Children's home run by Sunderland City Council

Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 1 Registered provider: Together for Children Sunderland Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to two children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in October 2024.

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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 failures that mean children are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 25 November 2024

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/11/2024 Full Good 31/01/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This inspection was brought forward because of specific concerns received by Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s overall progress and experiences have been adversely affected by poor safeguarding practice and ineffective leadership and management. One child has been repeatedly exposed to harm due to persistent failures to keep the child safe. These ongoing practices have severely compromised the welfare and safety of children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Despite these weaknesses, in other respects children have good relationships with staff, supported by managers who are aware of the emotional needs of the children. At times, staff successfully help children feel more secure during moments of distress or anger. However, this supportive approach is not consistently demonstrated by all staff all of the time.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Education is prioritised. Staff demonstrate persistence in their approach and work closely with external agencies to ensure that children receive the most appropriate education and tailored support. For children unable to access education outside the home, the manager has proactively arranged for a tutor to support their learning while a suitable school placement is identified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support children to build and maintain relationships with people who are important to them. A child’s parent said how well the staff had supported them, resulting in family time taking place in line with the child’s wishes and feelings. For children who have difficult family relationships, staff help them make sense of their emotions and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is well presented and maintained. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to give them a sense of belonging.

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

There are serious safeguarding failures that have resulted in children not being consistently protected. One child has been repeatedly exposed to exploitation and has experienced significant harm on multiple occasions due to inadequate staff responses and ineffective safeguarding practices.

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

Children have individualised risk assessments and safety plans to help support their risks. However, there are serious shortfalls because staff have failed to follow one child’s safety plans. Leaders and managers have failed to take timely action to address shortfalls in staff practice. This lack of oversight has hindered staff’s understanding of their safeguarding responsibilities and has resulted in repeated failures to prevent harm to one child. Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 4 The manager has failed to ensure adequate staffing levels to meet the specific needs of one child, as required by a court directed order. Furthermore, staffing arrangements have not been reviewed in light of several serious safeguarding incidents. the manager has failed to assess and ensure the effectiveness of safeguarding practices at the home.

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

Episodes of children going missing from home are not consistently managed appropriately. Staff do not always follow children when they go missing, and in some cases, assigned staff members have been unable to respond effectively in situations requiring physical intervention or restraint. These gaps in supervision and intervention have directly compromised the safety of one child and highlight serious deficiencies in management oversight.

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

The use of consequences to address negative behaviour is fair and proportionate. Staff use a restorative approach when working with children, supporting them to explore and understand their feelings. This reflective practice enables staff to identify potential triggers, which helps to reduce the frequency of incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is managed by a suitably experienced and qualified registered manager, supported by an experienced deputy manager. Both hold joint responsibility for the leadership and management of the home and an additional setting. The manager and deputy manager acknowledge that in practice, this dual arrangement has limited their capacity to maintain consistent oversight of this home’s day-to-day operations. As a result, managers are not always able to identify and respond to issues swiftly, which impacts the overall effectiveness of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring arrangements are not sufficiently robust. The current systems do not provide leaders and managers with the necessary insight into the day-to-day running of the home. As a result, weaknesses in practice persist and are not addressed in a timely manner. This has led to repeated preventable incidents of children being harmed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not received regular, practice-related supervision. This limits their ability to reflect on their day-to-day practice and to explore how best to support the children in their care. Where supervision has taken place, records of discussions are not consistently meaningful.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

All staff have completed the local authority’s mandatory training. Leaders and managers ensure that staff access training to meet the specific needs of the individual children in their care. Staff said that they are supported by the management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is clear evidence of effective multi-agency working. Professionals and family members consistently report that children receive good quality of care from a dedicated and nurturing staff team. Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 5 The responsible individual and the manager have acknowledged the shortfalls identified in the inspection. They have provided Ofsted with an action plan to improve their service. Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 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 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.

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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)(b)) 24 August 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. 24 August 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 7 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;

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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

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)(a)(c)(d)(f)(h))

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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: 2741826 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Together for Children Sunderland Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, Plater Way, Sunderland SR1 3AA

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Inspector

Cherie Chen, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2741826 9 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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