Children's Home run by Stockport Supported Accommodation Service in Stockport

Inspection report children's home: 1271135 1 Registered provider: Stockport Supported Accommodation Service

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a local authority. It provides care for up to 6 children with emotional and/or social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. Both children spoke to the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has submitted her application to register with Ofsted.

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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: 10 September 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children's home: 1271135 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/09/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/10/2024 Full Good 22/08/2023 Full Good 03/11/2022 Full Good Inspection report children's home: 1271135 3

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Summary of findings

The home environment has improved since the last inspection and provides children with a comfortable space to live in. Staff know children well and have a good understanding of their individual needs. Staff respond to children with empathy and professionally curiosity.

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Summary of findings

Planning for when children move out of the home varies, some children have had a positive experience of moving on whereas moves for other children have been less well planned. Managers do not always submit notifications about serious incidents within the required timescales.

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Summary of findings

Managers have strengthened oversight across the home, using recent learning to refine decision ‑ making and improve consistency in care and support

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s moves into the home are well planned. Managers ensure that children have an opportunity to visit the home before they move in and that staff are available to answer any questions the child may have.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Four children have left the home since the last inspection, and their experiences of care planning has varied. One child left the home and moved to their own accommodation. Another child returned to the care of a family member. An alternative home was found for one child, which was more suited to their needs. Complexities and delays in one child’s care planning meant that this child did not have a positive experience leaving the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are cared for by a consistent staff team who support children to explore their hobbies and interests and enjoy new opportunities. Children have enjoyed activities such as, movie nights, cooking and go karting with staff. The manager is proactive in exploring new hobbies and interests for children based on childrens views and individual interests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff advocate for children to ensure that their educational needs are reviewed and understood so that appropriate support can be implemented. When children are not attending mainstream education settings, alternative education such as tutoring and education outreach support is provided to children and emerging needs are discussed in multi-agency meetings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage children to attend health appointments. When children refuse to attend routine appointments, staff encourage children to help them understand the importance of taking ownership of their health. Inspection report children's home: 1271135 4 When children are struggling to make sense of care planning decisions, staff offer advocacy support as an independent service. One child was provided with additional support in the form of talking mats to assist with helping them express their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child’s family member spoke positively about partnership working with the manager and the staff team, which helped them remain involved in decisions affecting their child’s life.

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

Staff have a good understanding of safeguarding processes and the actions they need to take to keep children safe. Staff are aware of the dynamics of group living and regularly reflect on children’s relationships to help consider how these dynamics can be appropriately managed.

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

When children are missing from home staff take appropriate action to locate children and will report them missing to police. When children return home, staff are professionally curious and communicate any additional concerns to leaders and managers to help inform decision making around risk management. Children are provided with an opportunity to speak to an independent person following missing from home episodes.

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

Children who are vulnerable to exploitation are discussed regularly within multi agency meetings to consider contextual safeguarding risks. On one occasion when a child disclosed that they had been involved in criminal activity staff responded quickly and concerns were escalated to professionals involved in the child’s care. However, evidence of a room and property search was not recorded following this incident.

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

An incident of fire setting was responded to swiftly and immediate safety planning and risk management plans were reviewed to reflect new and emerging concerns. On this occasion however, the manager failed to notify HMCI of the incident and the incident record lacked critical evaluation by the manager.

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

When serious incidents take place in the home and local community staff respond quickly to de-escalate and diffuse situations and only use physical intervention as a last resort. Staff provide detailed accounts of these incidents and debriefs and manager evaluations are contained within reports.

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

Significant discussions take place with children to help them make informed decisions about their lives. Staff cover a wide range of topics with children which provides children with education and guidance from adults whom the children are familiar with. However, staff have missed opportunities to complete educational work with one child about the implications of using racist language and the direct impact this can have on others.

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

When allegations against staff have occurred, these have been reported to the child’s placing authority and HMCI and multi-agency discussions take place with LADO and children’s social care. Inspection report children's home: 1271135 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, the manager has focused on making improvements to the home environment, which is comfortable and clean and provides enough space for children to relax in.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Managers have identified gaps in recorded, which there is a plan in place to address. A recommendation has been raised in relation to documents being more streamlined to enable staff to have clear processes in place for recording.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they are happy working in the home and cited teamwork as a strength. Staff who are new to the home are supported by experienced staff members who are confident in their roles and daily duties and who provide effective mentoring for new staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision. These sessions provide staff with the opportunity to reflect on practice as well as focusing on staff well-being and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has begun to develop professional connections within the wider organisation and takes part in peer reflection and mapping discussions to consider children’s risks and needs and what additional support children may require.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers have provided information to staff regarding trauma informed practice and re-affirming a restorative approach to care and support. However, not all staff are confident that this new approach is effective when managing children’s behaviour. Leaders and managers were receptive to a discussion around this during the inspection. Inspection report children's home: 1271135 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that the registered person provides evidence of room and property searches following disclosures of criminal activity.

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Requirement Due date

Additionally, that the registered person provides critical evaluation following serious incidents to consider newly emerging patterns of behaviour and newly emerging risks 18 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person should ensure that serious incidents are submitted to Ofsted and are done so in a timely manner. 18 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home; and 18 September 2026 Inspection report children's home: 1271135 7 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;

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Requirement Due date

that each child's relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child's placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child's relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child's needs; (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(c)(e)(i))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that children are consulted and supported to understand their plans for moving on from the home in a child focused way. Additionally, that children have adequate time to prepare to move on from the home with appropriate support in place.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure staff understand that sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. ('Guide to the Children's Home Regulations, including the quality standards', page 46, para 9.38)  The registered person should ensure that electronic files are relevant and helpful to the child as well as streamlined to avoid duplication. ('Guide to the Children's Home Regulations, including the quality standards', page 62, para 14.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff promote positive behaviour, and relationships should be reinforced, praised and encouraged; poor behaviour including the use of derogatory language should be appropriately challenged and discussed. (Guide to the Children's Homes regulations, including the quality standards, page 39,

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Recommendations

paragraph 8.11) Inspection report children's home: 1271135 8

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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 children's home: 1271135 9

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Stockport Supported Accommodation Service

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Fred Perry House, 10 Edward Street, Stockport, SK1 3XE

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Inspector

Michelle Greenhalgh, Social Care Inspector Inspection report children's home: 1271135 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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