Children's Home run by Truly Care Services in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 1 Registered provider: Truly Care Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and operated and provides short-break care for one child at a time who has learning disabilities and experiences social and emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

No children were receiving short-break care at the time of this inspection.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/06/2025 Full Good 11/06/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 3

p.2

Summary of findings

Children receive care during their short breaks from staff who know them well and with whom they have developed warm, positive relationships. Children are given opportunities to develop their independence skills, and staff support their interests and hobbies. Staff promote children’s learning and provide opportunities that reflect their individual needs. However, plans and assessments are of poor quality and fail to provide staff with clear guidance on how risks are managed and mitigated. Management monitoring and review systems are ineffective and do not identify weaknesses, preventing the necessary improvements from being made.

p.3

improvement to be good

Some areas of the home are looking tired. For example, there are stains on carpets, marks on paintwork and damaged flooring. In addition, some maintenance tasks remain incomplete, including loose tiles in the staff bathroom. A development plan is in place to refresh all areas of the home and create a more welcoming environment for children.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff are attentive to the unique needs of each child and adapt their care practice accordingly. By providing tailored support, staff help children to develop their skills in a way that promotes their individual growth and development. Over time, this approach has resulted in noticeable progress for children across various areas of their lives.

p.3

improvement to be good

Children are provided with a varied and nutritious range of home-cooked meals that promote their health and wellbeing. Staff actively encourage and support children with restricted or selective diets to try new foods and broaden their dietary choices. As a result, children are making progress in developing healthier eating habits and increasing the variety of foods they are willing to eat.

p.3

improvement to be good

Staff actively encourage children to take part in a wide range of activities, both in the home and in the wider community. Opportunities include attending youth clubs, trampolining, swimming and, for one child, attending a music festival. These experiences help children to build positive relationships with peers, develop their independence skills and experience a strong sense of achievement and self-worth.

p.3

improvement to be good

Children are cared for by a core team of staff who understand their needs. This helps children to develop trusting relationships. Staff speak about children with enthusiasm and compassion. However, on one occasion, a member of staff used inappropriate language when describing a child’s behaviour. The manager responded appropriately by addressing this conduct issue, making the necessary referrals to safeguarding professionals and ensuring that the staff member received additional training to improve their practice. Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 4 Staff support children to express their wishes and feelings. However, there is limited evidence that children’s views influence the care they receive or contribute to the wider development of the home. Children’s feedback is not always captured, and their views are not always recorded. This limits the ability to see how children’s views and wishes

p.3

improvement to be good

are incorporated in decisions about the development of the home.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff are deeply committed to the children and remain resilient during challenging periods. Their dedication was particularly evident during a time of financial uncertainty, when delays in salary payments affected staff. Despite this, staff continued to attend work and provide children with consistent care, stability and support. Their commitment helped ensure that children experienced continuity in their relationships and daily routines during a difficult period for the organisation.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff understand the importance of effective transition planning. Before each short break, they engage in pre-stay discussions with parents and carers to gather key information about any changes in a child’s needs, risks, medication or routines. However, following an incident at the family home in which a child accessed items and expressed an intention to harm themselves, the manager did not update the child’s plans or risk assessment to reflect this information or identify how the risk should be managed. As a result, the child continued to access short-break care without additional safety measures being implemented, potentially leaving them vulnerable to harm.

p.4

improvement to be good

Staff understand children’s safeguarding needs. However, although risks relating to online harm have been identified for some children, plans and risk assessments do not provide clear guidance for staff on how these risks should be managed. In addition, staff have not received specialist training to equip them with the skills to respond effectively to these concerns. As a result, children remain vulnerable to potential online harm.

p.4

improvement to be good

Children are cared for in line with their assessed staffing ratios, which helps to reduce the risk of them going missing from care by ensuring that staff are consistently available to provide supervision and support. Each child has a missing-from-care plan in place. However, not all staff clearly understand the actions they should take if a child were to go missing. This may affect the effectiveness of the response should such an incident occur.

p.4

improvement to be good

There have been 2 allegations made against staff, both of which were reported promptly to the relevant professionals. On one occasion, the manager began making enquiries before the matter had been referred back to her by the local authority designated officer. The manager recognised this shortfall and demonstrated learning from the incident. As a result, appropriate procedures were followed when responding to the second allegation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 5 There have been no physical interventions since the last inspection. Staff support children to develop strategies to regulate their own behaviour. Staff are effective in understanding the emotions that underpin and can trigger certain behaviours.

