understand the impact of children’s previous experiences and use this understanding to build trusting and caring relationships with them, while maintaining consistent boundaries.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

that staff— 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 14 help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix)(x))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff support children to access education or take part in an appropriate level of informal learning while awaiting an education placement. Any delays in education planning must be promptly and appropriately addressed.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— 19 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 15 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. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the manager escalates any concerns effectively to the placing authority.

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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 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: 2807058 16

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Prosperity Children’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 8, Venus House, Altham Business Park, Altham, Accrington BB5 5BY

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Inspector

Justina Henry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2807058 17 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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