Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 1 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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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 a short-break service provided by a local authority alongside their outreach programme.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to provide care for up to four children who may have social and emotional difficulties and/or learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, one child who accesses the home for short breaks was present at the home. There were no children staying overnight at the home during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

This is the home’s first inspection. The home and the manager registered with Ofsted in August 2024. The manager also manages another setting in the local authority.

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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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides a short-break service alongside an existing outreach provision. There has been a phased approach to introducing short-break stays to children since the home opened. Staff work across both services, which means that they often have established relationships with children who come to stay at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to build positive relationships with staff. Staff treat children with dignity and respect. Staff spoken to during the inspection spoke fondly and with pride about the children they support. One parent said: ‘[Name of child] has trusting relationships with staff because they know that the staff care about them and have their best interests at heart.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff supported one child and their family during a period of crisis. Due to the intervention provided, alongside their outreach provision, they were able to support the child and their family to rebuild their relationships and help the child to remain living in the family home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff work with external professionals, such as staff from the placing authority, speech and language therapists and the outreach team, as well as with children’s families, to ensure that there is a team around the child approach, working together to achieve the best outcomes for children and their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children are new to short breaks, they are made to feel welcome and this is done with the best possible planning alongside the outreach service, taking into account the children’s individual circumstances. This ensures that children are comfortable staying at the home and that children build positive relationships with the staff team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are suitable arrangements in place to ensure that children can express their views, wishes and feelings and to be involved in decisions about their day-to-day care and their use of short-break stays. Their views are listened to and respected and this helps children to feel valued.

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

Detailed risk management plans and support plans provide clear guidance and strategies to staff to enable them to provide consistent care and support for children. Staff regularly review and update these documents. These documents are child centred, and the child’s voice can be heard throughout.

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

Staff have clear boundaries about acceptable behaviours. They seek to understand children’s needs and support children to manage their behaviours and emotions. Staff promote positive behaviour and celebrate children’s achievements. Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 3 There are systems in place to ensure that staff are suitably trained in safeguarding subjects. However, not all staff spoken to were able to describe the action they would take in response to an allegation and were not clear on the role of the local authority designated officer (LADO). However, suitable action was taken in response to an allegation made by a child. The manager worked with relevant professionals, such as the LADO and other staff from the placing authority.

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

There have been no significant events or incidents since the home opened. There are systems in place to ensure that staff understand how to record and report any events and to ensure that managers have oversight of the effectiveness of any measures used.

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

When it has been necessary to impose a consequence, it has been reasonable and proportionate. The consequence has been fully explained to children and the effectiveness reviewed and evaluated by the manager.

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

Staff complete direct work with children around relevant topics to help them understand their emotions and to gather their views about their home life and relationships. Direct work is planned but also completed reactively if needed. These sessions help children to understand their lived experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a manager in place who is supported by a deputy manager. Staff describe the management team as supportive and always available for advice and guidance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has suitable arrangements in place to ensure that she has oversight of the home. Leaders and managers make effective use of internal and external monitoring systems. This means that they can identify areas of strength and can address any areas for development or improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a core team of staff who work across the outreach provision and the short- break service who know the children well. The team provides children with consistency of care across all areas of the service. Staff work well as a team and have a shared vision of what they want to achieve for the children they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are suitably trained and qualified to meet children’s needs. They have access to a comprehensive training programme. The manager also has systems in place to identify and source any additional training needs that are identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Supervision sessions take place regularly. They are used as a supportive tool for staff well-being and to identify staff responsibilities. However, these sessions do not support staff to reflect on their practice and enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

In addition to supervision, team meetings take place monthly and are well attended by the team. They are used to develop the team’s knowledge of policies and quality Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 4 standards and to share information. They are also an opportunity for staff to establish their roles and responsibilities. Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 5

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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

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

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff know the correct processes for managing allegations and understand the role of the LADO. 23 April 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Staff supervision should enable staff to reflect and act on how their own feelings and behaviour may be affected by the behaviour of the children they care for. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, Page 61, paragraph 13.2 and page 39, paragraph 8.15)

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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 Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 6 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: 2795771 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Time Square, Warrington WA1 2NT

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Inspector

Katie Tomlinson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2795771 8 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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