Children's Home run by Brookfield Care (NW) Limited in Stockport

Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 1 Registered provider: Brookfield Care (NW) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and operated by a private provider. It offers care for up to 5 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties and have special educational needs and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There were 2 children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, one child has moved into the home, and 2 children have moved out.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted in July 2023.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 24 September 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/09/2025 Full Outstanding 10/09/2024 Full Outstanding 15/11/2023 Full Outstanding Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 3

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Summary of findings

Staff build positive relationships with children. They support children’s health needs and encourage them to spend time with the people who are important to them. Children have positive experiences and enjoy spending time with staff. However, children are not attending education regularly, and they lack structure and routine in their daily lives.

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Summary of findings

There is effective multi-agency working in place. Staff share information appropriately, including information relating to incidents. Professionals report positive communication with the manager and say that they are kept well informed about children’s care.

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Summary of findings

Staff practice ensures that children receive good-quality care. However, staff do not always follow the strategies outlined in children’s risk management plans. In addition, restrictions placed on children’s internet access are not recognised or recorded as consequences. The manager supports incidents in the home, which has contributed to gaps in management oversight of some records and missed opportunities for learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s achievements are recognised and celebrated, helping them build confidence and a sense of accomplishment. One child has lived in the home for 3 years and celebrated the anniversary of this with staff. This helped to support the child’s sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy spending time with staff and engaging in a variety of activities, including going to the cinema, visiting theme parks and having pamper nights. Children have photo memory books that they produce with staff. These capture meaningful memories for children and reflect their personalities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to spend time with the people who are important to them. Staff supervise family time appropriately and ensure that arrangements consider the views and wishes of children and their families. A family member said, ‘The team go above and beyond; they go out of their way to support family time and make sure the child is safe.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have a good understanding of children’s individual needs and speak about them with care. There is good multi-agency working with external professionals, which helps to inform effective care planning for the children. Staff have regular discussions with the children about how they can support them in their day-to-day care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well supported. They are registered with appropriate health services, and staff ensure that they attend relevant health appointments. When there are concerns about children’s health, staff act promptly to seek medical advice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 4 Staff use their knowledge of the children to identify appropriate education provisions that meet their individual needs. As a result, one child enjoys attending equine education, while another has successfully completed their examinations. However, when barriers to attending education arise, there is limited structure in place, which affects children’s daily routines and sleep.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

New children are welcomed sensitively into the home. All relevant and necessary information about each child and the staff’s ability to meet their needs is considered. Staff support children to move into the home in a planned and thoughtful way, taking into consideration their individual needs and circumstances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move out of the home, leaders and managers work alongside external professionals to ensure that children’s safety and wellbeing are at the forefront of all decisions. Staff work with new placement providers to support children through transitions. As a result, 2 children have experienced positive moves out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well decorated. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their individual preferences. Children also care for their own pets, which contributes to their sense of belonging and supports the development of their independence skills.

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

Relationships between children are inconsistent, resulting in a recent increase in incidents and an unsettled period. When incidents occur, staff take appropriate action to protect children. Staff speak with children and help them to develop skills and strategies to manage conflict. There remains a focus on building and maintaining positive relationships in the home to reduce the effect on children.

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

Children engage in a range of direct work that is linked to their wishes, feelings and individual plans. They have access to therapeutic support from the in-house therapist. This support focuses on restorative practice, which helps children to express their views and wishes and speak openly about any anxieties they have.

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

Staff use de-escalation techniques when children are struggling with their emotions. They use their knowledge and understanding of the children to help them develop creative strategies to support them to manage strong feelings. When incidents occur, children are provided with opportunities to speak to staff. However, on one occasion, following a physical intervention, staff did not provide a child with an opportunity to reflect on the incident or discuss the incident with an independent person. This limited opportunities for the child’s views and feelings to be heard.

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

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in responding to safeguarding concerns. They can confidently describe the actions they would take in a range of safeguarding scenarios. Through their positive relationships and regular conversations with children, they help children to develop their understanding of risk and make safer choices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 5 There are detailed risk management plans in place with guidance for staff to follow to manage and reduce risk. However, these are not consistently reviewed to ensure that strategies remain current. This does not ensure that staff have the most up-to-date information when caring for the children. As a result, staff supervision of children is inconsistent.

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

Staff regularly use rewards and incentives to encourage children’s positive behaviour. However, when consequences are implemented, children do not have a good understanding of the reasons for them. This does not ensure that children understand the decisions made about their care or provide opportunities for learning.

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

Leaders and managers respond to complaints in a timely manner, and appropriate safeguarding actions are taken. The manager carries out a detailed investigation to explore concerns raised and provides a clear rationale for decisions made.

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

The recruitment process for new staff is thorough. However, safer recruitment checks have not been fully completed for the director. This does not demonstrate that all relevant checks have been completed for people who may have access to children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is child focused. He has a good understanding of the children’s individual needs and the strengths of the staff team. He recognises the importance of building positive relationships with relevant professionals and family members and advocates appropriately for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has experienced a period of instability and disruption, with difficulties in relationships between the children affecting the day-to-day running of the home. However, the manager has now taken effective action to address these issues. As a result, there has been a reduction in incidents, and relationships between children are improving.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have demonstrated commitment and resilience during recent challenges, and their wellbeing has been a priority for leaders and managers. Staff are open and reflective about learning and developing their skills. They are provided with regular opportunities to discuss their practice and reflect on their care of the children during team meetings and supervision sessions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are confident in sharing their views with leaders and managers and report being well supported by the manager, who is accessible and available to offer advice and guidance when needed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers ensure that children receive care from staff who know them well and understand their individual needs. Staff receive a wide range of relevant training to meet the individual needs of the children in their care. Staff receive regular supervision that focuses on children’s experiences and progress. Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 6 Oversight by the manager is inconsistent. The manager knows the children well and is committed to working therapeutically and provides oversight of serious incidents. However, his monitoring and auditing systems have failed to identify and address all the shortfalls identified at this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is currently registered to provide care for up to 5 children. However, plans are in place to reduce this number as the home has not been used at full occupancy. Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 7

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all identified risks are clearly recorded in children’s risk management plans and have up-to-date control measures in place to manage and reduce risks.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that risk management plans are followed in relation to the supervision of the children to ensure that they are safeguarded. 17 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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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. 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 8 (Regulation 26 (1) (5)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that safer recruitment practices are followed for all staff, including the director of the home.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(iv)) 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 9 In particular, the registered person must ensure that all consequences are recorded and that children understand the reasons for the consequences.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, the registered person must ensure that physical interventions are correctly recorded. Records must provide evidence that children are given opportunities to reflect on incidents.

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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

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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promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children who are not in formal education are encouraged to engage in a daily structure and routine that promotes their education and learning during the school day. 17 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— 17 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 10 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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research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that they have effective oversight of the day-to-day management of the home. They must implement an effective monitoring system to ensure improved oversight and evaluation of incidents in the home.

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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: 2734815 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Brookfield Care (NW) Limited

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Michelle Kershaw

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Inspectors

Rebecca Robson, Social Care Inspector Stacey Ilaboya, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2734815 12 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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