Children's Home run by YMCA Robin Hood Group in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 1 Registered provider: YMCA Robin Hood Group

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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 owned and managed by a private provider. The home offers care for up to four children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. Both children were spoken to as part of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in September 2024.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/07/2024 Full Good 14/08/2023 Full Good 21/09/2022 Full Good 12/01/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children contribute to the decisions about the décor in the home. Children choose the colours for their bedrooms and have requested a reading corner, which has been created. The home has many photos of the children throughout. When damage in the home occurs, the repairs are actioned quickly. The home environment is comfortable, homely and reflective of the children who live there.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to therapeutic services, which have helped them to make progress. Children engage in two therapy sessions a week. Therapists also meet with staff to help embed the approaches discussed with children. This means that children have been helped to express their feelings and work through past trauma.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children receive regular praise that is displayed in the home on a ‘positive tree’. When children move out of the home, they engage in a ‘yellow brick road’, where staff share photos and memories to help children reflect on their time in the home. Children receive memory books and a diary with positive comments from the staff for every day the children have been in the home. This helps children to understand their life story and have tangible resources that they can look back on later in life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the communication styles and needs of children. One child has been using communication aids, which has enabled her to choose her clothing on a day-to-day basis in a way that does not cause upset or frustration. Staff demonstrate patience when talking with children who require reassurance. Staff know the children well and use kind language to describe them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand children’s health needs. Staff help children attend health appointments and talk about their health. Children in the home take daily medication. There are times when the administration protocol has not been followed.

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

Children say they feel safe. They can identify staff who they trust and who they would talk to if they had any worries. One child said that staff’s job is ‘to keep me safe’. This demonstrates that children understand the role of staff in helping and protecting them.

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

Children contribute to plans that inform staff how they would like to be helped if they are upset or angry. Staff understand children’s behaviour support plans. Plans are unique to the child and incorporate strategies developed through children’s therapy sessions. Children have created house rules that encourage them to develop skills in helping themselves and each other when they are having a difficult time.

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

Activities are risk-assessed, and staff offer a good level of supervision when in the community. They are supporting children to learn appropriate boundaries in relationships Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 4 and how to interact safely with others. This gives the child a greater understanding of risks, and they are learning social skills.

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

Physical interventions are used as a last resort and to ensure the safety of children and staff. The use of physical interventions is proportionate to the behaviours seen. The recording of physical interventions is inconsistent, at times lacking the detail required. Children and staff have not always received debriefs following physical interventions.

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

Children have made allegations against staff, but these have not always been shared in a timely way. Managers take allegations seriously, taking steps to assure themselves around the safety of children. There has been inconsistent involvement with other professionals when children make allegations, and the recording can be unclear. This means that there are gaps in the process that need to be strengthened. Notifications for all allegations have not been submitted to Ofsted, making it difficult for the regulator to have oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a period of management sickness that has impacted the consistency and continuity of care that children receive. The organisation provided temporary management cover during this period. There was a reliance on agency staff during this period to offer care to the children. The use of agency staff is not typical in the home. Children struggled with the changes of managers and staff in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

When significant incidents occur staff typically receive debriefs. During the period of management cover, debriefs did not consistently take place following significant incidents or physical interventions, meaning that managers lacked some oversight. There has been a plan implemented for the registered manager to complete the debriefs retrospectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have not achieved the relevant qualifications within the given timescales in order to care for children and meet their needs. There have been some challenges faced with the providers of qualifications. This requirement was made in the last inspection and will be restated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Safer recruitment checks are in place but do not meet the requirements set out in the regulations. The manager is not assured about the suitability of the staff working in the home. When staff are employed, there is a thorough induction process. For some staff, the induction programme has been revisited to assure the manager that staff have completed the relevant training and learning associated with their new role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff understand how to raise concerns. Staff receive regular supervision and feel supported by the management team. The supervision records do not capture any reflective discussions taking place with staff about their care of the children. Staff have not had their performance appraised annually.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager has high expectations for the care of children. The registered manager is keen for children to have positive experiences and access activities in line Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 5 with their interests. For one child, the registered manager worked with the child, therapy team and the chief executive officer to secure a visit to a car factory, closing production for two hours to facilitate this. Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 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(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

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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(v)(vi)) 15 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3)

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d)) 15 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)) 15 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 7 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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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 has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b) (2)(b)(c)(d)(e)(h)) 31 January 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that medicines are administered in line with the home’s protocol. Records must be kept of the administration of all medication, which includes occasions when prescribed medication is refused. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.15)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that any child who has been restrained is given the opportunity express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon

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Recommendations

as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours of the restraint incident, taking the age of the child and the circumstances of the restraint into account. In some cases, children may need longer to work through their feelings, so a record that the child has talked about their feelings should be made no longer than 5 days after the incident of restraint. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 50, paragraph 9.60) Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 8  The registered person should have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should ensure that all staff have their performance and fitness

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Recommendations

to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually. This appraisal should take into account, where reasonable and practical, the views of other professionals who have worked with the staff member over the year and children in the home’s care. As part of the performance management process, poor performance should be addressed by a timely plan to bring about improvement. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5)

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Information about this inspection

The inspector has 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: 2624063 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: YMCA Robin Hood Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Malt Cross, 16 St. James’s Street, Nottingham NG1 6FG

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Inspector

Ali Owens, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2624063 10 regulates 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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