Children's Home run by My3 Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 1 Registered provider: My3 Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a private company. It provides care for up to four children who have learning disabilities and emotional and social difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living in the home. The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2023 but recently went on an extended period of leave. An interim manager joined the home in April 2025 but has yet to submit their application to register with Ofsted.

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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: 10 September 2024

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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: 1246331 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/09/2024 Full Good 12/09/2023 Full Good 10/01/2023 Full Good 22/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who live in this home have significantly varied needs. However, all children appear happy in their home. One child said, ‘It’s laid back, it’s a good place to live.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to understand and explore their cultural identity and learn about the places they have come from. Staff have empowered one child to explore his religious identity and have taken him to mass to continue learning more about this. When possible, staff take children to visit their families and keep parents informed of the child’s progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that all children can contribute their views, regardless of their communication needs. This has enabled children to visit new places and discover their interests, which staff support them to explore. One social worker said, ‘[Name of child] understands so much more [since moving to this home] because they speak to [name of child] and keep him informed about his daily life and help him make decisions.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children who live in the home attend school full time. When schools have not provided the support that children need, managers and staff have challenged this in the best interests of the children. This has helped children to continue their education and begin developing aspirations for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers have positive, but realistic, ambitions for children. One child, who has previously struggled to attend school and has been involved with the youth offending team, has developed an interest in becoming a police officer. Staff have supported the child to explore this opportunity and identified a local police cadet group for them to attend.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is large and safe, with plenty of space for the children who live here. Some minor maintenance issues had not been addressed at the time of the inspection. Some of these were quickly fixed, but one child’s bedroom walls still had some small holes and marks. Managers have recently identified that more minor maintenance issues are not being reported, so they have created a monthly monitoring tool to address this. However, this has not yet been put into practice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to develop their independence at a pace that is appropriate for each child. One child is allowed to go out independently and spend time with people who are important to them. However, there have been occasions when the child has not been allowed to visit their girlfriend as a consequence of not attending school every day. This does not support the child to exercise their independence. Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 4

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

Children are settled in this home and appear to have trusting relationships with the adults who care for them. Staff support each child in a way that works for them, which has led to all children making consistent progress.

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

Staff recognise indicators of significant risk and respond appropriately when these occur. When a child showed signs of being radicalised, staff and managers ensured that the child was supported by the right services. Similarly, when children go missing from the home, staff respond quickly and effectively to bring children back home safely.

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

Staff support children to make complaints when they are not happy with something, both in their home and externally. Managers respond quickly to children’s complaints, and advocate for them when complaints are made about other services, such as their school. When neighbours have made complaints about the noise children make, the registered manager has responded effectively in a child-focused manner.

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

Professionals report ‘excellent’ communication from staff and receive regular updates about the child they work with. One social worker said, ‘When they say they’re going to do something, they do it right away.’ When professionals are not supporting a child in the way the child needs, managers provide respectful challenge and advocate for the child. This ensures that professionals are working well together in the best interests of each child.

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

Staff have a good understanding of children’s needs and vulnerabilities and know how to keep each child safe. However, documents that should provide this information are not always kept up to date. For one child, this meant that their documents have conflicting information that does not give clear actions for staff. For another child, this meant that there was no record of their health appointments.

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

Staff typically support children well to calm down when they are distressed. However, on at least one occasion, staff inadvertently exacerbated an incident when they followed a child to their bedroom instead of following the strategies outlined in the child’s plans. Additionally, staff called the police twice on the same child, who was then charged with serious criminal offences. It is unclear why police were called as reports indicate that staff had the child’s behaviour under control.

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

Children are not often held to keep them safe. When staff do hold children, this is done as a last resort. After children have been held, staff or managers speak with them to gauge their understanding and encourage them to share their views. However, the manager does not check on staff well-being following these incidents, including when staff have experienced racial abuse. Managers comment on incident records, but many of these comments are descriptive rather than evaluative and do not analyse staff practice. Therefore, the shortfalls identified above were missed. Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has the skills and experience to lead the home effectively. Staff feel valued and well supported by the management team. Staff can share ideas and think creatively about the best way to support children to make progress. Staff and professionals report a smooth transition from the registered manager to the interim manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team has remained stable. More than half of the team hold relevant qualifications, with many more currently enrolled on their diploma course. When new staff join the team, appropriate background checks are completed to ensure that staff are safe to work with vulnerable children. However, not all identification documents are held on file for all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular opportunities to reflect on their practice and children’s changing needs. Managers identify the learning needs of staff and ensure that mandatory training is completed in a timely way. However, staff have been persistently requesting training to help them better meet the needs of one child, which has not yet been provided. This leaves the child and staff vulnerable.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers make effective use of internal and external monitoring. Some of the shortfalls identified in this report had already been identified by the interim manager, with plans put in place to make improvements. Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 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 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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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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; 6 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 7 help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust; and

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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. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each child is provided with proactive key-work sessions that are planned based on children’s presenting needs and feelings. The registered person must ensure that children are not unnecessarily criminalised and that staff have the skills and the trusting relationships with children to de-escalate situations effectively.

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff who are involved in the physical interventions of children are spoken with following the incident. Additionally, the registered person must ensure that all physical interventions are evaluated to determine their effectiveness and identify learning that can be put into practice. 6 August 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.

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Requirement Due date

The following measures may not be used to discipline any child—

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Requirement Due date

any restriction, other than one imposed by a court or in accordance with regulation 22 (contact and access to communications), on— 6 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 8 a child’s contact with parents, relatives or friends;

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Requirement Due date

visits to the child by the child’s parents, relatives or friends; or

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Requirement Due date

a child’s communications with any persons listed in regulation 22(1) (contact and access to communications). (Regulation 19 (1) (2)(c)(i)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that consequences do not restrict children from seeing people who are important to them.

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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

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(g)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff are provided with training to meet the identified needs of children. 6 August 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that each child’s records are completed and maintained and that managers and staff know when the child has last been seen by medical professionals. Additionally, the registered person must ensure 6 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 9 that documents for children are regularly updated to reflect children’s changing needs.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that records of identity checks are kept in employees’ recruitment files. 6 August 2025

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the home maintains a clean and well-kept environment which supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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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: 1246331 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 300 St. Marys Road, Garston, Liverpool L19 0NQ

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Inspector

Aislinn Cooper, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1246331 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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