Children's Home run by Little Loving Care Ltd in Derbyshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 1 Registered provider: Little Loving Care Ltd

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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 was registered on 10 December 2025 and can provide care for up to 2 children who may have emotional or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2025. However, the manager is in the process of cancelling their registration with Ofsted. A new manager has been appointed and has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There was one child living at the home at the time of the inspection. Their views were sought 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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: none

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the first inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 3

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Summary of findings

The child is making some good progress. They are developing trust with adults and becoming more settled. Managers are strong advocates for the child. Their tenacity has been effective in securing a school place for the child. This is a significant achievement. Frequent staff turnover means temporary workers regularly care for the child. Although these adults have become familiar, the lack of permanent staff has disrupted the consistency of care. The child has been frustrated by this on some occasions. Managers are working to resolve this and have ensured the child has remained safe during this period of instability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has lived at the home for several months. They are gradually building relationships with adults in their lives and staff and beginning to relax. The staff are developing a deeper understanding of the child’s needs. This is enabling the child to establish a routine and enjoy new experiences. They have started to prepare meals, eat with staff and go to the gym. This is helping the child to feel healthier and build self- esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, staff understand the needs of the child. However, consistency of care has been impacted by changes in the team. The child has been cared for by temporary as well as core members of staff. Managers are working to address this through ongoing recruitment, training, development and reflective practice. They understand the importance of increasing stability as soon as possible.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers and responsible individual are strong advocates for the child. Their tenacious approach has resulted in obtaining a school place for them. The child has started a positive transition back into education after a long period of non-attendance. This is a significant achievement, which the child values.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The managers and staff support the child to talk about their wishes and feelings. They regularly discuss frustrations and celebrate achievements. The staff have recently helped the child to take part in a fundraising challenge, which was a big success. This event strengthened relationships between the child and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child sees people who are important to them. They spend regular time with a friend, which has helped to reduce feelings of loneliness. Time with family is reviewed to ensure it remains a positive experience. The child’s parent has confidence in the provider. They stated that the child’s life ‘has opened up’ since living at the home and is making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers ensure that detailed records are kept of the child’s life. There are some positive examples of sensitive language. However, records of serious incidents contain Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 4 terminology that children may not understand. This could be unhelpful should children want to read their documents now or in the future.

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

The managers and staff understand the risks posed to and from the child. Risk management plans contain detailed measures to mitigate most risks and vulnerabilities. However, some risks have not been fully considered. For example, the child has an appliance in their bedroom that had not been risk assessed. The child is not permitted to use the kitchen at nighttime, but the reasons for this are not well documented in their safety plan. Managers responded to this during the inspection.

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

The child has become overwhelmed by their feelings and frustrations on a number of occasions. Some of the staff have been injured during these incidents. This has had a negative impact on some team members, who have taken time off work. Managers have responded to this through offering increased support to the child and staff. The current manager has good insight into effective communication with the child, which helps to de-escalate difficult situations. This is beginning to have a positive impact as these approaches become more embedded in practice.

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

Staff use physical intervention safely and only to protect everyone from harm. Staff record all physical interventions clearly and accurately. Records are shared promptly with the child’s local authority for oversight. The child has made no allegations of harm against managers or staff.

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

The manager provides the team with clinical support from an in-house psychologist. This guides them in responding therapeutically to the child’s needs. However, a current challenge is that temporary staff do not attend every session. This adversely affects the continuity of care, which managers recognise and are acting on.

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

The child has not been missing from home. They do have time independent of the adults, and on occasion the child has come back later than expected. Staff keep in contact with them and ensure their safe return.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is leaving imminently. A new manager is already in post, which has minimised disruption to the child and staff. They already have a good understanding of the child’s needs as they had previously worked in the ‘trainee manager’ role. The manager aspires to provide a loving home for the child. They also want to continue increasing stability in the team. The manager is well supported by senior leaders as she establishes herself in the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is experiencing some instability. Some staff have left or are away from work. The provider is making use of bank workers and agency staff to help care for the child. Where possible, the adults are experienced, appropriately qualified and have become familiar to the child. However, the changes have impacted on the child, who has Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 5 expressed frustration at times. Contingency plans are in place to ensure that safe staffing levels are maintained. Managers are working effectively to recruit to existing vacancies.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have been affected by some difficult incidents. They have been offered support through the in-house clinician and line-management processes. Gathering feedback from the team to help support their needs is an ongoing priority. The manager is also planning further activities to rebuild confidence levels. These strategies are in the early stages of implementation and need time to make an impactful on practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers maintain positive, constructive relationships with external agencies. They address challenges collaboratively and challenge partner organizations effectively when shortfalls arise in a child’s care planning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The independent visitor is not consistently fulfilling their required duties. For example, they are not speaking to the child, parents and other stakeholders on a regular basis. They have not found ways of building trust with the child to enable them to see their bedroom. These are important elements of the visits. This adversely impacts on the quality of information made available to the regulator and limits their ability to fulfil their safeguarding responsibilities. Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 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 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 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a core team of staff is established in a timely way with enough staff to provide effective care to children,

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children are consistently cared for by staff who have a relationship with them and understand their needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all staff have the skills and understanding to respond in helpful ways for children, and that staff who work with children work together in a cohesive team by using their experience, training and skills. 6 October 2026

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Recommendations

Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 7  The registered person should 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 placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. This includes ensuring that all risks are explicitly defined in risk management plans with clear guidance for staff regarding how to mitigate those risks. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5).  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. This includes keeping the language used in

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Recommendations

records of serious incidents under review so that it remains relevant to the child’s level of understanding. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. This includes ascertaining the views of children, families and professionals during visits. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: 2850823 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Little Loving Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Field View, Shuttlewood, Chesterfield S44 6FL

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Inspector

Laura Walker, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2850823 9 regulates 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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