Children's Home run by Paramount Children Care LTD in Leicester

Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 1 Registered provider: Paramount Children Care Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned and provides care for up to 4 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 4 children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with 3 of the children as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 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: 2627088 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2025 Full Good 22/05/2024 Full Good 29/11/2023 Full Good 30/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 3

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Summary of findings

Children have positive experiences and make progress from their individual starting points. They feel safe and happy at the home and benefit from positive relationships with staff who understand their needs. The registered manager and deputy are therapeutic in their responses and work closely with professionals to ensure children’s safety.

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Summary of findings

The registered manager and leaders recognise the areas that require further development, including strengthening consistency across the staff team and maintaining effective oversight of safeguarding practice. Social workers and other professionals have confidence in the home’s ability to keep children safe. Following a number of incidents, the provider gave notice to end one child’s placement. However, the manager has agreed to continue providing care for the child while the local authority identifies a suitable alternative placement, helping to avoid an unplanned move and supporting a more considered transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences at the home and make progress from their individual starting points. Children say they feel safe and happy living in the home. They are confident in approaching the registered manager, deputy and familiar staff for advice, reassurance and practical support, reflecting the strength of these trusted relationships.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are involved in discussions about their plans and decisions about their care. Managers regularly interact with the children. They use curiosity, playfulness and empathy to help children understand their behaviour and take increasing responsibility for their choices. However, the same approach is not consistently applied by the team. Feedback from social workers is consistently positive. One social worker described the support provided to a child as ‘10 out of 10’. Another social worker said that staff and managers go ‘above and beyond’ to meet the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to participate in a wide range of activities, with staff actively encouraging their interests, hobbies and aspirations. Recently, children enjoyed a week- long holiday to a seaside destination, which provided opportunities for fun, new experiences and positive memories. Photos displayed throughout the home capture such experiences and reflect the enjoyment children had.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively support children to maintain and strengthen relationships with family members and other people who are important to them. Family time is valued and encouraged, with staff providing regular updates to families and professionals. This promotes children’s sense of identity, strengthens their emotional wellbeing and enhances their sense of belonging. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 4 Staff place a strong emphasis on education and maintain high aspirations for children. They recognise that progress looks different for each child and tailor their support accordingly. Staff also help children develop independence skills and prepare for adulthood, supporting them to gain practical life skills and valuable experiences that will support a successful transition into adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has benefited from recent refurbishment, which has improved the living environment for children. However, the garden is currently unavailable for use due to a leaning brick wall. Appropriate interim measures have been taken, including the installation of a temporary metal safety fence. In addition, there has been a pattern of delays in completing refurbishment works and responding to children’s requests, resulting in some improvements not being progressed in a timely manner.

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

Children have complex needs and are vulnerable to risks such as going missing from the home, self-harm, substance misuse and unsafe peer relationships. Risk management plans provide staff with clear guidance on children’s known vulnerabilities, potential triggers and the actions required to reduce identified risks. Staff follow safeguarding procedures and work with partner agencies to promote children’s safety.

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

When children go missing from home, staff follow agreed procedures and make sustained efforts to locate them. This has included following the child for several hours to ensure their safety. Staff keep relevant professionals informed. Return home interviews are offered to children to help identify any concerns and reduce future risks. The registered manager maintains oversight of incidents, reflecting on events and identifying learning to strengthen practice and promote children’s safety and wellbeing.

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

Some incident records show that the guidance provided is not consistently understood or followed by all staff. Some staff lack the skills and confidence to respond effectively when children display risk-taking behaviour or behaviour that challenges, particularly when managers are not present. Consequently, staff responses are not always consistent or effective in reducing risks, and children are not always protected in accordance with their plans.

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

When the manager is made aware of complaints made by children, they are addressed promptly, and responses are provided in person and in writing. However, on one occasion, a staff member had not identified an allegation raised by a child, which resulted in a delay in it being addressed. Leaders identified this issue and took appropriate action as soon as they became aware. Staff have received additional training to strengthen their practice in this area.