p.4

improvement to be good

The location risk assessment has been reviewed and provides a general overview of the home’s location, including risks in the local area. However, it does not set out clear strategies for how these risks should be managed. In addition, the manager has not consulted the relevant professionals to assess the suitability of the home’s location. As a result, there is insufficient evaluation and oversight of the home’s location and its potential impact on children.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not had a registered manager since November 2025. The registered manager from another home within the organisation has been providing daily support to the team. However, due to the emergency absence of the responsible individual, senior leaders have not provided sufficient support to enable the new manager to develop in their role. Quality assurance processes have failed to ensure that necessary improvements are made.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been some turnover within the staff team since the last inspection, with 4 staff members leaving. Despite this, a stable core team of 6 staff remains in place. These staff are committed, experienced and have a good understanding of children’s needs, helping to provide continuity of care and support. Staffing arrangements have also been supplemented using non-permanent staff to ensure that children’s needs continue to be met.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that effective monitoring and oversight systems are in place. The acting manager has not consistently evaluated key documents, and there is a lack of analysis and review. This has led to several shortfalls relating to the day-to-day running of the home. These include risk assessments not being updated to reflect emerging risks, weaknesses in staff induction and training arrangements, and failures to appropriately respond to concerns raised by staff during supervision.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new electronic case management system has recently been introduced. However, records are kept in various places. As a result, some documents were not readily available to inspectors. Although updated plans and assessments are printed and placed on file, there is no effective system to ensure staff have read and understood these documents. For example, several plans updated in September 2026 had not been signed by staff for more than 3 months. As a result, the manager cannot be assured that staff are working from the most up-to-date information to meet children’s needs safely and effectively.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff receive regular supervision from the manager. However, supervision records do not demonstrate sufficient reflective discussion to support staff development and professional learning. In addition, when staff have raised concerns about their working hours, fatigue and difficulties maintaining a healthy work-life balance, these concerns Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 6 have not been addressed effectively by the manager. This lack of response has the potential to negatively impact staff morale, wellbeing and retention.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff complete the required residential childcare qualification. However, one staff member has not achieved the qualification despite having worked at the home for 36 months. This highlights shortfalls in the management oversight of his progress.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not sufficiently skilled or equipped to manage the behaviours presented by children, including self-harm and online safety risks. The manager had not previously identified these gaps in staff competence or recognised the need for training in these areas. As a result, staff have not been adequately equipped to manage risks or provide informed support to children. During the inspection, leaders took prompt action to secure additional training to strengthen staff practice and improve their ability to respond effectively to children’s individual needs. Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 7

p.6

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.

p.7

Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

p.7

Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

p.7

Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

p.7

Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and

p.7

Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b)) 1 December 2026

p.7

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.7

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.7

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;

p.7

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe; 30 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 8 have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

p.7

Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

p.8

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;

p.8

Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(b)(d))

p.8

Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that risk assessments identify all known risks for each child and provide clear guidance for staff. It also relates to implementing effective systems to monitor children’s online safety and to ensure children’s safety when accessing the home’s kitchen. Furthermore, this relates to ensuring that the home environment is well maintained.

p.8

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—

p.8

Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

p.8

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.8

Requirement Due date

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;

p.8

Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

p.8

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; 30 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 9 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)(f)(h))

p.8

Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that management monitoring and review systems are effective and embedded. It also relates to ensuring that staff have the skills to meet each child’s individual needs. Furthermore, it relates to ensuring that the manager has access to all records and reports, including staff induction records, competency assessments and information relating to safeguarding incidents.

p.9

Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

p.9

Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

p.9

Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting children’s care and welfare and their lives.

p.9

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

p.9

Requirement Due date

ascertain and consider each child’s views, wishes and feelings, and balance these against what they judge to be in the child’s best interests when making decisions about the child’s care and welfare;

p.9

Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

p.9

Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

p.9

Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

p.9

Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that children are provided with opportunities to express their views and influence the day-to-day running of the home. It also relates to ensuring that these discussions are documented. 30 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 10 For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

p.9

Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

p.10

Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

p.10

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

p.10

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b))

p.10

Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that all staff are enrolled on the required diploma and are supported to complete it within the relevant time frame. 30 October 2026

p.10

Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard).

p.10

Requirement Due date

When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1) (2))

p.10

Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that, when carrying out the review of the location of the home, they consult each relevant individual and consider their views. It also relates to the manager identifying steps to manage and mitigate any risks associated with the locality of the home. 30 October 20256

p.10

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that effective systems are in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision from an appropriately qualified and Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 11 experienced professional, allowing them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children in their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

p.10

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: 2743611 12

p.11

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Truly Care Services

p.12

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Olive House, Blake Street, Mansfield WoodHouse, Nottinghamshire NG19 9NT

p.12

Inspector

Zoey Lee, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2743611 13 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.

p.12

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.13

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.13

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.13