Children's Home run by Formations Care Services Limited in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 1 Registered provider: Formations Care Services Limited 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 two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living at the home at the time of this inspection. The inspector spoke to both children.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/07/2024 Full Good 12/09/2023 Full Good 25/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that children enjoy living in this home and have a positive experience. One child said that it ‘feels like a family,’ and they want to stay living at the home for as long as possible. Another said that staff look out for them and will help them with things. A child who used to live in the home wrote an email to say, ‘Thank you for everything you and your team have done for me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to make progress, and they encourage children in their future aspirations. Both children have taken exams recently. This is an achievement for one child in particular, who has struggled to attend school. Staff support children to maintain a healthy lifestyle. During the inspection, one child made a protein smoothie and was proud to share this with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff build and maintain positive relationships with children. This helps children to develop greater emotional intelligence and self-awareness. Staff support children to engage in therapy, which results in a reduction of incidents of self-harm and suicidal thoughts.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff actively involve children in the daily routine and planning for the home. The voices of children are clear in records. Leaders advocate on behalf of children to ensure that they receive the right support. Furthermore, staff promote the cultural and religious choices of children. This includes meeting their dietary requests.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is pleasant and well maintained. Staff encourage children to express themselves freely, including personalising their bedrooms.

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

Staff make sure that children are safe. They know the children well and support them in ways tailored to them as individuals. Children said that they feel safe, and they show this through their behaviour. Children feel able to talk with trusted individuals about sensitive topics. Staff make children feel that they can seek them out for reassurance and support.

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

When children are in distress, staff show a caring and sensitive approach to them. This includes offering children comfort or using humour where appropriate. Incidents of negative behaviour from children are managed well by staff. This includes staff de- escalating children’s tensions without requiring the use of physical restraint.

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

Staff know the children well and understand what they need to do to keep them safe. Staff respond well if children go missing from the home. They complete local searches and follow agreed protocols. Staff work with key stakeholders to ensure that they find the children as soon as possible. Staff hold reflective discussions with children that are supportive and engaging. Staff help children to gain a greater understanding of the risks Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 4 posed to them. For one child, this has resulted in fewer incidents of them going missing from home.

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

Leaders have not always notified the regulator of serious events as required. This includes the start of a child protection enquiry and a child at risk of sexual exploitation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a registered manager, who has been in post for almost a year. The manager is enthusiastic about achieving positive outcomes for children. A deputy manager and senior leaders with strong collective experience support the manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff said that they feel supported well by leaders. Supervision and appraisal processes are holistic and robust. They reflect on the quality of individual practice and provide constructive feedback. The manager and deputy manager chair team meetings well. They encourage staff to express their views, and they focus on the progress and experiences of children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and responsible individual have a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses. Leaders and the manager are clear on their plans to develop the home and staff practice further. Staff are recruited in a timely way to ensure staff vacancies are filled. Leaders are aware of the balance of experience and skills of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A staff member started working in the home before completing a criminal record check. The manager ensured that they supervised the individual, and no children came to harm as a result. Leaders took action to rectify this during the inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager acknowledged that staff’s record-keeping is an area for improvement. Staff keep appropriate records, but these are often disorganised. This makes it difficult to locate information. This could present difficulties for the manager’s oversight of the home when information is needed in a more urgent situation. Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 5

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet The Care Standards Act 2000, The Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home,

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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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.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person has taken all reasonable steps to obtain full information about each of the matters in Schedule 2 in respect of the individual, but the enquiries in relation to any of the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2 are incomplete; 19 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 6 full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2;

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the circumstances are exceptional; and

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Requirement Due date

the registered person ensures that the individual is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual’s duties, pending receipt of any outstanding information on the matters in paragraphs 3 to 6 of Schedule 2, which is then considered satisfactory by the registered person.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must take reasonable steps to ensure that any individual who is working at the home and who does not fall within paragraph (2)(a) and (b) is appropriately supervised while carrying out the individual’s duties. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a)(b) (3)(a)(b)(c)(d) (7)(a)(b)(c)(d) (8))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home that the registered person considers to be serious (Regulation 40 (4)(e)). (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)  The registered person should ensure that all staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. In particular, records should be updated, organised and stored so as to allow access to them when needed. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2668482 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Formations Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 St. Pauls Road, Shipley BD18 3EP

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Inspector

Sam Saxby-Brown, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2668482 8 regulates and inspects 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 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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