Children's Home run by Nugent Care 2019 in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 1 Registered provider: Nugent Care 2019

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private company. It is registered to provide care for up to 3 children who may have social and/or emotional difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently no registered manager. A manager has been appointed. He has not applied to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

There was 1 child living at the home during the inspection. The child spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspection was brought forward in order to address specific concerns or allegations received by Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/07/2025 Full Good 13/08/2024 Full Good 17/10/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/05/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 3

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Summary of findings

Ofsted identified the following serious and widespread concerns about the care and safety of children:

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Summary of findings

There are insufficient permanent members of staff to care for children safely. There is a reliance on agency staff to care for children. This means that children are frequently cared for by adults that are unfamiliar to them.

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Summary of findings

Managers have not ensured that agency staff have an appropriate induction to the home and have enough information about children’s needs to care for children safely.

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Summary of findings

Leadership and management oversight of the quality of care children are receiving is ineffective. There is insufficient planning and preparation when children move into the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are significant shortfalls relating to children’s safety, staffing sufficiency and the effectiveness of leadership and management arrangements. These shortfalls are having a significant impact on children's safety, progress and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have experienced poorly planned care that has had a negative impact on their experience of living at the home. Staff were given little notice of one child's move into the home. This meant that they were unprepared and lacked guidance about how they should care for the child safely and effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers have not ensured that sufficient permanent staff are available before a child moves into the home. For example, managers authorised the lone working of an agency member of staff on the child’s first night in the home. This is not effectively planned care and risks future disruption to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Changes to the staff team and a reliance on agency staff is unsettling for children and does not offer them the stability and security that they need. The child said that they found being cared for by so many different people ‘confusing.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Three children have moved out of the home since the last full inspection. These have all been planned moves to adult placements. However, not all children have been adequately supported to prepare for their move.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers have not provided staff with clear guidance about how they should respond when a child uses a vape in the home. This does not promote consistent practice. The manager’s view is that the child should be directed to vape outside. This exposes the Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 4 child to potential harm to their health and undermines efforts to promote their well-being and safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is spacious and well maintained. However, door locks in communal areas are not required and look institutional. A recommendation is repeated in relation to this matter.

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

Changes in the staff team have been unsettling for children. There has been an escalation in concerning incidents for one child when there were changes to the staff team.

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

Staff have not always taken effective action when children are at risk of harm. For example, staff sent a taxi to pick up a child who was missing from the home. The taxi did not arrive for over an hour, and it dropped the child at the wrong address miles from the home. The child had to rely on a family member to locate them and bring them home. Managers have not recorded their oversight of this incident or identified any lessons learned to improve staff practice.

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

Managers have not assessed the risks of the use of taxis drivers to pick up children when they have been missing from the home. They have not taken steps to assure themselves that this is a safe and appropriate arrangement.

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

There are protocols for staff to follow when children are missing from home. However, the protocols are of variable quality. One child’s protocol contains no details about the addresses or specific locations staff should search in their attempts to locate the child. This is a barrier to ensuring that staff respond in a consistent and effective way.

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

The child’s risk management plan is not sufficiently robust. For example, it does not detail the checks that staff should make on the child’s welfare when the child is unsupervised in the community. The guidance provided by managers about how staff should monitor the child’s location is confusing and staff do not have the resources they need to complete the required checks. As a result, some of the welfare checks are not being completed and this compromises the child’s safety.

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

The use of physical intervention to manage children’s behaviour is rare. Children are always given the opportunity to speak with the manager after the incident to reflect on what happened and share any concerns they may have. However, managers have not spoken to staff about the use of the measure. This is a missed opportunity to understand the incident and to shape future practice. Furthermore, managers have not ensured that all staff have received refresher training in the safe use of physical interventions with children.

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

Managers take allegations and children’s complaints seriously. They take appropriate action to investigate the concerns raised. This helps children understand that their voice Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 5 matters. However, managers do not always ensure that they learn lessons from these incidents. For example, following one allegation, it was identified that the staff involved required additional training, but this was not provided.

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

Managers oversight of the safe administration of medication is poor. They have not identified that there are gaps in medication records. As a result, there is not a clear understanding of what medication the child has received. In addition, one bottle of medication did not have a dispensing label on it with instructions to the staff about how it should be administered.

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

Inaccuracies in the staff rota mean that this document cannot be relied on to detail who has worked in the home. Furthermore, staff rotas do not always list staff full names.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager in post since May 2026. A new manager has been leading the team since July 2026. He has not applied to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management arrangements are not effective. The manager demonstrated insufficient knowledge of the child and the staff working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager attends the home only once each week and holds additional responsibilities within the organisation. This significantly compromises management oversight and monitoring of the home. The child said that the manager is ‘rarely here.’ The child did not know who the responsible individual was and met them for the first time during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that there are enough permanent staff employed to meet the needs of children safely. There is a reliance on the use of agency staff to care for children. This means that children experience inconsistent care from staff who do not have a good understanding of their needs, risks and vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Lone working arrangements are in place, and managers have not taken steps to assess whether this is a safe arrangement for the child who lives at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have not ensured that agency staff receive an appropriate induction to the home, including sufficient information to enable them to care for children safely. This is particularly concerning as agency staff are required to work alone. Managers have not identified the risks associated with these arrangements or taken sufficient action to address them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Oversight and monitoring of staff training is not effective. Not all staff are up to date with mandatory training. For example, most of the permanent staff require refresher training in the safe use of physical intervention. Furthermore, managers have not assured themselves that agency staff have completed relevant training before working at the home. As a result, leaders and managers do not have effective oversight of staff competence, skills and knowledge. Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 6 Not all staff receive regular supervision of their practice. The manager does not provide supervision for the temporary staff who work at the home. This is a missed opportunity to monitor their performance and provide them with a forum to share any concerns they may have.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Insufficient action has been taken to address the requirement made under Regulation 13 (the care planning standard) and the recommendation made at the last inspection. They are repeated. Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 7

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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, 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 pro- tected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the regis- tered person to ensure— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)) 13 September 2026

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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 promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 13 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 8 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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)(a)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h))

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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.

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrange- ments agreed with the child’s placing authority.

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(iii)(c)) 13 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the han- dling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as pre- scribed to the child for 13 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 9 whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction;

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropri- ate experience; (Regulation 33(1)(a)(4)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, all staff including relief staff and agency staff must receive an appropriate induction to the home, including suffi- cient information to enable them to care for children safely.

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Requirement Due date

In addition, all staff, including relief staff and agency staff, must receive regular supervision from a manager. 13 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered per- son, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; (Regulation 35(b)(i)(ii)) 13 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date;

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the staff roster must be an accurate record of the staff who are working in the home. 13 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 10

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home maintains a domestic rather than institutional impression. Locks on the doors to communal areas should be removed if they are not required to keep children safe. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). This recommendation is restated.

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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: 2675485 11

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Nugent, 99 Edge Lane, Edge Hill, Liverpool L7 2PE

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Inspector

Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2675485 12 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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