The Sanctuary Project Limited

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 1 The Sanctuary Project Limited Registered provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

A private provider owns and operates this supported accommodation service. The service can accommodate up to 23 children in either single occupancy or group living premises that are limited to accommodating only looked-after children and care leavers.

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provider

At the time of this inspection, 7 looked-after children or care leavers were using this service.

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provider

The provider and the service manager registered with Ofsted in November 2023.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 13 July 2026 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 15 July to 17 July 2026.

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Outcome

Inconsistent quality of service delivery adversely affects some children's experiences and this may limit their progress. Leaders and managers must make improvements. The next inspection will be within approximately 18 months.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers have accepted children whose needs are not suitable for supported accommodation at the point of admission. This has led to some unplanned placement endings for children.

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Summary of findings

Most children said that they feel happy and safe where they live. Some children have experienced well-planned admissions to the service, but their experiences and progress have been mixed.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers understand their strengths and recognise the practice areas where they need to develop. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Most children have well-planned admissions to the service, but their experiences and progress have been mixed. Some children have thrived and some have left in an unplanned way because they are not ready to live in supported accommodation. Children's compatibility with one another is not routinely assessed prior to them moving in. This has not always helped some children to live harmoniously together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Most children said that they feel happy and safe where they live. Children benefit from positive relationships with the staff. They said that staff support them to develop life skills, such as budgeting, shopping and cooking as well as having someone to talk to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children's accommodation is noticeably outdated. Repairs and unclean parts of the accommodation have not been promptly attended to. Leaders and managers have recognised these gaps and are exploring how to address them so that children live in accommodation that is homely and well maintained throughout.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children are currently, or are in the process of, being registered with health professionals. Staff facilitate children's visits to appointments as needed. They encourage children who refuse specialist health appointments to attend. Staff do this to ensure that children receive the necessary treatment to help them live healthy lifestyles.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff promote education and employment opportunities. When children are ready to live in a supported accommodation service, this approach enables them to work towards reaching their aspirations in positive and creative ways. For some children, this means resuming their education after the summer holidays. However, when leaders and managers admit children to the service before they are ready to move towards independence, despite their efforts, staff are unable to engage children in learning opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children's identity, cultural and religious needs are recognised and promoted by the staff. Staff encourage children to keep in touch with positive family members and other important people in their lives. Children are invited to get involved in activities with each other and staff every Friday. This helps the children living independently in single occupancy accommodation to socialise and reduce feelings of isolation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children have access to independent advocates. They know how to complain and have exercised their rights to do so. Although leaders and managers take the children's complaints seriously, complaint outcomes are not consistently recorded in the complaints log in line with the other completed complaints. This does not provide a clear audit trail to show how the child's complaints are satisfactorily addressed. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 3

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff are familiar with their role and responsibilities to safeguard children. The safeguarding training that staff receive help them to recognise the signs and

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How well children are helped and protected

symptoms of abuse, including child exploitation risks. Most children feel safe and protected at their accommodation. Most children can identify trusted adults who they can talk to about any worries or concerns. Children who have safety plans understand them. This helps them to keep themselves safe as they move closer to independence and adulthood.

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How well children are helped and protected

Although staff understand children's risks, not all children's risk assessments have been updated when new risks arise. This does not provide clear guidance that all staff consistently follow. Similarly, staff have not prioritised and completed the safety work for the children identified as needing it, particularly those children who have child sexual and exploitation risks. As children start to take more responsibility for their own safety, this potentially increases their risk of harm.

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How well children are helped and protected

When children do not respond to welfare calls, or their whereabouts are unknown, staff promote their safe return through dynamic risk management. However, the generic missing protocols undermine the staff's positive practice. Curfew times are confusing for children who have them. This could lead to inconsistent practice about how and when children are reported missing. Although return home interviews have been offered to children, the offer is not routinely recorded. This does not provide clear confirmation that children are visited by someone independent of the service to discuss their reasons for going missing.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff rarely use physical intervention. On the one occasion it was used last year, the intervention was minimally applied for safeguarding purposes.

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How well children are helped and protected

Safer recruitment practices are not consistently applied. Specifically, this relates to leaders and managers' not taking up last employer references or verifying the reasons for staff leaving their previous employment. This lack of due diligence could expose children to unsuitable adults.

