PSA Care Ltd

Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 1 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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PSA Care Ltd Registered provider: PSA Care Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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provider

This supported accommodation service is operated by a private provider in the East Midlands. The provider can accommodate up to 21 individuals in 6 shared or group living homes that are limited to accommodating looked-after children or care leavers.

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provider

At the time of the inspection, 3 looked-after children and care leavers aged 16 or 17 years were accommodated.

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provider

The manager, who is also the nominated individual, has been registered with Ofsted since the organisation was registered in July 2024.

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provider

Inspection dates: The inspection was announced on 3 August 2026 and started that day. The inspectors were on site from 5 August 2026 to 7 August 2026.

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Outcome

Serious or widespread weaknesses lead to significant concerns about the experiences and progress of children. Leaders and managers must take urgent action to address failings. The next inspection will be within approximately 6 months.

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Summary of findings

Children's experiences are undermined by poor safeguarding practice and inconsistent support. Staff, leaders and managers lack awareness and professional curiosity about children's progress and patterns of behaviour.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staff are safe and suitable to work with children.

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Summary of findings

The provider has failed to ensure that allegations about staff conduct are managed appropriately. Investigations have not been thorough or objective. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 2 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Summary of findings

Incidents involving physical intervention have not been recognised or recorded appropriately.

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Summary of findings

The provider's admission processes are not suitable and do not consider the impact of other children living in the home.

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Summary of findings

There is significant weakness in leadership and management oversight. Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staff are suitably trained, properly supervised or have the skills to meet the needs of children. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 3 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers have failed to undertake robust assessments of suitability and compatibility before children move into or within the service. Children have been accommodated alongside individuals who present significant risks without sufficient assessment of whether it is safe or how this could be managed. Other children have been accepted into the service despite their needs being unsuitable for supported accommodation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children do not experience individualised support that meets their needs. Children do not consistently have support plans or risk assessments. When these are completed, they are not of good quality and do not provide staff with clear guidance about how to support children and keep them safe. As a result, staff, leaders and managers cannot demonstrate that children's needs and risks are being effectively identified or reduced, or that children are making progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Staff do not complete direct work with children following incidents. This stops children from receiving the support they need from staff and learning how to keep themselves safe. When other key-work sessions are recorded, these do not reflect the voice of the child. This limits their effectiveness as it cannot be determined how children have engaged with them. Children are not included in discussions about their progress, support review or support planning. They are not provided with documents such as support plans or reviews.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Leaders and managers do not effectively manage children's complaints. When complaints are received, these are not recorded. The outcome of complaints is also not shared. A child and their personal adviser complained about the child being threatened by another person living in the home. There is no record of how this was managed, and the child was not made aware of the progress or outcome.

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Overall experiences and progress of children

Children's accommodation is not consistently homely. Some homes have broken furniture and fittings, and some children's rooms have not been personalised. Other properties were not maintained to an adequate standard. Children's homes are not always clean. Repairs needed on properties have not been prioritised quickly. This impacts on children's sense of belonging.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders do not undertake thorough investigations of allegations against staff. Although allegations are referred to the local authority designated officer (LADO), managers do not follow them up with partner agencies. A child alleged that a member of staff had brought alcohol into the home. Although the member of staff was suspended, no further investigation was completed or learning shared throughout the service.

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How well children are helped and protected

There have been 2 incidents of physical intervention between staff and children. Leaders and managers have not recognised that physical intervention has occurred, Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 4 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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How well children are helped and protected

and they have not recorded these incidents appropriately. This limits the effectiveness of oversight of significant incidents involving a child. A child said that they were injured during the physical intervention, but staff did not seek medical attention for them. This fails to ensure that children's safety and wellbeing are prioritised.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders provide limited management oversight of incidents. Incident reports are written in a way that is critical of children's behaviour rather than looking at how staff have supported the child during the incident. This shows that leaders and managers are not considering the needs of children during incidents, or supporting staff to reflect on and develop their own practice.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers have failed to make sure that staff are safe and suitable to work with children. Managers have not completed the necessary recruitment checks. Some staff did not have Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks despite having worked for the company for some time. Other staff do not have references or overseas checks completed. Leaders and managers have failed to implement effective systems for recruitment, which means that children could be exposed to unsafe or unsuitable individuals.

