Children's home run by Therapeutic Care Northwest Limited

Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 1 Registered provider: Therapeutic Care Northwest 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 registered with Ofsted in February 2024 and is owned and managed by a private provider. It offers care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home.

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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: 2754433 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/09/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last inspection, one child has moved out of the home in a planned way, and two children have been welcomed into the home. The staff team shows a commitment towards supporting children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are calm and caring in their approach. They enjoy working at the home and spending time with the children. Staff regularly encourage children to express their wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Safeguarding incidents are dealt with effectively by managers. Managers appropriately share information with stakeholders. When there are concerns about practice, managers review their safeguarding processes, alongside the local authority designated officer.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Both children attend school and are making progress from their starting points. The staff have high aspirations for the children to achieve their academic potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy new activities and are encouraged to pursue their own interests. Children are supported to be active. This helps children to gain confidence and improve their social skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s complaints are actioned. When a child did raise a complaint, swift action was undertaken to ensure that the child’s voice was heard, their thoughts respected and appropriate action undertaken to resolve the complaint.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s cultural needs are understood and celebrated. The staff support children to purchase and cook food that is part of their cultural heritage. This enables children to develop a strong sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides ample space for the children to relax and engage in a variety of activities, both indoors and outdoors. While one child’s window and a communal room were initially locked, the manager responded promptly to address and resolve these environmental concerns.

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

Children say that they feel safe living in the home. Staff invest quality time in building positive relationships and developing a sense of security and trust.

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

Staff prioritise children’s safety and are actively developing their understanding of each child’s vulnerabilities and needs. However, not all necessary risk-reduction measures were reflected in a child’s risk assessment, which limited the clarity of guidance for staff. The manager has since taken appropriate action to address this Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 4 shortfall. Staff support the children to better understand and manage their emotions to enable them to develop better coping strategies.

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

Children are only held when it is necessary to keep them or others safe. However, on two occasions, a debrief with the children was undertaken by the staff involved in the hold. This does not ensure that children have the opportunity to speak to an independent person and for the manager to identify opportunities for staff development.

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

On one occasion, a consequence for negative behaviours did not provide the child with helpful learning opportunities and was not restorative in nature.

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

Professionals are complimentary about the care the children receive. Staff have developed strong professional relationships with external agencies. They say that they are kept well informed about their child’s care and progress. For the children at this home, consistency is important.

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

Safer recruitment checks are completed for all new employees. This ensures that the staff employed by the home are safe to work with children.

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

There were prohibited items in the staff office. This did not have a direct impact on the children, and the manager took swift action to address this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Since the last inspection, there have been several management changes in the home. The home has not had a registered manager since May 2025. The deputy manager, who is enthusiastic and motivated, has been appointed to the manager’s post.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular supervision sessions. This gives them the opportunity to reflect on their practice and identify any additional learning needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training is undertaken to ensure that the staff have the right skills and knowledge. However, the home’s workforce development plan has not been updated to reflect the home’s aims and objectives and the additional training that has been undertaken to meet the needs of the children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings take place regularly to give staff the opportunity to come together and share their skills and knowledge. Staff also receive support and guidance from external therapeutic services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has completed quality of care reports to review children’s experiences. However, the opinions of staff and professionals are not considered in the report. This reduces opportunities to ensure that the feedback is being used to develop practice in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 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 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

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

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)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the child’s risk assessment is regularly reviewed when there are any changes in the child’s care. 29 August 2025

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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)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that children are spoken to by staff not involved in the physical intervention. 29 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 6

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care in relation to prohibited items. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)  The registered person must ensure that there is a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person must ensure that they actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of the information from independent and internal

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Recommendations

monitoring systems to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)  The registered person must ensure that children are able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)  The registered person must ensure that any consequences used to address poor behaviour are restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour, and the staff should be skilled to

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Recommendations

support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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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: 2754433 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Therapeutic Care Northwest Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Allenby Street, Atherton, Manchester M46 0BJ

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Inspector

Michelle Snape, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2754433 8 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 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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