Children's Home run by Rite Directions Limited in Kingston upon Hull

Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 1 Registered provider: Rite Directions 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 is registered to provide care for up to four children with learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager at the home since November 2024. The interim manager applied to Ofsted to become the registered manager but has since left their post.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, three children were living at the home.

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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 widespread failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded due to serious and widespread concerns, issued a notice suspending the registration of the home with immediate effect, from the 28 May 2025 to 20 August 2025.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/05/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/08/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 05/05/2022 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care planning for children is poor. Before a child moved in, the management team did not consider the child's individual needs and vulnerabilities or whether staff could meet those needs. Additionally, managers did not consider the compatibility of children living together. This resulted in sustained and fractious relationships between children, affecting their progress and safety in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are not helped to live together safely. Staff do not respond promptly or effectively when there is conflict between children. Children have made serious threats to harm one another and have physically assaulted one another. One child felt bullied by the other children in the home. This left them feeling unhappy and unsafe. In addition, staff do not help children to develop skills to manage relationships with their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children know how to complain. However, when they do, managers and staff do not always respond promptly. One child did not receive a response or resolution to their complaint. Another child raised concerns about how a member of staff made them feel. A delay in recording the child’s views led to a delay in action being taken. This does not help children to feel that their views are important or contribute to improving their experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children's progress in education is variable. One child has increased to a part-time timetable having not attended school for some time. Another child has recently started to attend a life skills course, following several months without an education placement. However, one child does not receive any education. For this child, there is a lack of effective escalation by managers with relevant education professionals to resolve this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not ensure that children's health needs are always met well. One child was not supported to attend a follow-up appointment with the opticians as needed. Additionally, staff do not help children to understand the risks of smoking and vaping and encourage them to stop.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some children's bedrooms are personalised and they reflect their interests. However, others are not. Some are bare and contain broken furniture. In addition, some children’s bedrooms are unclean and not fit for purpose because of this. This does not enable children to feel valued and develop a sense of belonging in their home. Furthermore, it does not help children to develop independence skills in preparation for adulthood by staff modelling clean, healthy habits.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home environment is not nurturing and safe for children to live. For example, broken window blinds, kitchen cabinets and flammable items under the stairs are not being addressed and demonstrate that health and safety hazards are overlooked. This includes a locked fire door preventing escape or fire doors that do not close fully. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 4 Written records are poor. This includes records of incidents and events in the home. Children’s day-to-day experiences are not well documented. Additionally, some handwritten documents were destroyed during an incident. Furthermore, staff use insensitive and judgemental language in records. These records are not helpful to children should they choose to view them now or in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite multiple shortfalls in the quality of care provided, children have some positive experiences. They attend activities for fun and learning. Staff take photos of children enjoying their experiences, which help to build some positive memories and contribute to their life story.

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

Children have been left at risk because allegations of harm are not responded to appropriately. Leaders and managers have not followed safeguarding procedures when serious concerns are raised. They do not inform safeguarding professionals, preventing external scrutiny of practice. The interim manager investigated concerns raised about their own practice. When a child made an allegation about a staff member, the child’s concern was dismissed.

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

Staff do not have the skills to respond to incidents in the home when children are distressed. Serious incidents include a child using items as weapons, locking themselves in the kitchen and starting fires. Incidents are prolonged because staff do not know how to intervene. As a result, police have attended the home to help manage children’s behaviours. One child was arrested by police and later harmed themselves because staff from the home did not know how to help the child when in distress. Children’s ability to manage their emotions has deteriorated and children do not feel safe in their home.

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

Staff’s knowledge of safeguarding is poor. Staff do not follow whistle-blowing procedures or follow on-call procedures when incidents happen in the evening or at weekends. Records of safeguarding incidents are ambiguous and difficult to read. This limits oversight and does not support children’s welfare and safety.

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

Risk assessments are not updated when new risks emerge or identify all the children’s vulnerabilities and associated risks. This includes fire setting, children smoking in bedrooms and ligature risk hazards in the home not being risk assessed to prevent harm to children. Staff do not follow the guidance that is in children's risk assessments, for example, about the level of personal care that children need. Consequently, staff do not have the skills or support to keep children safe.

