Children's home run by Hopscotch Care Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 1 Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in July 2021 and is operated by a private organisation. It provides care for up to two children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. The inspector spoke with the child living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The post for a registered manager has been vacant since January 2025. A new manager has been in post since January 2025.

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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 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

Date of last inspection: 29 October 2024

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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: 2638535 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/10/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 30/08/2023 Full Good 25/10/2022 Full Good 08/03/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s experiences and progress are hindered by ineffective care planning and serious shortfalls in safeguarding practices, as well as poor leadership and management of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, several staff have left the home. This means that there are insufficient staff to care for more than one child. Despite this, leaders and managers allowed a child with complex needs to move in. Several staff members from the organisation’s other homes came to provide support. This resulted in high staff turnover, poor relationships with the children, and inconsistent staff practice, all of which had a negative impact on both children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

A child moved into the home in an unplanned way. The child has a diagnosed learning disability. Leaders and managers failed to consider the child’s known risks, vulnerabilities and complex needs. This resulted in staff not fully understanding or considering the child’s needs, nor implementing adequate adaptations to practice. Due to this, care planning was poor, resulting in an escalation in incidents and the police being called for assistance due to the staff being unable to manage the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The manager was unable to determine whether the staff from the organisation’s sister homes have the relevant skills, knowledge and experience to meet the child’s needs due to not having access to their files and training records. The child’s social worker said, ‘I feel a child needs a receptive, emotionally warm and available staff team, especially when they first arrive at a home, and I don’t believe they got this.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Due to the staff being unable to meet the child’s needs, leaders and managers gave the child’s placing authority immediate notice and refused to allow the child to return home after they were arrested and spent time at the police station. The placing authority had to locate emergency accommodation for the child, where they could receive support from staff until a new home could be found. As a result, the child experienced an unplanned move from the home eight days after moving in and suffered rejection from leaders, managers and staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child, who has been living at the home for a considerable length of time, has disengaged from formal education since November 2024. The manager has worked with the child’s teacher to try to reintegrate the child back into school; however, this has not been successful. Depending on how they are feeling, the child may occasionally engage in some in-house education. As a result, the child lacks a structured routine during the day, which hampers their educational outcomes, aspirations and future opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The background and family dynamics of the child currently living in the home are understood. As a result, permanent staff and the manager have positive relationships Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 4 with the child and their family. Staff advocate for the child and support them in seeing and remaining in contact with their family. This helps the child to maintain relationships with the people who are important to them.

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

Leaders and managers have failed to understand the level of risk to a child before they moved in. As a result, insufficient risk management plans were put in place, and staff did not have sufficient strategies to follow to reduce or minimise the risk to the child.

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

The previous child was missing from home on three occasions. Staff followed missing- from-home procedures and worked with the police to locate the child and return them home. However, on one occasion, staff showed a lack of professional curiosity when the child was observed putting something into their pocket in a local shop. On returning home, the child went to their bedroom. Staff failed to carry out welfare checks or ask what they had taken from the shop. This resulted in the child becoming intoxicated from alcohol and aerosols, which could have been avoided. Following the incidents, no independent return home interviews took place. This was a missed opportunity to identify triggers and implement new strategies to mitigate the risks.

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

On two occasions, staff held the child to stop them from causing damage to property and to keep them safe. Following these incidents, senior leaders did not follow the correct procedures. There was no clear independent oversight of these incidents to ensure that interventions were safe, necessary and proportionate. This means that staff practice was not evaluated to look at any adaptations to practice in the future, any lessons learned, or the effectiveness of the intervention. This leaves all involved at risk of harm.

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

The manager has identified shortfalls in safeguarding practice and a lack of monitoring of the children but has failed to adequately address these through appropriate procedures. As a result, the potential risks that staff might pose are not assessed, and they continue to work both at the home and in the wider organisation. Furthermore, staff have not spoken to the children following incidents to reiterate expectations, earn respect and strengthen relationships.

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

One child’s liberty is currently restricted due to the use of bedroom door sensors, without any safeguarding concerns for the child. Furthermore, the downstairs communal areas, including the kitchen, lounge and laundry room, have key locks. This means access to the communal areas of the home could be restricted.

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

Safer recruitment systems are used to recruit staff. This helps to prevent unsuitable adults from working with children. Staff work alone with the child currently living in the home; however, one of these staff members does not have a first-aid qualification. Consequently, should the child require medical assistance, the member of staff may not be able to adequately respond until the emergency services arrive, leaving the child’s health at risk. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home does not have a registered manager. The new manager failed to apply to register with Ofsted. Furthermore, they have submitted their resignation and are due to leave in the coming weeks. During the inspection, they raised concerns about the senior leadership arrangements. They were also unable to demonstrate that they have effective oversight of the care that staff provide to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not understand their responsibilities in providing safe care for all children. They do not show any evidence of learning from significant incidents, as practices and processes have remained unchanged. Senior managers do not accept that the previous child had a poor experience and do not take any responsibility for the significant shortfalls identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to operate the home in accordance with the aims outlined in its statement of purpose, policies and procedures. Furthermore, a member of staff’s role and qualification are not correct in the statement of purpose. This is misleading about the current staffing situation in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff say the manager supports them and that they have helped improve the quality of recording, such as incident reports and key-work sessions. Staff receive regular supervision and attend team meetings. However, staff have not always worked together as a team, due to the high turnover of staff since the last inspection. One member of staff said, ‘I feel staff morale is low, not just in this home, across the service, as staff turnover is high.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has failed to ensure that all staff receive adequate training to meet the needs of the children in their care. For example, training is required in areas such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, first aid, harmful sexualised behaviours, oppositional defiance disorder, therapeutic parenting, developmental language disorder, mental health and suicidal ideation, self-harm, and professional boundaries. This has resulted in staff failing to understand how to appropriately support the children to meet their complex needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager did not request a review of the child’s care from the placing authority, nor did they seek assistance from services involved when the child was in crisis. This was a missed opportunity to further understand the child and their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers do not regularly seek feedback from professionals, family members or the staff, and they do not use research to inform their practice. During the inspection, no reviewing, monitoring or auditing information was available. This is a missed opportunity for leaders and managers to identify and reflect on themes, patterns, trends, and shortfalls in practice. As a result, poor and inconsistent practices continue to go unaddressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

One requirement raised at the last inspection has not been met and has been restated. One recommendation has now been raised as a requirement. Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 6 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 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

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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)) 20 July 2025

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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

promotes their welfare. 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 8 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

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Requirement Due date

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))

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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— 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 9 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

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs;

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Requirement Due date

the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(c)(e)(i)(ii))

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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; 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 10 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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Requirement Due date

that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(viii)(ix)(x)(xi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 11 Specifically, the registered provider must ensure that when a manager starts working at the home, they apply to register with Ofsted within six weeks of commencing the role.

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Requirement Due date

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

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. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(b)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that when a child receives a consequence or is restrained, the user of the measure is adequately spoken to and debriefed, and the individual carrying out the independent review signs the record. 20 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children’s home’s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Requirement Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the living room, kitchen and laundry room door locks are removed. Furthermore, the registered person must ensure that bedroom door sensors are only used when there is a specific safeguarding 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 12 concern for a child. This measure must be regularly reviewed with the child’s placing authority, and the child must be informed of the rationale behind its use.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (1) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that staff do not work alone if they have not got a suitable first-aid qualification. 20 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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)) 20 July 2025

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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 achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; 20 July 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 13 help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(viii)(x))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b) (5)) 20 July 2025

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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: 2638535 14

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hopscotch Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 19 Lancaster Road, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9LD

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Inspector

Julie Elder, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2638535 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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