Children's Home run by Stockton on Tees Borough Council in Stockton-on-Tees

Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 1 SC035222 Registered provider: Stockton on Tees Borough Council

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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 local authority. It provides care for up to three children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager post has been vacant since October 2024. A new manager has been appointed and is in the process of applying to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of the inspection, two children were living in the home. One child was spoken to.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 16 October 2024

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/10/2024 Full Good 06/09/2023 Full Good 05/07/2022 Full Requires improvement to be good 12/10/2021 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 3

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improvement to be good

When children raise a complaint, they are not spoken to about what actions have been taken. When concerns are identified around staff responses to children, discussions do not take place to help rebuild their relationship. One child said, ‘I don’t always get a response.’ This prevents children from feeling listened to or valued.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not proactive at encouraging children to engage in activities. Children spend most of their time out with friends and there is limited encouragement for children to get involved or try new activities. This prevents children from gaining new experiences and developing their social skills.

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improvement to be good

Staff have helped one child with their education who has started to attend an alternative education provision. However, not all children are engaged in education. When children struggle, staff are less effective in helping them. Children are not always offered encouragement to return to school or provided with an alternative learning experience to engage in while more formal arrangements are made.

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improvement to be good

Children’s general health needs are met. Staff arrange and support children to appointments when this is needed. However, further health support identified in children’s plans is not followed up by staff. For example, helping children to manage and understand their emotions or sexual health. This hinders children learning about their health and benefiting from the specialist help available.

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improvement to be good

Staff have supported children to develop safe relationships with their family and friends. When children have spent time with their family against their agreed plans, staff have been proactive in working with them to build relationships and support children to return home. This has helped two children to have planned overnights with family and friends and maintain these important relationships.

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improvement to be good

Children live in the home for long periods. There have been no children move in or out of the home since the last inspection. This has helped children build relationships with core staff members. One child said that they can talk to some staff members about important things. Feedback from two professionals was that the children have developed their confidence since living in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always work to agreed plans and risk assessments. They do not always follow agreed steps to support children in crisis. Furthermore, work is not carried out with children to help them understand risks such as exploitation. This prevents children from learning strategies to keep themselves safe. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 4 Staff do not take effective action to de-escalate situations when children are angry or upset. For one child, the staff response escalated the child’s behaviour. Furthermore, staff contact the police as a means of managing children’s behaviours. This has led to two children being arrested and one child being criminalised for their behaviour.

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improvement to be good

When staff use physical interventions to manage children’s behaviours, their views are not always sought. The manager does not review all incidents and children are not offered an opportunity to reflect on the incident or speak to an independent person. This prevents the child from sharing any concerns they may have and being offered further support.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand what to do when children go missing from home. Staff follow the missing-from-home protocols and actively search for children to help them to return home safely. When children return home, staff are supportive and discuss the children’s worries. The manager reviews the incidents and works with multi-agency professionals to enable children to share their views with an independent person.

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improvement to be good

When an allegation is made, effective action is taken to ensure the safety of the children. The manager completes an investigation, which is followed up by the staff working with multi-agency professionals to give the child an opportunity to speak to an independent person. The manager analyses the information to improve responses to children.

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improvement to be good

Safer recruitment checks are undertaken prior to staff starting to work in the home, to assess new members of staff’s suitability to work with children.

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

Leaders and manager’s oversight of the home is not yet effective. There has been a further change in management since the last inspection, which has impacted on consistency. Monitoring and reviewing systems are not used effectively to review the quality of care for children. Managers do not always complete regular audits and there are gaps in oversight of incidents. Furthermore, team meetings are not held regularly to share information with staff. This prevents the manager improving outcomes for children.

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

Staff practice-related supervision is not taking place in line with the organisation’s policy. This includes with new, inexperienced staff. When supervision does occur, there is limited focus on children and concerns are not always followed up. This prevents the manager from addressing practice issues and having good oversight of the progress of the full staff team.

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

Leaders and managers do not always ensure that staff have sufficient skills to meet the children’s needs. Inexperienced and agency staff have been working with children in the home. This has led to children receiving different responses depending on which staff are caring for them. This means that children are not provided with consistent care. Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 5 Not all the children’s essential documents are held on their files. This includes up-to-date care plans for children from their placing authority and review meeting minutes. This prevents staff and children from being able to access important and accurate information.

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

Leaders and managers build positive relationships with multi-agency professionals and family. Staff share information about children with important people in a timely way. One professional said, ‘Staff regularly communicate and advocate well for [name of child].’ Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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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—

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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; 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)(c)(e)(h)) 20 November 2025

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)) 20 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— 20 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 7 the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person")—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3) (a)(vi)(vii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(xi)) 20 November 2025

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Requirement Due date

The enjoyment and achievement standard is that children take part in and benefit from a variety of activities that meet their needs and develop and reflect their creative, cultural, intellectual, physical and social interests and skills.

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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

develop the child’s interests and hobbies;

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Requirement Due date

participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child’s interests and preferences; and 20 November 2025 Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 8 that each child has access to a range of activities that enable the child to pursue the child’s interests and hobbies. (Regulation 9 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(b)) The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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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

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child. (Regulation 7 (1)(c) (2)(a)(iii)) 20 November 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. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 11 December 2025

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)) 20 November 2025

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that where children are not participating in education, staff work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should ensure that staff have the relevant skills and knowledge to help children understand, and where necessary work to change behaviours in areas of health and well-being such as, mental health, and sexual relationships. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18) Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 9

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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: SC035222 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Municipal Buildings, Church Road, Stockton on Tees TS18 1TW

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Inspector

Natalie Clark, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC035222 11 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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