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How well children are helped and protected

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that children are adequately protected from harm. Children's known risks are not consistently identified, assessed or reviewed. Staff do not receive clear guidance about how to respond to children's risks or support them to reduce these risks. For one child who has been missing for 2 weeks, staff have failed to try to contact the child or locate them for several days.

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How well children are helped and protected

Significant incidents involving children are not recorded by staff effectively. Records contain inaccurate information and are sometimes left incomplete. Leaders and managers also do not routinely review incidents or consider how these incidents could be managed more effectively. For example, a child had threatened a member of public with a knife and staff called the police. Despite this, the manager did not consider the subsequent risks to the child, or others in the home, or provide any guidance to staff about how to manage these risks in the future.

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How well children are helped and protected

Staff do not receive appropriate training to help them to meet the needs of the children they support. Staff have not received training on safeguarding risks, such as sexual and criminal exploitation, county lines, drug and substance misuse, mental health and self-harm. This reduces assurance that staff understand the risks of children and know how to respond effectively.

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How well children are helped and protected

Managers have not effectively considered the locality risks of the area. Location assessments focus on describing local services rather than analysing risk. They do not consider how risks to children within the area will be suitably managed or how these factors could be managed to ensure that children are kept safe. It does not provide adequate information to staff about known risks in the area and how these should be managed. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 5 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and manager's oversight of the service is ineffective. Gaps in staff recording for children have not been addressed by managers. Managers do not record effectively on children's records. Management oversight of incidents is inconsistent and is not reflective about staff practice or children's experiences. This results in staff practice not being addressed and children not receiving the support they need when risks emerge.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers lack an understanding of safeguarding processes and regulatory responsibilities. When a child received an injury following a physical altercation with staff, the child's parent made a referral to LADO. Leaders and managers did not ensure that the referral was made to LADO promptly. The provider has also not ensured that all significant incidents have been notified to Ofsted. This has included incidents where children have threatened someone with a knife and serious assaults on staff by children. This limits the effectiveness of oversight of how the service responds to and manages incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers do not have an effective system for ensuring that children and young people are suitable to live together. Leaders and managers chose to place children and young people together despite there being known information that would suggest it is unsuitable. This has included placing children with young adults who have a history of serious violence, threats involving weapons and complex mental health needs. Managers had not considered the impact of these decisions on children, which lead to a child being threatened by another young person in the home and the child having to move. Leaders failed to identify, assess and mitigate foreseeable risks, resulting in children being exposed to avoidable harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have not implemented systems for the safe recruitment of staff. Despite leaders and managers having recently completed safer recruitment training, they have not implemented this in practice. This has resulted in staff without DBS checks working with children, as well as staff without adequate references or overseas police checks. Staff do not receive effective inductions. These do not critically assess staff's suitability and skills required for the role. Staff do not receive adequate training to support them to manage the complex risks for children. Some staff have not completed any refresher training despite their training being 3 years ago. The training that staff have completed does not align with the workforce development plan or statement of purpose for the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

The registered manager has no direct oversight of staff practice. The registered manager has appointed an individual to complete supervision with all staff. However, supervision sessions are not regular or reflective. Where concerns are identified with staff performance, these are not adequately addressed or formalised through performance management processes. This allows poor practice to continue without being challenged. The lack of effective supervision limits the service's ability to improve practice and ensure staff accountability. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 6 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers

Leaders and managers have admitted to using artificial intelligence to produce a workforce plan. They have not checked the suitability of this plan for their service or ensured that it meets the requirements of the Supported Accommodation Regulations 2023. Several other policies for the organisation were found to not be sufficiently robust or effective. This includes the statement of purpose and safeguarding policy. Leaders have not ensured that these documents have been kept under review and reflect the current service. This limits staff's ability to act accordingly as policies do not adequately guide practice. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 7 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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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(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 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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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills appropriate for the work that they are to perform;

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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(1);

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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;

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ensure that a workforce plan (see regulation 10) for the supported accommodation undertaking is in place. (Regulation Reg 4 (1) (2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(g)(j)) 20 September

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Requirement Due date

*The protection standard is that children are enabled to feel safe and that their needs are met. 20 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 8 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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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

are familiar and act in accordance with child protection policies;

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have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of abuse, neglect, exploitation or any other harm, and act to reduce such risk;

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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 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(f)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

*The support standard is that children receive individual and tailored support that meets their needs.

