Children's Home run by Unity Residential Care Services Limited in Cheshire East

Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 1 Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited 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 offers care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with all the children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in February 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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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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: 2561970 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/06/2025 Full Good 05/11/2024 Full Good 04/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 3

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Summary of findings

Three children live at the home and report feeling safe, happy and well supported. They benefit from positive relationships with staff, make good progress from their individual starting points and are supported to reduce risk-taking behaviours. Staff understand children’s needs well, promote their welfare and help them make progress in education, health, independence and emotional wellbeing. The home is led by a suitably experienced manager who provides effective leadership and oversight.

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Summary of findings

Areas for improvement include ensuring that risk assessments contain all agreed strategies, room searches are consistently recorded, and all planned key-work sessions are carried out. In addition, children should be better supported to move into the home through effective planning, and the manager should provide stronger challenge where permanency planning is delayed. Quality of care review reports must be submitted to Ofsted within the required timescales.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are happy living in the home and benefit from nurturing relationships with staff who know them well. Relationships between children are generally positive, and they often show kindness and affection towards one another through gestures such as cards, letters and shared activities, helping to create a warm and supportive environment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress from their individual starting points. They develop greater emotional regulation, maturity and resilience. Notably, children have reduced incidents of going missing from home and have developed a better understanding of how to keep themselves safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met. Staff support children to attend routine and specialist health appointments, including appointments with child and adolescent mental health services where required. When children are reluctant to engage, staff continue to encourage attendance and rearrange appointments where necessary to ensure that children receive the support they need.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education is prioritised. Staff work proactively with education providers to promote engagement and secure additional support when required. Their effective advocacy has resulted in increased tuition for some children, enabling them to undertake their GCSEs. Staff appropriately challenge education professionals when children’s needs are not fully met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children maintain important relationships with their families and friends. Staff actively support family time, including travelling with children to ensure that contact takes place safely. Children are also able to spend time with friends and family members in the home and enjoy shared experiences, such as movie nights, sleepovers and celebrations. Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 4 Children enjoy a wide range of activities that support their social, emotional and developmental needs, including holidays, trips, gaming and community-based activities tailored to their interests. Staff promote independence through daily routines, encouraging children to manage personal care, household tasks, cooking, laundry and budgeting. Children make progress in developing practical life skills, with some successfully managing part-time employment and their finances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s needs and risks are carefully considered based on the information available at the time of referral. However, within the constraints of the circumstances and timescales, not all children have been supported to move into the home with the best possible planning. Despite receiving a warm welcome and ongoing support from staff, some children continue to struggle with living far from home, and delays in agreeing permanency plans remain unresolved.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is decorated to a high standard and is warm and welcoming. Children have their own personal spaces, which are personalised to reflect their individuality. Children enjoy taking care of their pets and benefit from the affectionate relationships they have with them.

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

Children feel safe and settled and do not go missing from home. Staff understand children’s individual vulnerabilities and respond appropriately to risks relating to mental health, self-harm and substance misuse. However, some risk assessments do not consistently include all relevant actions for staff to take to minimise known risks.

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

Children are helped to understand risks and how to keep themselves safe through regular key-work sessions. These sessions are detailed and reflective, helping children to explore underlying triggers, understand the consequences of their actions and develop safer coping strategies. However, some additional direct work identified by managers has not been completed by staff.

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

Staff respond appropriately to disclosures, seek medical attention when required, and work effectively with relevant professionals to help keep children safe. Any allegations or suspicions of harm are reported promptly to safeguarding agencies. Investigations are thorough, children’s welfare remains central throughout, and children are informed of outcomes when appropriate.

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

Staff support children to understand expectations and boundaries. Positive relationships and consistent care help children to regulate their emotions and manage their behaviour safely. As a result, there have been no physical interventions since the last inspection.

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

Positive behaviour and achievements are recognised and celebrated through praise and rewards. When consequences are necessary, they are proportionate, restorative and discussed with children to help them reflect and make safer choices in the future. Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 5 Staff consistently implement safeguarding measures following incidents, including welfare checks, device monitoring, key-work sessions and communication with relevant professionals. However, room searches carried out in response to concerns about self- harm or substance misuse are not consistently recorded, limiting management oversight of these interventions and their impact on children’s privacy and dignity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a recently registered manager who is suitably experienced. She has a clear vision for the home, knows the children well and is ambitious for them. She advocates effectively for children, particularly in relation to education, and takes pride in the progress they make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has effective monitoring and oversight systems in place. These are used to identify strengths, address shortfalls and drive improvement. However, a copy of the home’s quality of care review has not been submitted to Ofsted as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a stable and committed team of staff who know the children well. Changes in the team have been managed effectively and have not negatively impacted children. The manager addresses poor practice appropriately and ensures that new staff members are introduced to children through child-friendly profiles before they start working in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably trained and qualified to meet children’s needs. Training opportunities are targeted and ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills required to support children with their individual vulnerabilities and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular supervision, which provides opportunities to discuss children’s progress, reflect on practice and identify development needs. Staff value the manager’s commitment to their professional development, and some have progressed into more senior roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are held regularly and are well attended, providing opportunities to share information, review practice and support staff development through targeted workshops. Although children choose not to take part in formal house meetings, they regularly share their views, wishes and feelings through day-to-day discussions and are actively involved in decisions about meals, activities and other aspects of home life. Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must provide effective challenge and escalation where delays or insufficient progress by the placing authority hinder the agreement and implementation of a child’s permanency plan. 23 October 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;

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 23 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 7 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children are supported to move into the home with the best possible planning, given the circumstances and available timescales, to reduce anxiety, promote stability, and enable them to settle successfully.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (“the quality of care review report”).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c) (3) (4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the quality of care review report is shared with Ofsted within regulatory timescales. 23 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 8

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children’s risk management plans reflect the current level of assessed risk and the arrangements in place to protect them. Staff should be kept up to date with these plans. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should ensure that searches of children’s bedrooms are recorded whenever they are carried out due to concerns about a child’s or another person’s safety and wellbeing. Records should include the reason for the search, whether the child was informed or asked for permission, the outcome of the search, and any actions taken. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that planned direct work identified as necessary to help children understand and manage risks is carried out in a timely manner.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)

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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: 2561970 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Unity Residential Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Lymevale Court, Lyme Drive, Parklands, Stoke-on- Trent ST4 6NW

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Inspector

Samantha Cooper, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2561970 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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