Foundations Stalybridge

Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 1 Foundations Stalybridge Progressive Care Limited Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this residential family centre

This residential family centre provides support for up to seven families at any one time. The centre is privately owned.

p.1

Information about this residential family centre

Families access the centre at the direction of the family court or the local authority for the purpose of assessment. Parenting assessments are usually completed over a 12-week period but may be extended if agreed with the local authority or following court instruction.

p.1

Information about this residential family centre

The registered manager left her role in October 2024 with immediate effect. An interim manager has applied to Ofsted to register. She is appropriately experienced and qualified. She was previously the centre’s service manager.

p.1

Information about this residential family centre

There were two families living at the centre at the time of the inspection. The inspectors spoke to both families.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and parents, taking into account good

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and parents are helped and protected good

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

The residential family centre provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 2 A monitoring visit was carried out on 17 and 18 December 2024, when inspectors identified serious concerns in relation to the protection of children and the leadership and management of the centre. Two compliance notices were served under regulation 8, registered person general requirements, and regulation 12, arrangements for the protection of children. A restriction of accommodation notice was also served. A further visit was carried out on 7 January 2025 to monitor the compliance notices and the restriction of accommodation notice. The provider had acted to meet the steps in both compliance notices, but the restriction of accommodation notice remained in place. At a monitoring visit on 10 February 2025 the restriction of accommodation notice was lifted. Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 3

p.2

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parents provided mixed feedback about their experiences of living at the centre. However, all parents identified positive aspects of being at the centre, including the support and relationships with staff. Staff were observed to be respectful, helpful and interested in families.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families’ views are sought using various methods. For example, residents’ meetings take place regularly, and there are stages throughout the assessment process at which parents’ views, wishes and feelings are obtained. Parents are also encouraged to comment on their weekly reports and daily logs. These detailed records provide parents with clarity about areas of parenting skills that they have developed and any areas of concern.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Key-work sessions with parents are good quality. They cover basic parenting care and general life skills, such as budgeting. Parents engage well in the sessions. There is evidence of staff testing out parents’ understanding, including using additional resources to support their learning and revisiting sessions with parents to help them to retain information.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Staff support parents to work within a clear daily structure. Parents have access to staff guidance and help to complete basic care, to improve their understanding of why they are at the centre and what they need to do to improve their parenting. In addition, workshops support parents to engage in active learning about assorted topics relevant to the care of their children.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Families are offered a wide variety of activities to promote play, stimulation and learning opportunities for their children. An activity file captures parents’ engagement in activities with their children and with other families. Parents are encouraged to share ideas and suggestions for activities that they would like to do while living at the centre.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and parents: good

Parenting assessments are thorough and cover the areas identified by the placing authority at the point of the family’s placement. A simplified version of the assessment is in place for parents with additional learning needs. Assessment sessions with parents and key-work sessions feed into the assessment. Detailed chronologies help to identify any improvements or shortfalls over the course of the assessment. Furthermore, leaders and managers have developed the assessment process by introducing assessment progress audits and final report planning meetings. Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 4

p.3

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Children are kept safe and protected from harm. Staff understand families’ individual needs and risks. This enables them to assess any risk to children effectively and to act promptly. The centre provides a safe and secure place for families to live.

p.4

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

When families move into the centre, leaders and managers assess the risks for families and carefully consider if they are compatible with other parents already living there. When parents have specific risk behaviour, strategies are put in place to mitigate risks associated with communal living at the centre.

p.4

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Risk assessments are individualised to each family’s risks. They identify risks in line with referral paperwork and provide staff with information about triggers and how to de-escalate or respond to risks as they occur. Risks are reviewed regularly, with any changes recorded within the family’s plans.

p.4

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Staff are vigilant in their monitoring and observations of families. They intervene promptly to support parents and to ensure that children do not come to any harm. Staff are skilled in recognising warning signs, so they can take immediate action to offer guidance to parents who are facing challenges in caring for their child. Direct work is undertaken with parents to develop their parenting capacity and to help them to identify risks. For example, some parents have attended the freedom programme associated with domestic abuse.

