Children's Home run by Gradan Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 1 Registered provider: Gradan Care Limited

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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 by a private provider. It provides care for up to two children who may have social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home and manager registered with Ofsted on 23 May 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

One child has moved in and out of the home since it was registered. There was one child living in the home at the time of this 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: none Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 2

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is one child living in the home who has recently moved in. The staff spend time with the child to help them build trust. The child is settling into the home and beginning to talk to staff about their feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Communication between staff is positive and effective. Staff embrace opportunities such as handover and team meetings to share their recent observations. The therapists commissioned by the provider visit the home weekly and form a valuable part of these discussions. This ensures that staff tailor their strategies of support to the child’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child does not currently access formal education. Staff seek out opportunities to explore the barriers to education the child is experiencing. They ensure that conversations occur at times when the child feels comfortable to share their feelings. As a result, the child is beginning to consider their educational options and ambitions for the future.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff take a child-led approach to activities outside of the home. They focus on the children’s individual interests such as playing sports, which helps children to build their confidence and promotes their well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home is well maintained and provides a homely environment for children. The child is beginning to personalise their bedroom with the encouragement of staff. This demonstrates that staff support children to have a sense of belonging and emotional security.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Unfortunately, the care planning by previous senior managers for the child who has moved out of the home was poor and did not thoroughly evaluate the needs of the child against the skills of staff. This resulted in the child moving out of the home after 10 days. The shortfalls in care planning were identified by the new responsible individual, who has taken positive steps to prevent a reoccurrence.

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

Staff know how to keep children safe. They identify risks for children and take the necessary action when incidents occur. Staff talk to children about the risks present in the wider environment. Children are learning how to keep themselves safe through having open conversations with staff who are safe adults.

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

When children go missing from home, staff take immediate action. They search the local areas and communicate with the relevant people. Staff help children to understand the Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 3 need for positive contact with them when they are out in the community. As a result, there has been a decrease in the number of missing-from-home incidents for the child living at the home.

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

Staff respond sensitively and calmly when children are upset. They follow up with curiosity and are solution focused in developing their strategies. However, not all staff have completed restraint training. Although the use of restraint with children is minimal in the home, this is a missed opportunity to ensure that staff are aligned in their de- escalation approach.

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

Staff follow plans designed to address the children’s individual risks. However, risk plans are not always updated when new risks are identified and the steps for staff to follow are not always clear. Although this has not impacted negatively on staff practice, there is the potential for this. Furthermore, this limits the ability of managers to ensure that staff safeguarding practice is consistent.

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

Strategies used to ensure that children are safe are not always clearly explained to the children. Following an incident, the child living in the home cannot currently travel in the car with staff. Staff have held conversations with the child about travelling safely in the car. However, there is no plan in place to establish how and when this restriction will be removed. This limits the child’s ability to put into practice the skills they have developed to travel safely in the car.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There have been several changes in the senior leadership of the home since its registration. A new responsible individual and regional manager are now in post. They are aware of the strengths and areas for development for the service, and they are working with the registered manager to address these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they feel well supported by managers. Leaders and managers hold regular supervisions and team meetings so that staff can reflect on their practice and support each other. There is a strong culture of collaboration, meaning that children live in a secure and nurturing environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Leaders and managers provide staff with training opportunities to develop their recording and reporting. However, information is not always recorded accurately on children’s files. This limits the opportunity for managers to identify any shortfalls at the earliest opportunity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are some issues with staff sufficiency within the team. Several staff have left since the home was registered. New staff have been appointed, some of whom are new to residential childcare. Despite this, they do not always work with more experienced staff. Although this has not led to any safeguarding incidents, it limits the opportunities for new staff to develop their skills and may impact the child’s ability to feel emotionally safe and secure. Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 4 Safer recruitment checks are used to assess whether new staff are safe to work in the home. However, managers did not complete the verification of a reference for one new member of staff. This does not demonstrate robust safer recruitment procedures are in place to ensure that all staff are suitable to work at the home. Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 5

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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 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

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 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)(a)(b) (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staffing arrangements in the home are sufficient, and that less experienced staff are able to work alongside those with more experience to ensure that children’s needs are met and they are safe. 12 December 2025 Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 6 The registered person must ensure that staff record the actions taken to safeguard children during incidents with clarity so that managers can undertake a thorough evaluation to support any necessary improvements to staff practice.

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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

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, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a thorough evaluation is completed by managers to understand the risks present for children and that staff have the skills to manage the risks before they move into the home. 12 December 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;

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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; 12 December 2025 Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 7 take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s risk plans contain all known and emerging risks, and that staff are provided with clear guidance to reduce risks for children.

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Requirement Due date

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

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child’s respect and trust; 12 December 2025 Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 8 understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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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)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii)(ix)(xi))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that strategies used by staff to manage risks for children have a clear rationale for their use and that children are provided with a clear explanation.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all staff have been adequately trained in the principles of restraint and any restraint techniques appropriate to the needs of the children the home is set up to care for as defined in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to The Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.57)  The registered person should ensure that safer recruitment practice minimises potential risks to children. Specifically, that references for new staff members undertake the necessary verification checks and this is recorded accurately. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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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 the children’s home: 2817029 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Gradan Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hanover Buildings, 11-13 Hanover Street, Liverpool, Merseyside, L1 3DN United Kingdom

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Inspector

Sarah Gilbert, Social Care Regulatory Inspector Inspection report for the children’s home: 2817029 10 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 looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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