Children's Home run by Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited in Telford and Wrekin

Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 1 SC398480 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered with Ofsted in July 2009 and provides care for up to 5 children who may have experienced social and emotional difficulties. At the time of the inspection, 3 children were living in the home.

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Information about this children's home

A large private company owns the home. The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2025 and is suitably qualified.

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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: 30 September 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: SC398480 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/09/2025 Full Good 22/10/2024 Full Good 13/02/2024 Full Good 01/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 3

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Summary of findings

Children enjoy a range of positive experiences and are making progress from their starting points. Children mostly experience stability. One child moved in an emergency and experienced a shorter stay than anticipated. While the move was unplanned, leaders carefully considered the impact on the other children and staff skills to meet the child's needs. This ensured that none of the children were adversely impacted. Relationships between staff and children are prioritised. This fosters trust and connection for children. The atmosphere in the home is calm and relaxed. This helps children to feel safe and comfortable. One parent described the home as 'a family'.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children well. They prioritise children's interests by doing activities they enjoy with them. This helps them to build strong relationships. As a result, children have a wide range of positive experiences that support progress. Staff are nurturing and calm, which helps children feel they can talk to them. Children are confident that staff will help them, and children's preferences about staff are taken into consideration when planning who might be best to support them. This makes children feel listened to and respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children's health needs well. They understand the ways in which children's health has been impacted by their experiences. They are creative in finding incentives that work well to help children to be healthy and develop healthy habits. Where children require specialist services to meet their needs, staff appropriately work with the relevant agencies to identify these and support children to attend appointments. As a result, all children are making steady progress with their physical, mental and developmental health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate and embrace diversity in the home. Staff support children to live authentically and are unconditional in their acceptance of children's unique identities and histories. This makes children feel accepted and empowered.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to prepare for their futures. They encourage children to undertake age- and developmentally appropriate tasks. When children face barriers, staff explore these with children. This helps staff to provide targeted support where it is needed most and promotes children's growing independence. For one child, this resulted in a planned move into semi-independent accommodation after 7 years living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and inviting. There is a large family tree on the wall that helps to promote relationships and children’s journey within the home. This creates a sense of belonging for children. Children and staff take their photo with them when they leave as a memento of their time in the home. Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 4 Some areas of the home are worn and in need of refreshing. There is some mould in one of the staff bathrooms, which could create a health risk if unmanaged. There are window restrictors on all downstairs windows that are unlocked and unused. This creates an institutional feel that detracts from the otherwise homely environment.

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

Staff keep children safe when they hurt themselves. They sensitively support children through distress without rushing to physically intervene. Staff remain calm and use strategies they know children respond to, such as humour. The strength of staff relationships with children means that children trust them during times they are upset. This makes children feel safe and secure.

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

Staff know what to do when children go missing. Staff and leaders work well with partner agencies to locate children quickly and support them to return home. When one child has not wanted to return home, staff have remained diligent in staying nearby to assist the child in any way they need and ensure their safety. This helps children to know they are cared about and can change their mind.

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

When leaders have felt decision-making has not been in children's best interests, they have appropriately challenged the local authority. In one circumstance, leaders took a child-centred approach at balancing risk against a child's wishes and independence needs. As a result, the expectations for that child changed. This allowed the child greater independence in line with their wishes. The missing-from-home incidents for that child also reduced.

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

Allegations are made infrequently by children against staff. When they are made, they are taken seriously and investigated promptly. Children's social workers are appropriately informed and involved in exploring concerns. On one occasion, a child did not receive feedback about what happened because of the concerns they raised. This does not support children to feel listened to and has not helped the child to understand how their views have been considered.

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

Leaders investigate complaints thoroughly. They appropriately appoint independent investigators, which invites scrutiny. However, outcomes from complaints vary. On one occasion, outcomes were extensive and not achievable because they were outside the remit of the home. This has the potential to create unachievable outcomes, leaving the complainant unclear of how their complaint will be resolved and further exacerbating their concerns. Leaders have not yet identified learning from this that might improve practice in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear vision for the home. He understands the needs of the children well and is effective at advocating for them. Staff say they feel well supported by their colleagues and leaders. Staff hold genuine care and affection for the children. They are Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 5 ambitious about what they would like to see children achieve and how they can support them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff training has improved, and most staff have accessed training to meet children's individual needs. Two members of staff have some specific training that has not been completed. The rationale for this is not always clear. Another member of staff is outside the timescale for their qualification. The manager has provided an acceptable reason for this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have regular supervision. They say that they value this time to reflect on practice. Supervision is child focused and place emphasis on the importance and power of relationships with children. Leaders do not always use supervision effectively to support the learning and development needs of staff, for example ensuring training is completed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a high use of agency staff since the last inspection. This has had a negative impact on the continuity of care for children. Leaders are recruiting but continue to rely on agency staff to support the running of the home. Despite this, contingency planning has not fully considered the potential impact if new children move into the home. This means children will not consistently receive care from staff who understand them and know them well. Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(c)(d)(e)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the use of agency staff is not adversely impacting on the continuity of care for children and that there are sufficient staffing levels before welcoming new children into the home. 18 December 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 7 The registered person must also ensure that staff access training promptly that is relevant to children's specific needs and that supervision is used effectively to monitor and support staff training and development needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must identify learning from complaints, specifically considering the scope and desired impact of recommendations.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that maintenance is completed that addresses the worn areas of the home, mould in the staff bathroom and downstairs window restrictors. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 15, paragraph 3.9).  The registered person should ensure that children receive timely feedback from any investigations as a result of allegations or views they have shared. The child should understand the reasons for reaching any decisions made. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 22, paragraph 4.9).

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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: SC398480 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children's Services (2) Limited

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, Third Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, West Midlands B63 4AH

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Inspector

Kim Morgan, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC398480 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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Inspector

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