Children's Home run by Bradford Children and Families Trust in Bradford

Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 1 Registered provider: Bradford Children’s and Families Trust

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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 operated by Bradford Children and Families Trust on behalf of a local authority. It provides care for up to four children who experience social and emotional difficulties. There were four children living at the home at the time of this inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager at the home since 23 May 2025. There is a manager in post who is still to make their application to Ofsted.

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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 widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and 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: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/08/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/07/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some children are making progress from their starting points. One child needs support to access a school that is suitable for their needs. However, some children in the home are being supported to access education that meets their needs and are doing well in their chosen field.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children are given inappropriate consequences, which are not always explained to them. One child commented that their weekly takeaways had been stopped with no explanation. There have been incidents where all the children in the home have received consequences due to the behaviour of one child. This demonstrates a lack of individualised care to children and leads to children feeling unfairly treated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

At times, staff have been advised by managers to lock the doors to the property to manage children’s behaviours. There is no clear rationale for why this measure would be used. As a result, children are being inappropriately denied their liberties.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inappropriate rules are actively in place at the home, which limits children’s positive experiences. For example, children are not allowed to use the kitchen to cook after a set time and there are restrictions on the use of the home’s vehicle. This practice is institutional in nature, which negatively impacts on children’s experiences. One child said how much they did not like the rules and the negative impact it has on them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is not a collective understanding by staff of the therapeutic model of care within the home’s statement of purpose. Some staff speak to children in negative ways, with instances of children being blamed and shamed for their actions. For example, after one child returned to the home after an episode of going missing, staff ignored them and did not check on their welfare or offer support. This has an impact on children’s relationships with staff and raises concerns about staff’s understanding of how they should be supporting vulnerable children. One child said that they ‘want staff to talk to me nicer’, although some children were able to name staff members they like and enjoy spending time with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff support the children to go on holiday. One child was in Spain with staff at the time of the inspection. This promotes children’s life experiences and enjoyment during their time at the home.

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

The manager has not effectively assessed the risks of children before they move into the home. There has been no consideration of the impact on other children or how equipped staff are to support a new child’s needs. This includes when children have been convicted of a serious offence, and what steps need to be followed to help mitigate against this risk. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 4 Existing and emerging risks for children are not explored or managed sufficiently and there is a lack of collective understanding across the staff and management team regarding the children’s risks. For example, one child has started to misuse substances, and this was not risk assessed at the time. This has led to unsatisfactory safety measures in place to safeguard and support the child.

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

Fire risks are not managed well, and risk assessments are poor in explaining how this should be managed, especially when children have a hearing impairment. Staff are unaware of how often a child’s room should be searched if there are concerns about the child having fire-setting equipment, such as lighters. Staff do not recognise the risk to the child and others through not completing the necessary checks and searches.

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

When children have gone missing, there have been a significant number of occasions where staff have not followed the missing-from-home protocol, which has resulted in children being placed at risk of significant harm. There have been episodes where staff have not been aware of the children’s locations, but waited for long periods before acting.

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

In one incident, the manager physically intervened to protect a child in the home. However, there was no independent oversight or review to ensure that the manager correctly held the child. There was a lack of understanding about who an appropriate person would be to complete the manager’s debrief and have oversight of the intervention.

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

Staff are not regularly conducting welfare checks on children when there have been concerns. For example, one child returned to the home under the influence of substances, which staff were aware of. However, the child was left in their room for a considerable amount of time with no one checking on their safety and welfare. Medical advice was not sought. This lack of care puts children at risk of significant harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management team demonstrates a lack of awareness in key areas for the children, including some shortfalls with safeguarding incidents. This impacts the overall safety of the children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are clear divides between members of the team and management. One child raised that they often hear staff ‘arguing’ and that staff will come into their bedroom to tell them about such conflicts. Some staff said that they feel unhappy in their roles, due to the conflict between staff. However, staff said that things have improved with the implementation of the new management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not receiving regular supervisions and appraisals in line with the home’s policies. This is concerning due to the number of concerns raised by staff about the overall practice in the home and their feelings about their roles. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 5 While there are enough staff to provide adequate care for children, there has been an exceptionally high use of different agency staff. This leads to inconsistent care for the children. Children spoke about their negative experiences of having to approach different members of staff to have their questions answered, as some staff are unable to provide them with a response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are issues within the record-keeping in the home, which have led to vital information being left out of incident reports and other care planning documents. Children are often referred to in paperwork as a number rather than by their name. In some recordings, children were spoken about in a negative manner, which was not overseen or addressed by the manager. Children will not have a positive experience when reading their records, either now or in the future as an adult, because of the institutionalised way that staff refer to children in records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

When the manager has sent in notifications of safeguarding concerns to Ofsted, these have often lacked important information and have been difficult to understand. There is a lack of evaluation in the notifications to understand the impact on the child and what staff have done to safeguard them. This creates challenges for regulatory oversight.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Professionals have provided positive feedback about the home and feel the management team is making positive changes to improve care for children. There has been evidence of some positive multi-agency relationships and working, which has supported the children. Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 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; and

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)) 24 November 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— 24 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 7 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 work as a team where appropriate;

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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’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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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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)(b)(c)(e)(f)(g)(ii)(h))

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing—

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Requirement Due date

injury to any person (including the child);

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Requirement Due date

serious damage to the property of any person (including the child).

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (1)(a)(b) (2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, all children living in the home should not be locked inside the property as a form of behaviour management. 24 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. 24 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 8 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, asset out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(a)(b)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the assessment to look at the compatibility of the new child with the child or children already living in the home should be detailed enough for staff to understand the risks of the child, and how risks will be mitigated and managed by staff. These assessments should also contain details of the impact on other children living in the home.

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

The following measures may not be used to discipline any child—

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Requirement Due date

imposing a financial penalty, other than a requirement for the payment of a reasonable sum (which may be by instalments) by way of reparation; and

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Requirement Due date

any measure involving punishing a group of children for the behaviour of an individual child. (Regulation 19 (1) (2)(f)(j)) 24 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 24 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 9 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

protect and promote each child’s welfare;

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect;

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vii)(c)(i))

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that notifications to the regulator under Regulation 40 are clear and informative. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.4)

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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: 2728982 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bradford Children’s and Families Trust

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Sir Henry Mitchell House (5th Floor), 4 Manchester Road, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD5 0QL

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Inspectors

Ladean Wilson, Social Care Inspector Joanna Beal, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2728982 11 and inspects 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 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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