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

Leaders do not manage shortfalls in staff practice when concerns are raised. For example, when a child said that a member of staff had hurt, managers did not follow safeguarding procedures to appropriately investigate the incident.

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

Managers do not ensure that physical interventions are recorded accurately. This includes behaviours leading up to the restraint and the actions that staff take to de- escalate incidents. Children are not always spoken to after they have been restrained by Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 5 staff. This does not help children to understand the reasons for the restraint or share how it has made them feel.

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

Staff do not accurately record medication administration. When children do not have their prescribed medication, records do not show the reason for this. Audits completed have not identified recording errors and so managers have not acted on these.

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

Those children who have lived in the home for a longer period are more familiar with staff. They said that they can identify staff who they trust and seek support from.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers are not providing a safe, caring, person-centred and nurturing environment for children in their care, as described in the home’s statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are serious issues relating to the management of the home. Monitoring by managers is not effective. Managers do not effectively oversee the care that children receive or ensure that staff have the skills to meet children’s needs. A lack of safeguarding knowledge means that shortfalls in staff practice are not identified or addressed. Consequently, poor practice is embedded in the home, children are not effectively protected and some children have suffered harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management arrangements do not provide stability for children. There has been no registered manager in post since March 2024. Arrangements since this time have been ineffective. At the time of the inspection, there was insufficient management and oversight of the home, including for staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not ensure that children’s plans are accurate and current. Children’s statutory documents are not promptly requested, and any delays in receiving these escalated with the child’s placing authority. Therefore, they cannot be assured that staff are following the child’s current plan.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not assess and review whether staff have the skills and knowledge to meet children’s needs. Training records are disorganised. Staff confirmed that they had not attended training around ligature risks, or have equipment to use should an incident occur, despite this being a risk for one child. This does not provide reassurances that staff would be able to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At times, staffing arrangements have been insufficient and disorganised. Children have been left unsupervised even though there have been incidents of bullying and children hitting one another. On one occasion, a child was walking around with wood from broken furniture, with the potential to use it as a weapon. Staff did not take steps to de-escalate the situation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

In addition to the shortfalls identified at this inspection, managers have not met the requirements that were issued at the assurance inspection. This includes helping one Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 6 child to understand risks to them in the community, although they are encouraged to be more independent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Due to the serious and widespread concerns identified at this inspection, Ofsted issued a notice suspending the home’s registration with immediate effect. Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 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 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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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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. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is repeated. 13 July 2025

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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 staff— 13 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 8 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

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

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is repeated.

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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; 13 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 9 ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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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)(c)(d)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement was raised at the last inspection and is repeated.

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children—

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Requirement Due date

the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and

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Requirement Due date

the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the person in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 28 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 13 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

An individual may only carry on a children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (5).

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Requirement Due date

satisfy the requirements in paragraph (5)(a) to (c); and

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Requirement Due date

have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26 (1) (7)(a)(b)) 13 July 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. 6 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 10 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that an assessment of children’s compatibility and staff’s skills to meet the children’s needs is completed before children move into the home.

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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 and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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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)(i)(ix)(x)(xi)) 6 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 6 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 11 within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire. (Regulation 25 (1)(b)) 6 July 2025

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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

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(c)) 6 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— 6 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 12 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

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs. (Regulation 5 (a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that they escalate to the children’s local authority when they do not have the children’s statutory documents. In addition, managers do not engage relevant professionals to help reengage one child in education.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the reg- istered person considers it appropriate.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that no child is subject to any reprisal for making a complaint or representation.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI, at HMCI's request, a statement containing a summary of any complaints made during the preceding twelve months and the action that was taken in response to each complaint. (Regulation 39 (1)(2)(3)(4) and (5)) 6 July 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;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 6 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who— 6 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 13 take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7 (1) (c)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must have a system where children’s complaints are promptly considered and responded to, in line with the complaints procedure.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff record information about children in a non-stigmatising way. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 1254316 14

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rite Directions Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Tan Y Marian, Constitution Hill, Penmaenmawr LL34 6BA

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Inspectors

Cat Makel, Social Care Inspector Miriam Dolman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1254316 15 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

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