Children's home run by Progressive Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 1 Registered provider: Progressive Care Limited

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Full inspection 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 provider. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in December 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/07/2024 Full Good 14/06/2023 Full Good 06/12/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures in how children are helped and protected, and the leadership and management arrangements of the home are ineffective. This has significantly impacted on children’s progress and experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Five children have lived in the home during the inspection period. The progress of two of the five children has regressed, leading to one child moving out. Two children moved to live in semi-independence accommodation. The care provided by staff did not support these children to be adequately prepared for semi-independent living. Furthermore, no transition plans for any children were recorded.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child recently moved into the home without appropriate assessment or consultation with other professionals to consider whether staff were able to meet their needs alongside the needs of the other children. There was no consideration whether additional support was needed to safely manage potential risks. This has led to unsafe dynamics between children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child’s needs are not understood by staff and minimised by the manager. Staff are unable to support the child to have a purposeful routine. The child does not engage in education and has become increasingly isolated within the home. At one point, the child barely moved from the sofa in the communal living room for five days, including sleeping there overnight. This has continued sporadically including during the inspection. Staff do not try to wake the child even when they have home tuition. Leaders and managers have failed to consider how to address the needs of this child, while balancing the needs of other children living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are registered with universal health providers and usually attend appointments with the support of staff. When children have identified needs relating to alcohol or substance misuse, they have attended specialist support. However, this is usually requested or recommended by other agencies. Children are referred for neurodivergence assessments, although little is done to address children’s needs while waiting for the assessment to take place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

For one child, since moving into the home, their attendance at school has increased.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are supported to see their families and people who are important to them. Staff facilitate this where possible.

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

Children’s risk assessments do not contain relevant and up-to-date information to support staff to be able to respond to risk. They are not reviewed in a timely manner. Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 4 The assessments do not detail individualised strategies for staff to use to support children. Staff do not consistently work with children to support a reduction in risks.

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

Staff do not always have a good understanding of children’s needs and risks, including when children move in. Staff do not use physical intervention with children, but they lack effective conflict management skills. For one child, this led to incidents when they were struggling due to staff being unable to keep them calm. The manager and staff fail to understand that children communicate through their behaviour. This means that children’s needs remain unmet.

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

Routines and boundaries in the home are poor and vary for children. For one child, there are no repercussions for not engaging with education. For another child, their phone is removed for 24 hours if they are excluded from school. Staff do not encourage positive behaviour through incentives or rewards. The only reward children receive is a takeaway if they engage with the children’s meeting.

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

Consequences are punitive and inappropriate. Shortly after moving into the home, a child’s hamster was taken from their bedroom and not returned until they had tidied it. This is the child’s first time living in a children’s home. The same child told inspectors that they washed the home’s car as a ‘punishment’ for being missing overnight. The manager has failed to consider children’s past trauma and experiences and the purpose of consequences.

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

Discussions within children’s meetings are also punitive. For example, children are asked not to approach staff to make the same request. The manager explained these things were said because staff were struggling to say no to children. The manager did not recognise that this was a shortfall in staff’s practice and was not appropriate for the children to take responsibility for this.

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

When children go missing from the home, staff do not always go looking for them, including when children tell staff where they are. Staff do not always report children missing in line with their plans. Information in plans is contradictory to other risk assessments. Records of missing incidents are not always fully completed by staff, leaving out essential information. Children can speak to someone independent when they return to the home. However, managers do not collate this information to inform risk assessments.

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

One child is not able to freely access their own finances. This was put in place in response to an incident where the child bought something deemed inappropriate. However, there has been no work completed to support the child to be able to learn to safely manage money.

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

Allegation management ensures that children are immediately safeguarded if there is a concern. Appropriate investigations take place; however, clear outcomes from the investigations are not recorded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 5 Issues with staffing sufficiency have continued since the last inspection with forty-two different members of staff working during this time. Over three hundred shifts have been covered by a high number of non-permanent staff. No staff members remain since the last inspection and the manager and staff have worked in the home for less than 12 months. This has significantly impacted on the continuity of care for children. There remain vacancies within the team and most staff lack experience working in children’s homes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s oversight is ineffective. It lacks reflection and does not adequately consider learning opportunities. There have been times when poor practice is noted but this is not effectively addressed and monitored. For example, when staff identify that they are struggling to engage with a child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is no evidence of senior management oversight of documents, such as risk assessments or incident reports. This prevents leaders and managers having a holistic understanding of the strengths and weaknesses and taking effective action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The induction and probation process for staff is ineffective. One member of staff highlighted that she did not have a good understanding of her job role and that her induction was poor. This was not addressed by the manager. Most staff remain on probation and therefore do not routinely receive supervision. Probation reviews do not provide reflective practice and do not discuss the children’s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager’s six-monthly review was submitted to the regulator two months after the required timescale. The report lacked evaluation and did not contain feedback from relevant stakeholders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When new staff have been recruited, this has been in line with safer recruitment practices. Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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 has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and 29 June 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 7 feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) * 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)) 29 June 2025

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. (Regulation 19 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that consequences support children to learn from their actions. 11 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 6 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 8 that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(iii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; 11 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 9 strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same; and

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(viii)(i)(x)(xi)) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

protect and promote each child's welfare;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult; and

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Requirement Due date

make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(b)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(ix)) 11 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 10 In particular, ensure that if children are prevented access to their own money, this has a clear rationale and when relevant, uses legal frameworks to support decisions.

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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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: 2663883 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 51 Attercliffe Common, Sheffield S9 2AE

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Inspector

Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Sam Saxby-Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2663883 12 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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