Children's Home run by Liv Children Care LTD in Milton Keynes

Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 1 Registered provider: Liv Children Care LTD Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and provides care for up to 2 children who experience social and emotional difficulties. There was one child living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since May 2026.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 11 November 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/11/2025 Full Good 02/10/2024 Full Good 16/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 3

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Summary of findings

A new child moved into the home in March this year and this coincided with several staffing changes, including the registered manager and some key staff leaving. This meant initially that the child did not benefit from the consistency they needed to help them make progress.

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Summary of findings

As a result of these changes, an acting deputy manager was appointed from within the existing staff team. This provided improved stability and continuity. Following this, the child has started to become more settled, building positive relationships with staff and showing an improving ability to reflect on their social and emotional difficulties.

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Summary of findings

Despite this, the overall leadership and management arrangements in the home remain an area for improvement. Day-to-day monitoring and oversight have not been consistent, and the acting deputy manager has been unable to carry out their responsibilities whilst balancing these with wider organisational demands.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, 2 children have moved on from the home in a planned way, and these transitions were managed sensitively. Following this, a new child has moved into the home, and they initially struggled to settle. The child has recently shown improved signs of stability and shared that they wish to remain in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have worked hard to build positive relationships with the child, who has shown a preference towards building relationships with more established staff. At times, some of the newer staff have struggled with their confidence and ability to fully understand the child’s underlying trauma and communication needs. The child has been attuned to this, and this has led to further barriers to them building better relationships with newer staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child expressed a strong desire to maintain their place in a mainstream setting when they moved to the home, and they subsequently started at a local school. Despite positive advocacy on behalf of the child by the management team and good joint working with the child’s social worker to make these arrangements, the child did not settle into their new school and, following ongoing difficulties, the school expressed that they were unable to provide the support required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child now has an individualised tutoring arrangement in place, although there has not been sufficient time to determine if this has been successful. In addition to this, the management team has worked well with the local authority to progress an assessment of the child’s underlying educational needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 4 Through the internal clinical team, 2 assessments have been undertaken since the child moved into the home to assess their underlying social, emotional and behavioural needs. This has provided an enhanced understanding of the child’s background and presenting needs, for example, recognising the importance of the child benefiting from consistent adult relationships as they require adults to help them self-regulate due to them not being able to consistently do this themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Recently, staff have recognised that the child has increasing awareness of their emotions and feelings and they are beginning to be able to communicate when they are struggling and in need of help. Staff recognise the importance of this and carry out sensitive conversations with the child about their feelings and emotions.

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

Staff demonstrate proactive safeguarding practice and fully understand their safeguarding responsibilities. They respond appropriately to difficult behaviours presented by the child, and on occasions this has required proportionate physical interventions. Staff practice is focused on promoting the wellbeing and safety of all involved.

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

Staff support the child to understand appropriate routines and boundaries and encourage the child to make healthier choices when difficulties emerge. There has been effective use of debriefs and planned conversations with the child to help them reflect and learn. Through staff support, the child is demonstrating improved insight into the impact their behaviours can have on themselves and others.

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

At times, some staff have struggled to fully understand the child’s underlying behavioural needs and the connections this may have with their earlier life experiences. The child is attuned to how staff respond to them and behaviours that challenge are more prevalent with less experienced or confident staff. The management team is aware of this and has already implemented actions to improve this.

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

The child has direct access to an experienced clinical team within the organisation, and this means they have been able to benefit from expert assessments without delay. There is also therapeutic support available, although so far, the child has been resistant to participating in this. Managers have also engaged with the local child and adolescent mental health service to consider any additional support they may be able to provide.

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

Staff who join the home are carefully recruited and positive oversight by HR and senior management minimises the likelihood of unsafe adults working in the home. Agency usage is low, but effective oversight is also in place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 5 The home has been without a registered manager for several months and has been actively trying to recruit a replacement. Despite successful interviews, 2 applicants withdrew and further interviews carried out recently have identified a suitable candidate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

In the interim period, an acting deputy manager has been appointed from within the internal staff team. Whilst they have provided positive oversight and consistency for the staff team, the acting manager has lost confidence in the support they have received from senior management, and they have recently given notice of their intention to leave the organisation. This will place further pressure on already strained management arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

On the commencement of this interim position, the acting deputy manager inherited a significant number of case management tasks from the outgoing registered manager and had to very quickly adapt to a new role as a manager. At times, the acting deputy has been overwhelmed with their operational responsibilities and has not been able to balance this with their day-to-day work commitments. While there has been some support from the responsible individual, this has not been enough to help the acting deputy manager to feel confident that these responsibilities are manageable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The acting deputy manager is well regarded by the wider staff team and is a particularly effective therapeutic practitioner, acting as a role model for staff. The acting manager thrives in this position, and for an extended time they continued to undertake additional shift-based work in the home. This created ambiguity between their role as a manager and as a professional colleague. Despite good intentions, these competing responsibilities have not been managed effectively by the wider organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers have demonstrated good awareness of the strengths and areas for development in the staff team. Recently, arrangements have been put in place for individual coaching sessions for staff through the internal clinical team. This is aimed at increasing the ability of staff to provide the help and support required by the child and increase their understanding of trauma-informed practice. There is also a behavioural support specialist who provides ongoing support and expertise to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been an overuse of artificial intelligence tools to complete records across the home, such as reports, conversations with the child and team meeting minutes. This undermines the credibility of the work being completed and sometimes means that records lack details and are not child friendly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Safeguarding notifications are frequently sent late, and this undermines important regulatory oversight. Within these notifications, key details are often missing, and this does not help to promote transparency about the actions that staff take. There has been distinct deterioration since the previously registered manager outlined their intentions to leave the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Following behaviour management incidents, staff debriefs are not prioritised, and although there has been good oversight of this by the responsible individual, their Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 6 attempts to improve this have not been effective. Consequently, staff debriefs are not consistently happening within appropriate timescales. This undermines the importance of post-incident support for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

All staff benefit from regular supervision, and these discussions reflect a clear focus on staff development and safeguarding. Some more experienced staff have shared that they have struggled with the additional responsibilities caused by working alongside less experienced staff and needing to act as peer mentors. This does not demonstrate a shared culture of team development, and managers recognise this is an area for improvement. Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 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 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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

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)(b)(c)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they maintain consistent oversight and management of the home. Senior managers must ensure that they provide additional support to ensure that the leadership and management of staff and the day-to-day running of the home are maintained consistently. 6 August 2026

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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")— 6 August 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 8 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. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all staff debriefs are carried out in accordance with regulatory requirements without delay.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that all staff act in accordance with the home’s policies for record keeping and ensure that all records are recorded in a transparent and accurate manner. The use of artificial intelligence to create records should follow the expectations of senior management and should not be relied on as an accurate way to capture the support that staff provide to children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2695213 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Liv Children Care LTD

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 147 Stamford Hill, London N16 5LG

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Inspector

Ashley Edwards, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2695213 10 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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