Children's Home run by Lister Care Group Ltd in Sheffield

Inspection report for children’s home: 2802890 1 Registered provider: Lister Care Group Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private provider runs this home. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties and/or special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

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Information about this children’s home

The home’s statement of purpose highlights that the staff are trained to apply a specific model of care.

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Information about this children’s home

Ofsted registered the manager, along with the home, in December 2024. At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home. Time was spent with both children during the inspection.

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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: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children’s home: 2802890 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have supported the children to settle into their new surroundings. Thorough planning from the outset enabled this. Additionally, with time and learning, staff have gradually adapted their approach to better meet the children’s needs. As a result, children have started to develop trusting bonds with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making credible progress from the short time that they have lived at the home. Examples of this include improved sleep hygiene, eating habits and personal hygiene routines and, fundamentally, positive emotional well-being. This has been achieved through staff adopting a patient and consistent approach to care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Activities reflect the children’s age and stage of development. Staff are motivated and embrace opportunities to inject fun and laugher into the children’s lives. In doing so, children are learning how to better manage situations, in and out of the home, as staff are skilled at weaving natural learning opportunities into the children’s day-to-day experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are skilled at developing the children’s ability to understand and communicate with adults. Methods such as the use of symbols and social stories have been crucial to this. However, no discussions have taken place between the children’s local authority and the manager to devise a plan to support the children’s awareness of the changes in their circumstances.

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

Information-sharing with safeguarding agencies contributes to the collective effort to safeguard the children. The manager is skilled at capturing context and evaluating each situation as it happens. This gives the partner agencies confidence in the information that they receive from the home. As a result, the manager and staff have become an effective and trusted multi-agency partner.

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

The manager has a good understanding of the legal parameters associated with depriving children of their liberty. This knowledge has enabled the manager to support a child to become more independent in the community effectively. Furthermore, the collaboration with the child’s social worker has ensured that there is a coherent and transparent plan that has been agreed with the child’s local authority.

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

Staff are skilled at using age-related resources to raise children’s awareness of private body parts. This work has resulted in a child learning about acceptable physical contact. This has been crucial for one child to interact positively with other people, at home and in school. Inspection report for children’s home: 2802890 3 Staff understand children’s risk assessments and review them frequently, although, in several instances, the manager had not anticipated likely risks in the children’s lives. However, there has been no detrimental impact on the children, and the manager took immediate steps to address these vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and deputy manager work seamlessly and are effective in their oversight of the team. Both are confident, able and accountable in the application of their duties. This has enabled a new team to become confident in their roles. Indeed, staff feel supported and respect their manager’s guidance. This has been pivotal in creating a safer and accountable environment for the children and staff to live in, work and flourish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel enthused that the management team understands their career aspirations in social care. Therefore, staff embrace all learning opportunities, but fundamentally, fulfil their primary role of caring for the children. This has created a learning culture where staff feel valued and inspired to develop their knowledge and progress their careers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are engaged in contributing their views on the children’s care, whether this be in team meetings, through handovers or in their individual supervision sessions. The foundation for creating an open culture to speak out derives from a unified approach from leaders and managers. There is an expectation to be involved and accountable, which staff have embraced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The responsible individual has given notice to vacate their role. Considering the significant gap this will leave, leaders and managers have not reviewed their workforce development plan in a timely way. Consequently, there is no coherent plan to support the manager in their role following the responsible individual moving on. This is an unaddressed vulnerability.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose has not been uploaded to the organisation’s website. Additionally, some of the information on the organisation’s website relating to the home is misleading. Therefore, leaders have not properly considered the need to show transparency and accountability to the children’s respective local authorities and the children’s families. Inspection report for children’s home: 2802890 4

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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

If a home has a website, the registered person must ensure that a copy of the statement of purpose is published on that website unless the registered person considers that such publication would prejudice the welfare of children in the home. (Regulation 16 (4)) 1 September 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)  The registered person should have a workforce plan that shows how the organisation intends to address vacancies associated with the manager and responsible individual roles. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should work alongside each child’s local authority to effectively plan children’s care. In particular, to devise a plan that will best support the child’s

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Recommendations

understanding of their circumstances. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.2)

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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: 2802890 5

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Lister Care Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 10 Cliff Parade, Wakefield WF1 2TA

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Inspectors

Steve Guirey, Social Care Inspector (lead) Rachael Lewis, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2802890 6 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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