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How well children are helped and protected

Not all health and safety risks have been identified and eliminated at the premises where children live. For example, locking systems on the children's bathroom doors could prevent access by staff in an emergency.

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How well children are helped and protected

The location assessment includes information about the risks in the area and mitigating strategies to reduce the risks to children. It does not provide information about the community facilities in the area, which would help to inform the referral and admissions process and support children's needs. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 4

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Since registration, the provider has become a trust. The management and staff team are board members and shareholders respectively. There are no changes to the company name or the registered persons.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Since registration, leaders and managers have accepted children who are not suitable for supported accommodation at the point of admission. As a result, emerging care needs have developed, such as managing finances for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Staff refer to leaders and managers as 'approachable and supportive'. Although managers and staff receive regular formal supervision, the quality of some supervision records vary in relation to the reflective discussions about the children. Team meetings offer management guidance and mandatory and bespoke training. This helps to grow a skilled workforce.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers are alert to ensuring that the team works cohesively and amicably together. Isolated incidents of unprofessional staff behaviour towards children have been dealt with accordingly to ensure that children are treated with respect. Similarly, conflict between staff is addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers reflect on and learn from serious incidents to ensure they are not repeated. However, the manager has not notified Ofsted about all serious incidents that have taken place at the service. This undermines Ofsted's ability to monitor how leaders and managers respond to incidents and how they perform their safeguarding responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers know the service's strengths and areas for development, such as transitioning to a new electronic recording system and improving the support plans for children. However, the most recent quality of support review has not been submitted to Ofsted in a timely manner. The admissions and discharge register is not compliant with the regulations. Leaders and managers are committed to addressing the regulatory gaps so that children are safer and consistently achieve their individual goals and ambitions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The majority of positive feedback from professionals about the quality of service reflects their satisfaction with the provider. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023 and the ‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking that puts children first and prioritises their wellbeing and development.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

implement recruitment practices that ensure staff are suitable to work with children and to keep them safe from harm;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place to manage referrals of children to the supported accommodation undertaking and admissions of children to premises used as supported accommodation, including, where relevant, emergency referrals and admissions;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that arrangements are in place for the supervision, training and development of staff. (Regulation 4 (1) (2)(a)(e)(f)(g))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are only admitted when their needs can be met in supported accommodation at the point of referral and assessed as compatible with the existing children and visa-versa. The registered person must ensure that staff supervision provides depth in the discussions and reflections about children. The registered person must ensure safer recruitment processes 30 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 6 are followed and ensure that robust quality oversight of the children's documents.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children who go missing and may be exposed to sexual or criminal exploitation, receive appropriate support and guidance to keep safe. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child and the registered person considers that incident to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

includes details of— 30 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 7 the event concerned;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter; is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(f))

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the location of the premises used as supported accommodation is suitable for the category or categories of supported accommodation provided, by—

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Requirement Due date

reviewing the appropriateness and suitability of the location of each of the premises used as supported accommodation (“a location assessment”), and in doing so, consulting and taking into account the views of each relevant person;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation—

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Requirement Due date

are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces;

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Requirement Due date

are designed, furnished and maintained to remove avoidable hazards which could pose a health and safety risk to children. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(i)(b)(viii)(ix)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must provide a copy of the review report to the CIECSS within 28 days beginning with the day on which the report is completed, and make a copy of it available on request to each child's accommodating authority. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep records of other information relating to the supported accommodation undertaking set out in Schedule 3.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— 30 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 8 maintain the records in Schedule 3, which may be kept in electronic form;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are accessible to children, the CIECSS and each accommodating authority;

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Requirement Due date

retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry.

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Requirement Due date

A record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child—

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the child ceased to be accommodated in the premises;

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Requirement Due date

the child's address immediately before being accommodated in the premises;

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Requirement Due date

the child's address on leaving the premises

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Requirement Due date

the statutory provision under which the child is accommodated. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)(c) Schedule 3 (1)(c)(d)(f))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the record of any complaint includes the outcome of any investigation. (‘Guide to the Supported Accommodation Regulations, including Quality Standards,’ page 61) Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 9

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, and to consider how well it complies with The Supported Accommodation (England) Regulations 2023. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 10

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Emily Hodges

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Supported accommodation provider details

Email address: carlyrenshaw@thesanctuaryproject.co.uk

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Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: The Sanctuary Project Limited 11 to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children's services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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