Children's Home run by Teen-Works Care Limited in Sefton

Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 1 SC423460 Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is managed by a private company and provides care for up to three children who may experience social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There are currently three children living at the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager of this home has been registered with Ofsted since March 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 and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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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: SC423460 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/07/2024 Full Good 31/05/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/03/2023 Full Requires improvement to be good 02/02/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some children are making progress. However, ongoing concerns about the effectiveness of the home’s safeguarding practices and the quality of its leadership and management are negatively affecting the experiences of all children living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Planning for children moving into the home remains ineffective. In one instance, a child moved in with minimal notice and without any prior engagement from the manager. This limited the manager’s ability to assess the child’s needs or determine whether those needs could be met by the staff, while also evaluating the suitability of the child living alongside the children already living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff received insufficient information about the child’s needs on arrival, which affected their ability to provide safe and effective care. Additionally, purposeful direct work with children to help prepare them for the arrival of new children is lacking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are further shortfalls in record-keeping. Important documents, including placing authority care plans, personal education plans, annual health assessments and review meeting minutes are not routinely held on children’s care records. This compromises the staff’s ability to deliver care that aligns with the local authority’s plans for the children. Although the manager has made multiple requests for these documents, she has not pursued escalation with placing authorities in a sufficiently robust manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

All children have educational placements and attend regularly. The manager has built positive relationships with school staff. There is regular communication between staff in school and staff at the home. This ensures consistency for children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support children to adopt good daily routines. They are encouraged to complete household chores, such as tidying their bedrooms and doing their laundry. This helps children to learn the skills they will need to live more independently in the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children live in a welcoming and spacious home. Children’s bedrooms are personalised to reflect their individual tastes and interests.

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

Managers and staff have not always taken effective action to safeguard children. For example, staff did not follow the missing-from-home protocol for one child who is at high risk of exploitation. Furthermore, insufficient efforts were made to locate the child. This placed the child at risk of harm.

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

Staff have not always followed children’s safety plans. For example, to protect one child from harm, the agreed plan was for their bedroom to be searched daily. There are large gaps in the room search records for this child. The manager has identified this, but she Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 4 has not taken sufficient action to address this with staff and assure herself that staff understand their roles and responsibilities to safeguard this child.

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

Reports of some significant incidents lack important details about the actions staff have taken to safeguard children. For example, the records of one incident suggest that there was a delay in seeking medical attention for a child. The manager has not identified the gaps in records or taken action to explore the event further. This hinders the manager’s ability to evaluate whether staff are taking appropriate and effective action to protect children from harm.

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

The manager has not taken effective action to ensure that children are safe when they use the internet. For example, there is no record of the action taken to safeguard a child when they accessed concerning content online. Checks on the child’s phone demonstrate that they have been able to access this website on more than one occasion. This leaves the child at risk of harm. Following incidents, staff have not completed direct work with the child to help them to learn how to keep themselves safer online.

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

Staff have embedded clear boundaries and rules. These are understood and accepted by the children. There have not been any incidents where staff have needed to hold a child to keep the child safe.

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

When considering whether this home is suitable to meet the specific needs of children, the manager has identified geographical risks to children who may have a history of self- harm. The manager has not used this information to inform her decision about appropriate children moving into the home, and details are not added to children’s risk management plans. This had an effect onthe safety of children.

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

The manager reviews staff applications before appointing new staff to the home. However, she has not attempted to secure confirmation that a person is suitable when the applicant has spent time overseas. This gap in safe recruitment practice does not ensure that unsuitable adults are prevented from working at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Shortfalls in the manager’s oversight and monitoring of significant events at the home have compromised the safety of children. For example, when reviewing incident reports, she has not identified that staff have not followed missing-from-home procedures. In addition, where she has identified that staff have not completed records of room searches, welfare checks and safety checks, she has not taken effective action to address this with staff and improve their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not always receive regular formal supervision or an annual appraisal of their performance. These are missed opportunities to ensure that staff understand their roles and responsibilities, and that their practice is reviewed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 5 Most staff hold a recognised childcare qualification. They receive additional training to equip them with the skills to work with vulnerable children. However, some staff training has expired. For example, annual refresher training for all staff in the safe use of physical intervention with children is overdue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does review the quality of care, but this review is not reflective or evaluative and does not provide a clear plan of improvement. This is a missed opportunity to identify learning to further develop practice at the home. This requirement was made at the last full inspection and is restated to secure improvement. In addition, the independent visitor’s monthly reports are not always submitted to Ofsted in a timely manner. A recommendation is made in relation to this matter.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager works well with other professionals. Professionals report that communication is good, and they are updated about the progress children make. However, Ofsted is not always informed of significant incidents at the home. For example, Ofsted was not informed when a child protection enquiry had been instigated and the outcome was at its conclusion. This compromises the regulator’s ability to monitor the effectiveness of children’s care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 6

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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;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded. (Regulation 12(1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(c)) 7 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 7 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 7 promotes their welfare.

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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

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

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)(f)(h))

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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

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must escalate their concerns with the placing authority when it fails to provide the relevant care planning documentation. 7 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 7 September 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 8 The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘‘a quality of care review’’) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (1) (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the quality of care review: incorporates feedback from staff, families and professionals; is evaluative in nature, identifies learning from the past six months and includes any actions to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is repeated. 7 September 2025

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that a copy of the independent person’s report is sent to Ofsted in a timely way. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 65, paragraph 15.5)

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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: SC423460 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Teen-Works Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 509-510 Cotton Exchange, Bixteth Street, Liverpool L3 9LQ

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Inspector

Sophie Thomson, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC423460 10 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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