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

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ensure that children are encouraged and enabled to take a lead role in determining the support they receive and to participate in and influence how the supported accommodation operates;

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ensure that plans for support are based on initial referral information, are meaningful and are created in full consultation with the child, taking account of relevant plans for the child;

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keep the child's support under review, taking into consideration the plans for support, and relevant plans, to ensure that the child's needs continue to be met and that the child is kept safe;

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ensure a plan for support is in place to support the child to 20 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 9 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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develop the resilience and skills required to transition out of supported accommodation when the child is ready to live more independently;

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ensure that children are supported to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect. (Regulation 7 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c)(k)(n))

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

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

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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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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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ensure that the premises used as supported accommodation—

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are suitable for the purposes of supported accommodation and are accessible, safe, secure and well-maintained;

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offer a comfortable, positive and nurturing environment, while respecting children's need for privacy;

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are adequately maintained so as to provide a welcoming and homely environment within both individual and shared living spaces. (Regulation 6 (10 (2)(a)(i)(b)(vi)(vii)(viii)) 20 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile a statement ("the statement of purpose") which covers the following matters in respect of the supported accommodation undertaking—

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Requirement Due date

its purpose, including its ethos, core aims and function;

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the category or categories of supported accommodation it offers; 20 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 10 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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the services it provides for children it accommodates and supports;

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the characteristics of the children for whom it is intended the supported accommodation undertaking will provide accommodation and support, including the age range, number and sex of the children;

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the address of the registered provider's principal office, except where this is the same address as where the children are accommodated;

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the organisational structure, including management structure and staffing arrangements;

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the positive outcomes the service seeks to achieve for children and its approach to achieving those outcomes;

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the arrangements in place to support the development of children's independent living skills, in line with their identified individual needs;

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the arrangements for and policies on protecting and promoting the mental and physical health needs of children, including medication handling, recording and safekeeping;

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details of who to contact if a person has a complaint and how that person can access the complaints procedure (see regulation 31);

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details of how a person involved in the support or protection of a child can access the supported accommodation undertaking's child protection policies.

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keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and

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notify the CIECSS of any revisions and send the CIECSS a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 9 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(g)(h)(j)(k)(l)(n)(q)(r) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile, in relation to the supported accommodation undertaking, a plan ("the workforce plan") which covers the following matters in 20 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 11 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

respect of the recruitment and employment of all staff—

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the experience and qualifications of managers and other staff, and any further training required for those managers and staff;

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the processes and timescales for staff to complete induction, probation and core training, including in safeguarding and health and safety;

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the process for managing and addressing poor performance;

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the process and timescales for supervision and monitoring of staff.

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keep the workforce plan under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and

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make a copy of the workforce plan available on request to the CIECSS. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e) (2)(a)(b))

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The registered person must maintain records ("case records") in relation to each child accommodated by the supported accommodation undertaking which—

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are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 24 (1)(b)(c)) 20 September

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

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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; 20 September Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 12 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the supported accommodation undertaking or a person working for it;

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concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry);

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there is an incident involving the use of a measure of restraint of a child;

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

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

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

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any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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is made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 27 (3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f) (4)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b))

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

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint or representation, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 31 (1)(3)) 20 September

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 13 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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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: PSA Care Ltd 14 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered provider address: 17 Gold Street, Northampton NN1 1RA

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Supported accommodation provider details

Nominated individual: Nokuthula Maplanka

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Supported accommodation provider details

Registered service manager: Nokuthula Maplanka

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Inspectors

Shelley Chowdhury, Social Care Inspector Lauren Barwell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for supported accommodation provider: PSA Care Ltd 15 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspectors

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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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