Children's Home run by Embrace Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 1 Registered provider: Embrace Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private provider. The home provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home. They spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

A manager is in post and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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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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good

Date of last inspection: 11 November 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

An assurance visit took place on the 29 December 2025, which identified serious and widespread concerns. Compliance notices were issued under regulation 12 (the protection of children standard), regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard) and regulation 6 (the quality and purpose of care standard). Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 2 A monitoring visit took place on 12 February 2026. The provider had taken sufficient action to meet the compliance notices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/11/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/07/2025 Full Inadequate 20/08/2024 Full Good 17/04/2024 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 4

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Summary of findings

The child living in the home is not receiving a good enough standard of safeguarding and care. This impacts on the progress they are making. There are no serious failures that leave them either being harmed or at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, one child has remained living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Action has been taken to make some improvements to the home conditions. There are photos of the child and a friend on display in the home. This reinforces the child’s identity and connection to the home. However, staff have not been successful in tackling the concerns that the child is smoking in their bedroom. Some action has been taken, but this has not addressed burn marks on the child’s carpet or the cigarette ash on the internal windowsill, and cigarette stubs on the external windowsill.

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improvement to be good

Staff have continued to support the child in attending medical appointments, and direct work has been undertaken regarding previous missed appointments. Despite this ongoing support, the child is not currently registered with a dentist, and therefore, their dental needs remain unmet.

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improvement to be good

Staff are supporting the child to develop independent life skills to prepare them for adulthood, including cooking, laundry, routine and budgeting. However, staff do not ensure that the child has appropriate routines and boundaries. There is an alternative daily planner in place but there is an inconsistent response from staff in implementing this. As a result, the child is awake for most of the night and wakes up most days around midafternoon or later. Strategies are not implemented to encourage more positive routines for the child, meaning that the child spends their time accessing the internet rather than developing a healthy sleep routine.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide a range of opportunities for the child to engage in activities aligned to their interests, including going to the gym, boxing training, watching football and enjoying a trip to Edinburgh. However, opportunities for the child to access activities are limited to there being staff on shift who are able to drive.

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improvement to be good

Staff recognise the importance of the child maintaining meaningful relationships. They supported the child to reestablish contact with a family member. As a result, they recently had family time together. This was a positive experience for the child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 5

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improvement to be good

The child says that they feel safe in the home. Incidents of the child being missing from the home have reduced.

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improvement to be good

Staff engage the child in direct work to help them understand most risks and how to keep themselves safe. Staff use a range of tools, including online resources and information booklets. However, staff do not always complete follow-up actions from direct work. Furthermore, the child would benefit from ongoing direct work for example, in relation to online safety and smoking counterfeit cigarettes.

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improvement to be good

Risk management plans do not include all known risks for the child. They do not provide clear guidance to staff on how to respond to the child’s risk. For example, there is no guidance for staff on how to respond to the child if they are smoking in their room. Furthermore, the local authority provided guidance to staff on the child spending time with a peer, and this information was not included in the child’s risk assessment or shared with staff. This shortfall exposes the child to potential harm and leaves staff without the direction they need to respond safely and effectively.

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improvement to be good

Plans for staff lone working with the child do not reflect the child’s current risk or consider elements of health and safety for the child and staff. This leaves both the child and staff at potential risk.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not ensure that arrangements for the child to spend time with peers are safe. On one occasion, the staff allowed the child to spend time with a peer, who there were known concerns of, without consultation from the child’s social worker. This was a joint decision with a staff member and an on-call manager; however, there is no record of the decision-making or the guidance given by the on call manager.

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improvement to be good

Where leaders and managers have identified concerns around staff practice, they have taken appropriate action and information is shared with relevant professionals in line with safeguarding procedures.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers follow safer recruitment practice to ensure that all recruitment checks are complete before staff start to work in the home.

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good

Since the last inspection, there has been a period of instability regarding the management of the home. The previous manager left, and there was an interim manager in post until the new manager was appointed. This inconsistency of management within the home has impacted on staff morale. Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 6 Staff benefit from regular supervision and team meetings, although these have not always been sufficiently reflective or evaluative of children’s needs, risks and progress or of staff’s own practice. However, these have improved since the new manager started.

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good

Staff have access to a range of training, both online and in person from the internal therapeutic team. However, staff have not completed specific needs-led training to meet all the needs of the child.

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good

There has been a delay by leaders and managers in ensuring the timely enrolment of staff onto the required qualifications. While steps are now being taken to support staff in meeting these requirements, this may affect completion within the expected timescales.

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good

The manager has not ensured that the home’s statement of purpose is up to date or accurate. As a result, the document included inaccurate information in respect of the home’s conditions of registration and the job roles of staff.

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good

Staff and professionals spoke positively of the new manager and the changes that they have implemented, including the improvement in communication.

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good

Systems are in place to review staff practice. While there is evidence that these monitoring systems are effective at times, they do not consistently identify shortfalls in staff practice. For example, cigarettes and a lighter had been removed from the child’s bedroom by staff, but this was not recorded on the correct documentation. This limits the manager’s ability to fully understand and address areas requiring improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 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 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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the leaders and managers must ensure that children’s individual risk management plans contain all known risks and provide staff with clear, accessible guidance to support risk reduction.

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Requirement Due date

Leaders and managers must ensure that direct work is carried out with children to help keep them safe. This specifically relates to online safety and smoking counterfeit cigarettes. 17 June 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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 17 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 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)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that all staff have completed training to meet all children’s needs and that the manager has consistent oversight of incidents, records and documents. Where shortfalls in staff practice are identified, action must be taken to address these.

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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

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

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. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(viii)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the leaders and managers must ensure that when children are not attending an education setting, staff are actively encouraging them to engage in a structured routine that is regularly reviewed for effectiveness. 17 June 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— 17 June 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 9 include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to leaders and managers ensuring that on-call duty decisions in relation to risk and items removed from children’s bedrooms are recorded in the appropriate documents and that daily logs are detailed and reflect children’s daily experience of living in the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

Nothing in paragraph (5) or regulation 46 (review of premises) requires or authorises the registered person to contravene or not comply with—

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Requirement Due date

any other provision of these Regulations; or

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Requirement Due date

any conditions in relation to the registration of the registered person under Part 2 of the Care Standards Act 2000. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b) (5) (6)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose is reflective of the conditions in the home’s registration and that staff details are accurate. 17 June2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 10

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff are enrolled onto the qualification in regulation 32(4) in a timely manner to ensure they complete this qualification within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.12)

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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: 2672566 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 116 Duke Street, Liverpool, Lancashire L1 5JW

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Inspector

Michelle McGrath, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2672566 12 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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