Children's Home run by Guidance Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 1 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Registered provider: Guidance Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, 2 children were living in the home. Both children spoke to the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in November 2025.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 2 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/04/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 3 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Summary of findings

Children benefit from strong, trusting relationships with staff who promote their safety, wellbeing, independence, and achievements. Staff listen to children, help them express their views, meet their health needs, support family relationships, and advocate for education. Leaders and managers respond effectively to safeguarding concerns, missing- from-home incidents, and significant events. An experienced manager provides strong oversight, supported by effective monitoring, training, supervision, and multi-agency working.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop positive and trusting relationships with staff. Children spoken to said that they feel able to talk to staff when they have worries or problems and are confident that staff will help and support them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of positive experiences while living at the home. Staff recognise, reward, and celebrate children’s positive behaviour and achievements, which promotes self-esteem and encourages children to develop positive characters.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to express their views, wishes and feelings. Staff act on these where possible. Staff use their positive relationships with children to help them understand when their wishes cannot be achieved and provide appropriate explanations. Staff also celebrate children’s individuality and support them to express their identities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s educational progress is promoted. One child has recently completed their exams and plans to attend college at the start of the new academic year. When barriers arise in accessing suitable education provisions, the manager and staff actively challenge schools, virtual schools, and placing authorities to advocate for children and promote positive educational outcomes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy a variety of activities that reflect their interests and promote independence. Staff support children to access activities such as gym sessions, walks in the local community, visits to parks and shopping trips. Staff support and transport children to spend time with family and friends. This ensures that children can maintain relationships that are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm, welcoming, and homely. Children have their own personal space with all the necessary furnishings they need. However, staff do not always have clear plans to help them work alongside children to ensure that children’s bedrooms are kept clean and tidy. Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 4 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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

There have been no allegations or disclosures since the last inspection. When there have been concerns raised about staff conduct, leaders and managers have responded swiftly and suitably ensuring that detailed investigations have taken place and staff support children to understand both the process and outcome.

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

Care plans provide staff with guidance and strategies to deliver consistent care. However, these plans do not contain specific guidance regarding phone and device checks, which limits staff’s ability to apply a consistent approach.

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

Children experience positive and effective behaviour support. There have been no incidents requiring staff to physically hold children since the last inspection. This demonstrates staff’s understanding of children’s needs and the strength of their relationships with children.

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

Children receive regular individual support sessions. Staff use these sessions effectively to help children understand risks, prepare for significant events, reflect on incidents and explore their emotions and feelings.

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

Children who go missing from home receive an appropriate response from staff. Staff follow children whenever possible and undertake searches when they lose sight of them. The manager completes detailed evaluations that identify triggers and consider whether changes are required to children’s plans to reduce future risks.

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

When significant events occur in the home, the manager and staff respond suitably ensuring that children’s best interests remain central to their decision making. The manager ensures that there is a detailed overview of each report and staff complete individual support sessions with children following these events to help them to reflect on the situation and understand the impact of their actions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is an experienced and child-focused manager in post. The manager places children’s best interests at the centre of practice and staff speak positively about the guidance and support that they receive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers make use of internal and external monitoring of the home. This provides scrutiny and ensures that the manager can identify areas of positive practice and can drive improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children are cared for by staff who have the skills and knowledge required to meet their individual needs. Staff complete a broad range of training that supports them in their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff receive regular supervisions sessions. These sessions reflect on recent events and incidents, support staff development and wellbeing and are an Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 5 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

opportunity for staff to share updates on the children and to share any concerns. Staff value the importance of their supervision sessions. However, not all staff have had their fitness to perform their role appraised within the past 12months.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly, are well attended by the team. They provide opportunities for the team to come together and share information about children and developments within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are committed to working together with relevant professionals such as placing authorities and schools. They attend regular meetings and reviews. This supports a wraparound approach to meeting children’s needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 6 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 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 registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 9 October 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met. Staff should ensure there are effective systems in place to ensure that children’s bedrooms are clean and tidy; doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  The registered person should ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. This

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Recommendations

includes clear guidance to staff who are completing mobile phone and/or devise checks to ensure that they know and what to check. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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: 2808740 7 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Guidance Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 8 Sovereign Court, Wyrefields, Poulton Industrial Estate, Poulton-le-Fylde FY6 8JX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Lorraine Anderson

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Inspector

Katie Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2808740 8 SENSITIVE-OFSTED USE ONLY

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Inspector

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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