Children's Home run by Lighthouse Collaborative Care Limited in Oldham

Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 1 Registered provider: Lighthouse Collaborative 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 privately operated. It provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of this inspection, 2 children were living in the home. Both children were spoken with during the inspection.

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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: 17 December 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/12/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 3

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Summary of findings

Children live in a warm, nurturing and well-maintained home. Trusting relationships with staff help children to feel safe, valued and involved in decisions about their lives. Consistent support from staff has helped children to re-engage in education and improve their attendance. Children's health needs are equally well supported.

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Summary of findings

Staff manage children's behaviour effectively, using reflective and restorative approaches that promote positive outcomes. Missing-from-home incidents have reduced, and this represents children's increased stability and safety. The team is well managed. Committed staff ensure that children benefit from good-quality care. However, the quality of safety plans lack consistency, and improvement is need in staff's understanding of reporting and escalating concerns.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is welcoming and beautifully presented. Communal areas are clean, well maintained and thoughtfully arranged, creating a comfortable, homely environment for the children. Bedrooms are personalised and reflect the children's individual tastes, including the colour choice and lighting. This helps children to develop a sense of ownership and contributes to the children feeling settled, valued and proud of their home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress because of the individualised care they receive. Staff provide structured care that promotes routine, stability and clear expectations. Through consistent encouragement and support, both children have successfully re-engaged with school and maintained full-time attendance prior to the summer break. Staff's commitment to promoting educational achievement helps children to develop confidence, resilience and positive learning habits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a sound understanding of the children's health needs and ensure that these are monitored and supported. Children are registered with appropriate health professionals and attend routine and specialist appointments. Long-standing concerns, including risks associated with substance misuse, are identified promptly and responded to appropriately. Staff have targeted health-related discussions with the children to promote good health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between staff and children are nurturing and respectful. Feedback from professionals is consistently positive, with staff described as approachable, caring and knowledgeable about the children's needs. Children's views, wishes and feelings are central to care planning. Children are encouraged and supported to participate in meetings that affect their lives. This promotes a sense of involvement and helps children to understand that their opinions are valued. Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 4 Staff recognise the importance of capturing and preserving meaningful memories. Children enjoy a range of activities and experiences that contribute to their personal development and emotional wellbeing. Staff actively encourage participation in activities that matter to children, such as go ‑ karting, bowling and walking. Achievements, both significant and everyday successes, are celebrated by staff. For example, full-time school

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

attendance is regularly recognised and praised. This positive reinforcement helps to build children's confidence, self-esteem and sense of accomplishment.

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

Children say that they feel safe living in this home. Children said that staff are approachable, supportive and easy to talk to, and they help children to feel reassured and protected. Natural consequences are used to help children understand the effect of their behaviour in a calm and supportive way. This promotes reflection rather than punishment and helps children to make meaningful links between actions and outcomes. This consistent practice supports safer decision-making and reinforces trusting relationships.

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

Incidents of unsafe behaviour are managed effectively. Staff's approach is proportionate and calm. They have reflective conversations with children following incidents and fully consider the child's views, ensuring that any concerns raised are addressed promptly and fairly. As a result, children are confident in knowing that their views are listened to and acted on.

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

Incidents of children going missing from home have reduced since the last inspection, reflecting an increased sense of safety and stability for children. Consistent and caring responses from staff, including staff actively searching for children when they leave the home, demonstrates a commitment to keeping children safe.

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

Children's risks are mostly managed safely and effectively. However, during one incident, staff did not follow appropriate advice from the on-call manager to remove risky items from a child's bedroom. The incident reflected a lack of confidence and initiative by staff to take the right action to manage the immediate risk. Furthermore, risk assessments do not consistently provide up-to-date strategies regarding children's individual needs and behaviours. This weakens the guidance that staff need to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager's oversight of the home is effective, and she has a commitment to continuous improvement. Recent changes to the structure of team meetings have improved staff's understanding of expectations, safeguarding responsibilities and practice standards. This has improved the consistency in care and communication across the staff team. Staff describe the manager as approachable and supportive and speak positively about her leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff express a strong sense of pride in their work and are committed to providing nurturing and emotionally responsive care. Positive relationships between staff and Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 5 children are evident, with staff offering reassurance and support to children during periods of difficulty. This contributes to a stable environment where children experience care from motivated and committed staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions are regular and reflective and provide staff with opportunities to discuss their practice and professional development. Managers recognise that the high number of recently appointed members of staff requires continued investment in training and development. The manager's workforce development plan sets out how new staff will be supported to build the knowledge and skills required for their roles. This structured approach is improving practice and consistency across the team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have not ensured that all staff fully understand how to identify and respond to concerns relating to closed cultures. Staff are unclear about the indicators of a closed culture and the process for reporting concerns. Current whistleblowing and grievance procedures direct concerns to the directors. However, there is insufficient clarity about how concerns involving a director would be escalated and investigated independently. This reduces staff confidence in the process. Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home's child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff understand the indicators of a closed culture and know the procedure for escalating that concern and have the skills to recognise risk and take immediate action to keep children safe. 2 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. (Regulation 39 (1) (2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the policy makes it clear how concerns involving a director would be escalated and investigated independently. 2 September 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 7

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their risk assessment must include details of the steps the staff will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people, using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the 'Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards'. Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Lighthouse Collaborative Care Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 5 St. Asaphs Drive, Ashton-under-Lyne OL6 8UB

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Inspectors

Gary Smithson, Social Care Inspector (lead) Mariam Sawaiz, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2847720 9 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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