Children's Home run by Cannon Children Services Ltd in West Northamptonshire

Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 1 Registered provider: Cannon Children Services Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and managed by a private company. It offers 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 this inspection, 2 children were living in the home. One child spoke with the inspector and contributed to the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager in post. Since the full inspection, one manager has left, and a new manager has been appointed. They have applied to register with Ofsted.

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Inspection date: 2 September 2026

Judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Inspection date: 2 September 2026

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Information about this inspection

At this inspection, the inspector evaluated:

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Information about this inspection

 the care of children  the safety of children  the effectiveness of leaders and managers. The inspector has looked closely at the experiences and progress of children, using the social care common inspection framework. This assurance 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’. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 2

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Findings from the inspection

We did not identify any serious or widespread concerns in relation to the care or protection of children at this assurance inspection.

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Findings from the inspection

There has been some progress made in meeting the requirements set at the full inspection. Progress has been made in areas such as family time for children and staff knowledge of protocols to follow when children go missing or are absent from the home. One child has moved into the home and is making progress in reducing the restrictions that are in place in line with a deprivation of liberty order. Other children in the home may have been unduly restricted during this time because of the restrictions in place in the home. The manager has not had sufficient oversight of safer recruitment or staff rotas. They have not carried out supervision sessions or appraisals with staff to help support their development and confidence in their roles.

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Findings from the inspection

One child has moved into the home since the full inspection. The child already living in the home was prepared for this change, and regular conversations have taken place with both children to ensure that their views have been captured. For one child, regular conversations take place to prepare them for moving on from the home. These discussions include independence work, budgeting and the use of public transport. For another child, their views are captured ahead of professional meetings. The child understands their care plans, the restrictions in place and the steps they need to take to have these reduced. They have aspirations for the future and are confident that staff and the manager will support them to achieve their goals.

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Findings from the inspection

Children are now supported to spend time with people who are important to them. Managers challenge professionals when children have not been able to spend time with family members. For one child, they have been supported to regularly visit a parent and attend their wedding. The manager has built a positive working relationship with that parent to inform them of their child’s care and progress.

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Findings from the inspection

The manager has attempted to secure planned education provisions for both children. One child has been offered a place at college. The manager is researching alternative options for another child. Clear plans for how education will be provided are not yet in place due to the summer holidays.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff are now clear on the protocols to follow when a child is absent or missing from the home. Staff regularly undertake welfare calls and visual checks with children. Where concerns have escalated, the manager has approached other agencies for support to ensure that children are safe and has put clear plans in place to manage identified risks.

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Findings from the inspection

One child living in the home is subject to a deprivation of liberty order. The manager does not hold the relevant court documentation and is therefore unable to assure herself that the restrictions applied in the home are consistent with the terms of the Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 3 order. She has not sufficiently escalated this issue to the local authority. The information available to the manager does not clearly set out the restrictions that have been imposed by the court, such as the locking of external doors. As a result, the child may have been subject to restrictions beyond those agreed by the court. Not all staff have consistent access to keys for the external doors. This results in delays for staff and children moving around the home, particularly for the child who is not subject to a deprivation of liberty order. It also raises concerns about the safe evacuation of the home in the event of a fire. During the inspection, additional keys

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Findings from the inspection

were located and made available to staff.

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Findings from the inspection

The child who is subject to a deprivation of liberty order is making good progress in reducing the restrictions in place. Regular meetings are held to review the order and consider the steps the home is taking to reduce restrictions. These discussions are informed by the views of professionals and the child.

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Findings from the inspection

The quality of medication administration records has improved. Records now include sufficient detail about medication administered to children. However, one child is prescribed medication and, since moving into the home, there is no record of this medication being administered or offered. Staff were unaware of the child’s medication or diagnosis. This has the potential to adversely affect the child’s health. Managers had not acted in response to this concern.

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Findings from the inspection

The manager has not had oversight of the rotas for the home, and these are completed by senior managers. This limits the manager’s ability to monitor staffing arrangements, including staff’s working hours. The rotas do not contain sufficient detail about the staff working in the home, including the names of agency staff. Staff work across different homes in the organisation, which further limits the manager’s oversight of the team.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff have not received sufficient supervision in line with the home’s policy and have not had their annual appraisals. Staff supervision sessions have been carried out remotely by another manager in the company who does not work in the home. This limits the feedback given to staff because the manager supervising them does not work directly with them. This does not support staff to develop in their roles and reflect on their working practices.

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Findings from the inspection

No concerns were identified in relation to safer recruitment practices. However, senior managers carry out the checks, and the manager has no oversight of the safer recruitment files before staff begin working in the home. This limits her knowledge of the staff working in the home, including their skills, experience and the checks carried out to assess their suitability to work with children.

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Findings from the inspection

There have been improvements in the independent visitor reports. The reports are more detailed and support improvements in the quality of care provided.

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Findings from the inspection

Staff speak positively about the day-to-day support they receive from the manager, who helps them to develop and grow in confidence in their roles. Staff have been Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 4 given more areas of responsibility, which helps them feel included in the day-to-day running of the home.

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Findings from the inspection

Not all aspects of the requirements were reviewed at this inspection. These have therefore been restated. Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 5

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/04/2026 Full Requires improvement to be good 20/05/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/02/2024 Full Good Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 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

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’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) (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that robust quality assurance and monitoring systems are in place, including effective management oversight of safer recruitment practices and staff rotas.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to ensuring that staff receive regular supervision and annual appraisals from the manager, and 2 December 2026 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 7 that they are supported to make progress towards achieving relevant qualifications. Where qualification completion dates have passed, appropriate action should be taken to address any delays.

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the home having clear plans in place for children’s education and ensuring that days are structured for children who are not attending school so that they continue to learn. 2 December 2026

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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

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to 2 December 2026 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 8 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. (Regulation 5 (a)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that the manager escalates concerns to the appropriate agencies and professionals where the home has not received court documentation setting out the restrictions agreed for children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, 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 prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that staff and managers have a clear understanding of children’s prescribed medication, including the required dosage. It also refers to ensuring that prescribed medication is appropriately offered to children and that any refusal is accurately recorded. 2 December 2026

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv)) 2 December 2026 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 9 In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that the home has sufficient keys available so that staff and children can access communal areas and safely exit the home when required, with particular regard to fire safety.

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Requirement Due date

This also refers to the registered person ensuring that the home obtains and acts in accordance with any court orders relating to restrictions on children’s liberty. In addition, the registered person should ensure that any restrictions are applied only as authorised and do not unduly impact other children living in the home.

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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. (Regulation 37 (1) (2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the registered person ensuring that the manager maintains records of both the planned and actual staff rotas for the home. This also refers to ensuring that rotas are accurate and provide clear information about the staff working in the home, including the manager, and the hours worked. 2 December 2026 Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cannon Children Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Calais Hill, Tyler Hill, Canterbury CT2 9LT

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Inspector

Becki Cornes-Sinclair, Social Care Inspector Assurance inspection report for children’s home: 2737729 11 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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