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

The manager reviews incidents to identify patterns and trends, using this information to inform plans and assessments, promote learning and drive improvements in practice. For example, one child frequently self-harms when they are missing from home and seeks support from the emergency services when experiencing distress. This is viewed as a protective factor and a pattern in their behaviour. Staff carry out direct work with the Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 5 child to help them identify coping strategies and provide emotional warmth. When the strategies in place are not effective, these are reviewed and alternative measures are implemented.

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

Following a serious incident, the provider gave notice to end one child’s placement. However, the manager agreed to the child remaining at the home while the placing authority identified a suitable alternative placement, preventing an unplanned move to emergency accommodation. Regular multi-agency meetings take place to review these arrangements, supporting a well-planned and considered transition that is in the child’s best interests.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a registered manager who has high aspirations for children and staff. There has been a change of registered manager and deputy since the last inspection and a period of registered manager’s absence due to illness. The registered manager has recently applied to cancel his Ofsted registration and will be leaving the home in the coming weeks. An experienced manager from the organisation has been identified to assume management responsibilities and is already working alongside the manager and deputy manager as part of a planned transition. This approach helps to ensure continuity of leadership, consistency for children and staff, and a smooth transfer of responsibilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have a detailed understanding of children’s backgrounds, individual needs and plans. During the inspection, the deputy manager was observed to have carefully reviewed a child’s support plan with them. Information held on the home’s electronic system is accessible and well organised. Staff know where to access relevant information. Managers review incident records and identify actions before closing them. This provides managers with an overview of children’s experiences and the risks they face.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager recognises that children’s behaviours are often a form of communication and makes sustained efforts to understand and engage with them effectively. Staff and external professionals have recognised the positive changes introduced by the current manager and responsible individual, highlighting the positive impact of their leadership on the home and the experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings are used creatively to develop staff knowledge and practice. However, learning from staff practice concerns and professional boundaries has not always been identified promptly or embedded consistently across the staff team throughout the inspection period. The manager has started to use team meetings as a forum to review case studies, strengthening staff understanding of children’s behaviours, relevant policies and the home’s expectations. This approach has helped to foster a positive learning culture across the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision sessions were not previously structured or held regularly. Since the manager has been in post, he has ensured that staff receive structured supervision that provides meaningful opportunities to reflect on their practice. When practice concerns Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 6 arise, additional supervision sessions are arranged. However, management oversight of training and recruitment is not consistently effective. As a result, there have been delays in staff completing essential training, and not all staff have achieved the required level 3 qualification within the required timescales.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The effectiveness of staff practice remains overly dependent on managers being present. The confidence and authority demonstrated by managers are not consistently reflected across the wider staff team, particularly during evenings and overnight. Staffing shortages and changes in management have affected staff morale. Longer-serving staff describe how changes in the management team and its approach have caused uncertainty for staff. However, since the appointment of the new responsible individual, staff report that there is greater stability and clearer direction for the team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 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, 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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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

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)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the manager ensuring that staff follow children’s plans and assessments. It also relates to ensuring that staff have the necessary skills and confidence to manage children’s risks and behaviours. 19 October 2026

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Requirement Due date

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—

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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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

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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)) 17 December 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 8 In particular, this relates to ensuring that all staff are enrolled on the diploma and complete the qualification within the required timescale.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets children’s needs, with particular regard to the maintenance of the external garden areas. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that the team provides high-quality care for children living at the home. They must lead and manage the home in a way that delivers the ethos, outcomes and approach set out in the statement of purpose, ensuring that the team provides continuity of care for children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 52, paragraph 10.4)

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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: 2627088 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Paramount Children Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Para Group House, 6 to 11 Riley Street, Willenhall WV13 1RH

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Inspector

Jibin Vakanil, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2627088 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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