Children's Home run by Elstree Home Care Ltd in Leicestershire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 1 Registered provider: Elstree Home Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It is registered to provide care for 2 children who may have social, emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, there were 2 children living in the home and they shared their views as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspectors were aware during this inspection that a serious incident that occurred at the setting since the last inspection is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the incident were considered (where appropriate) alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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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.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 10 December 2025

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/12/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/09/2025 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 3

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Summary of findings

Leaders have not assured Ofsted that they are capable of adequately reviewing children’s care needs or keeping them safe from significant harm. Leaders have shown poor judgment and management oversight when reviewing the restraint practices of staff. This has resulted in children being at risk and exposed to significant harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have poor daily routines, which affects their behaviour and emotional wellbeing. It is common for children to go to bed in the morning and not wake up until late afternoon. The children will then be awake during the night, when they are involved in behavioural incidents which are unsafe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

During the day, staff are not proactive in waking children up or offering them learning opportunities or activities. One child explained that they wanted to do more activities with staff. Children appear bored and under-stimulated. One child did make some progress in their education, engaging with a tutor and sitting some exams, however this progress has since deteriorated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff are unable to effectively support children to improve their health. For instance, children struggle to sleep and they do not have a good sleep hygiene routine in place. Also, children are eating at night. The environment is not calm or conducive to relaxation. Staff know that children vape. Children keep vapes in their bedrooms and have unlimited access to them despite children being under-age and them posing a health risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are some nice moments between children and staff. They enjoy making food together and playing table tennis in the back garden. However, overall, staff have found the recent dynamics between children difficult to manage. Staff shared mixed views about how well they feel supported by managers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Damage in the home has been a recurring issue. As a result, the home looks bare in places, due to broken items having been removed. Staff are unable to support children to take pride in the home and respect their environment.

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

Staff do not provide children with considered, nurturing care that makes them feel safe or valued. Staff are unable to see past children’s presenting behavioural needs, which means that they are unable to support children to make meaningful progress.

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

There are significant concerns relating to staff’s ability to hold children safely. Restraint records are poor; it is not clear why children have been held or how children have been Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 4 held. The manager and responsible individual have not taken immediate action to safeguard a child who experienced harm. The manager and responsible individual did not demonstrate due diligence in how they responded to discrepancies in the recording of restraint practice.

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

The management oversight of incidents involving children is inconsistent. The manager has not responded effectively to shortfalls in care practice and there is a lack of management reflection and evaluation. This negatively impacts staff’s ability to learn from incidents for the benefit of children.

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

Key care planning documents for children are not up to date and do not reflect current needs. For example, one child’s care plan has not been updated for 5 months, despite them having been involved in a series of behavioural incidents.

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

Relationships with the community have become strained and although leaders are trying to repair relationships with neighbours, incidents continue to happen, which has a negative impact on children and the local community. Strategies implemented to try and support improved relations have not worked.

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

Staff have made some progress in how they have supported one child in relation to their episodes of going missing. This has involved building good rapport with partner agencies to ensure that the child is safe and remains in communication.

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

When children go missing, staff respond in line with missing procedures and ensure there is a coordinated approach to working with safeguarding partners and children’s families.

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

The manager has not ensured that the fire doors are closed, in line with the fire safety risk assessment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager and responsible individual have not led the home in a way that supports children to make progress. Overall, staff are not proactive in motivating and inspiring children to succeed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders have been ineffective in following the necessary safeguarding processes to keep children safe. Ofsted is not assured about how the manager and responsible individual are responding to concerns relating to staff’s restraint practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has improved some of the planning for when a child moves into the home. However, there has since been no critical reflection from the manager to recognise that the staff do not have the required skills, knowledge and experience to meet both children’s needs. This has had a detrimental impact on one child and their progress has deteriorated after a period of placement stability. Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 5 Staff have built some strong relationships with children’s families and, in some ways, this has helped to keep one child safer. However, for another child, the manager has not meaningfully responded to their parent’s concerns in a timely and robust way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Overall, there are significant shortfalls in how leaders promote children’s wellbeing and safeguard children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In response to concerns, Ofsted has suspended the home’s registration. Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 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 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 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

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)(c)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should implement effective systems to monitor the quality of care being provided to children. This should include any rationale for decision-making.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the first and second inspections and is restated. 2 August 2026

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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. 2 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 7 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

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; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that children’s risk assessments are regularly updated and that factual accuracy is checked by the manager. It also relates to staff ensuring appropriate professional curiosity to mitigate risks when concerns have been raised for a child’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the first and second inspections and is restated.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that–

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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 help each child to achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(c) (2)(a)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should support children with sleep hygiene routines and their use of vapes.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the first and second inspections and is restated. 2 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 2 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 8 receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and 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

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager needing to critically assess the skills, knowledge and experience of the staff team in caring for children with complex needs.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the first and second inspections and is restated.

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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 any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the written records of physical restraints, including the details of any methods used or steps taken by staff to try and avoid the measure.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was set at the first and second inspections and is restated. 2 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. 2 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 9 (Regulation 26 (1) (5) (7)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the responsible individual must critically oversee the care and safety of children.

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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; ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; 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. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to meet children’s needs, as outlined in the statement of purpose. 2 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home (Regulation 25 (1)(a)) 2 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 10 In particular, actions set in the fire risk assessment should be implemented.

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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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Requirement Due date

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, staff should support children to have good educational routines. 2 August 2026

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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: 2849520 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Elstree Home Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Elstree Home Care Ltd, Suite 1 and 2, Unit 1a First Floor, Sandown Road Industrial Estate, Sandown Road, Watford, Hertfordshire WD24 7UB

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Inspectors

Chloe Harvey, Social Care Inspector Jibin Vakanil, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2849520 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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