Children's Home run by South Tyneside Council in South Tyneside

Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 1 SC032701 Registered provider: South Tyneside Council

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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 run by a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There is no registered manager. The acting manager has applied to register with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/08/2024 Full Good 14/08/2023 Full Good 30/08/2022 Full Good 17/02/2022 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 3

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improvement to be good

At the time of the inspection, four children were living at the home. The inspector spoke with three of the children during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

The progress and experiences of children living in the home are varied. Staff’s ability to help the children to live together harmoniously is not always effective. Some children have been negatively impacted by the behaviours of other children and are unhappy. Some children are punched by others and incidents in the home have required police involvement. This prevents children from feeling safe and happy, or from having positive experiences of living at the home.

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improvement to be good

Some children have developed trusting relationships with staff, which have helped them to communicate their worries openly. The staff are committed to all the children and speak of them with warmth and positive regard.

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improvement to be good

Some children are being helped to make progress in their education. One child has been supported into the right education placement and helped by staff to have positive beginnings there. Another child has completed their exams, which is something that education professionals did not think would happen before moving to the home. Other children started employment, but staff have not been able to help children to sustain this.

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improvement to be good

Parts of the home have been damaged and require maintenance. These areas have been made safe and repairs to some of this is underway. However, there are areas that were not identified by the manager and remain unaddressed. This detracts from the homely environment and poses a health and safety hazard to children.

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improvement to be good

The laundry room is routinely kept locked. This practice impacts the independence of children. While children are encouraged by staff to develop age-appropriate skills, children cannot access washing facilities without staff members. This prevents children from completing tasks for themselves and learning important self-care skills.

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improvement to be good

Children are offered opportunities to try new activities and hobbies, including trips away from the home. One child has been taken on a foreign holiday to celebrate the child’s time in the home before they move on. This gives children the chance to have new experiences and build their confidence and self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 4 When children go missing from the home, staff attempt to maintain contact with them and report them as missing to the police. However, records of missing incidents do not demonstrate how staff make attempts to locate children in the community. Furthermore, management oversight is poor. There is a lack of evaluation and scrutiny to try to understand the reasons children go missing.

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improvement to be good

Consequences are given to children to address unwanted behaviour. However, the manager does not evaluate their effectiveness. This prevents the manager from being assured that they are proportionate or necessary. As a result, consequences tend to be punitive and not restorative in nature. This prevents children from having the opportunity to understand the impact that their behaviour has on others.

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improvement to be good

Children are not present when staff conduct searches of their bedrooms. Children are not informed that the search has taken place and therefore have no understanding about the reasons for their bedroom being searched. This prevents children from maintaining trusting relationships with the adults in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand children’s individual risks and vulnerabilities. However, management oversight of children’s risk assessments is limited and did not identify that a current risk for a child had been removed. This prevents staff from having the right guidance to keep children safe.

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improvement to be good

The need for physical intervention is rare. When needed, staff use it to protect children from harming themselves. Records of physical interventions clearly describe the event and what staff did to avoid the need to hold a child. Management oversight evaluates their effectiveness and identifies learning to prevent similar incidents in the future.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been changes to management arrangements in the home since the last inspection. The acting manager has been part of the management team since February 2024, with a long handover period from the previous manager. However, this handover period has not mitigated the impact of the changes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is evidence of some management oversight. However, this is inconsistent. Furthermore, the manager has not identified shortfalls and errors in key documents, including incident records and a child’s care plan. This demonstrates that the manager does not have a thorough view of practice in the home and the progress of children. This has negatively impacted the consistency of care given to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are significant gaps in staff supervision. Some staff have not had supervision for over three months. This prevents staff from having the opportunity to reflect on and develop their practice. Furthermore, the manager was not able to retrieve his own supervision records as he is not given copies of these. This prevents him from having accurate records of discussions held in supervision sessions. Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 5 One staff member is over timescales to achieve the required qualification. The manager has addressed this concern with the training provider. However, the evidence viewed showed that this escalation took place after timescales were already exceeded. This has resulted in significant drift and delay in the staff member achieving the qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A child moved to the home for a short period. The manager identified that the child’s needs were beyond the skillset of the staff team. The manager’s assessment made it clear that this was not a suitable move. However, this was overruled by senior management. While there were plans to mitigate some of the risks, the move negatively disrupted the children’s experiences because the foreseeable challenges were not adequately mitigated against.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff said that they feel supported by the manager to fulfil their roles. However, staff feel unclear about their future. This is due to the way changes have been communicated to them about the provider’s plans to expand the residential service. Furthermore, a recent reduction in management capacity and the use of different staff from the provider’s other homes have resulted in inconsistencies for children and uncertainty for staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not ensured that the most recently reviewed statement of purpose has been submitted to Ofsted. Changes included the age range of children who could live at the home. This prevents the regulator from having oversight of the function, structure and staffing in the home. Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 6

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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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 kept under review and, if necessary, revised. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement has been restated. 5 September 2025

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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

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; 5 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 7 understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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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)(ii)(iii)(iv)(xii)(b))

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)) 5 September 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(e)(f)(h)) 5 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— 5 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 8 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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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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. (Regulation 16 (3)(b)) 5 September 2025

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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

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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. 5 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 9 For the purposes of Paragraph (3)(d), full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (3)(b)(d) (4)(a)(b) (5)(a))

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that children are provided with a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that a child’s bedroom should not generally be entered without their permission. Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 16, paragraph 3.20)  The registered person should ensure that some records are kept electronically (regulation 38), provided that this information can be easily accessed by anyone with a legitimate need to view it and, if required, be reproduced in a legible form. In

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Recommendations

particular, ensure that the registered person has access to staff safer recruitment files. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 6, paragraph 14.2)

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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: SC032701 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: South Tyneside Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Town Hall & Civic Offices, Westoe Road, South Shields NE33 2RL

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Inspector

Mark Cryer, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC032701 11 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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