p.4

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

Parents rarely go missing from the centre. However, staff demonstrate that when required they take appropriate action to notify the relevant safeguarding professionals and to follow missing protocols. Consequently, parents and their children are returned safely to the centre within minimal timescales.

p.4

How well children and parents are helped and protected: good

There have been a high number of allegations and complaints from parents since the last inspection. Leaders and managers have taken a robust approach to dealing with these. They take prompt action to protect families and staff. Parents are kept informed of the outcome of any investigations. When lessons learned have been identified, leaders and managers have used these to make improvements to the quality of support and assessment provided to families.

p.4

good

Leaders and managers notify Ofsted of any allegations and complaints made by parents. However, on a few occasions they have failed to notify the placing authority’s emergency duty teams of the concerns. The family’s allocated social workers have been notified the next working day, which means that there has been a delay in information being shared. In addition, when staff have raised concerns using the whistle-blowing policy, leaders and managers have not recognised that there has been a slight delay in staff reporting their concerns to a manager. Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 5 Leaders and managers have failed to evidence any discussion with staff about their personal connection with a parent who was not being assessed in the centre but visiting their partner and child. This is a missed opportunity to demonstrate professional curiosity and to explore any conflict of interest by the member of staff

p.4

good

working directly with the parent. During the inspection, the provider took immediate action to address this.

p.5

good

Leaders’ and managers’ scrutiny of safer recruitment records is not always effective. For one new staff member, they have not identified the reasons why they left their childcare-related employment.

p.5

good

The manager and deputy manager know families well. They ensure that they have oversight of all significant incidents. They understand the progress that parents are making and when they require more support. Placing authority social workers said that they are kept regularly up to date on parents’ progress.

p.5

good

New staff have been recruited to fill the vacant positions in the team. Leaders and managers recognise that they need to implement an effective plan to ensure that staff are not working long shifts and have suitable breaks when required. This is to help to promote staff retention and improve staff morale.

p.5

good

Staff are provided with regular supervision sessions, timely probationary reviews and refresher training. When there have been concerns about staff practice, these have been taken seriously by the manager and dealt with appropriately. Staff report positively about the support they receive from the centre’s management team. Team meetings are used to conduct reflective assessments to identify families’ strengths and areas for development. This has been a positive introduction and has helped to develop the staff team’s understanding of families’ needs.

p.5

good

An external professional has now been commissioned to carry out independent visits to the centre. Consequently, there have been recent improvements to the quality of the independent visitor reports and their reporting on the effectiveness of the support provided to families. Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 6

p.5

Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, The Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.6

Requirement Due date

The procedure under paragraph (1)(b) must in particular provide for

p.6

Requirement Due date

the prompt referral to the local authority in whose area the residential family centre is situated, of any allegations of abuse or neglect affecting any child accommodated in the residential family centre;

p.6

Requirement Due date

notification (in accordance with regulation 26) of the instigation and outcome of any child protection enquiries involving any child accommodated in the residential family centre, to the [Chief Inspector] and the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(b)(c)) 2 October 2025

p.6

Requirement Due date

The registered provider and the registered manager shall, having regard to the size of the residential family centre, the statement of purpose, and the number and needs of the residents, carry on or manage the centre (as the case may be) with sufficient care, competence and skill. (Regulation 8 (1)) 2 October 2025

p.6

Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that they can demonstrate, including from written and electronic records, that they consistently follow good recruitment practice, and all applicable current statutory requirements and guidance, in staff recruitment. This includes Disclosure and Barring Service checks and all requirements in Schedule 2 of the Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002, as amended. (Residential family centres: NMS 14.2)

p.6

Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and parents using the social care common inspection framework. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 7 service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation and to consider how well it complies with The Residential Family Centre Regulations 2002 and the national minimum standards. Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 8

p.6

Residential family centre details

Registered provider: Progressive Care Limited

p.8

Residential family centre details

Registered provider address: 51 Attercliffe Common, Sheffield S9 2AE

p.8

Residential family centre details

Email address: shabir.ali@progressivecare.co.uk

p.8

Inspectors

Cheryl Field, Social Care Inspector Charlie Bamber, Social Care Compliance Inspector Inspection report for residential family centre: Foundations Stalybridge 9 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 who are looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.8

Inspectors

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspectors

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspectors

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9