Children's Home run by Positive Pathways Solutions Ltd in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 1 Registered provider: Positive Pathways Solutions Ltd Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is operated by a private organisation. The home provides care for up to 3 children who may have social or emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home was registered with Ofsted in June 2024. The registered manager left in July 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

A new manager has been appointed and has made an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were 2 children living at the home.

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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

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: 2787739 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2025 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 3

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improvement to be good

Staff provide children with consistent care. This helps to support some children to make progress. Professionals provide positive feedback about the care staff provide for children. This includes a positive impact on children’s outcomes.

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improvement to be good

However, the previous manager’s assessment regarding a child’s move into the home was not robust. The shortfalls in respect of this had a significant adverse impact on children already living in the home. This led to one child moving out of the home prematurely. As a result, their experience of living in the home was not always positive.

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improvement to be good

One child’s day-to-day experiences are not as positive. Staff try to help children engage in daily routines, although this is not always effective. Despite this, children have developed positive relationships with some staff. Children play games with staff and recently went on a trip abroad.

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improvement to be good

Staff work with education professionals to help them understand the difficulties in children attending education. One child now attends an alternative educational setting that meets their needs.

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improvement to be good

Another child spends a lot of time in their room and has not attended school in the last few months. Staff understand the reasons for their disengagement and have worked hard to reach an agreement for home tutoring. No informal learning has been recorded other than independence tasks, which the child is progressing well with.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff are not proactive in respect of plans for one child. This could impact on the child’s future.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are well met with encouragement from staff. This has led to good progress for children regarding their personal hygiene and healthy eating.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide support for children to spend time with their families and friends. This helps children to maintain relationships with people who are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been few incidents. However, there has been a recent increase in incidents. Some areas of known risk for one child were not fully explored by the previous manager before the child moved into the home.

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improvement to be good

The previous manager made decisions against the advice of the responsible individual and without approval from the child’s placing authority. Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 4 Staff did not always manage relationships between children safely. This impacted negatively on children’s care. This led to an increase in incidents for one child. Staff did try to address this in frequent meetings with relevant professionals.

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improvement to be good

Staff did not manage an incident well when one child was missing from the home overnight. A member of staff saw the child intoxicated when they were out in the community. However, they could not encourage the child to return home. The member of staff sought advice from the placing authority and the police, who would not report the child as missing. The member of staff then returned home without looking for the child.

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improvement to be good

The manager acknowledged there was insufficient support for the member of staff. During this inspection, the manager identified opportunities to improve staff safeguarding practices, and additional support was put in place.

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improvement to be good

Risks in relation to the other child have reduced. The child has worked with staff and the exploitation team to address concerns. Professionals working with the child describe how they have engaged. This has a positive impact on the child, who is now talking about plans for their future.

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improvement to be good

Since the previous inspection, children have not made any allegations. This is positive and could demonstrate that the children have good relationships with the staff that care for them.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have not been any incidents when staff have had to hold children.

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improvement to be good

There are safe recruitment practices in place to ensure that those caring for children are safe to do so.

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

There is an interim manager in post. She has made an application to register with Ofsted.

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

The responsible individual addressed the previous manager’s poor decision-making appropriately with a thorough investigation.

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

The interim manager has oversight of incidents. However, one incident when a child went missing from the home was not managed well. The interim manager did not identify any shortfalls in staff practice. This is a missed opportunity for the interim manager to improve staff practices. The interim manager did not notify this incident to Ofsted. This impacts on the regulator’s monitoring of the home.

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

The interim manager advocates well for children. She communicates with professionals, challenging them where necessary to ensure children’s needs are understood and can be Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 5 met. The interim manager and staff provide the team with creative and interactive ways that are child focused to engage children in their care.

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

The interim manager takes children’s complaints seriously and ensures that children receive detailed feedback explaining the outcome.

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

Staff are enthusiastic and proud of the care that they provide for children. Staff say they are well supported in their roles; they are complimentary of the new manager and the changes she has made to systems and paperwork.

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

The interim manager uses team meetings and supervision to discuss improvements in staff practice. There are proactive discussions and use of scenarios to test staff knowledge and understanding, with clear actions identified and followed up. The interim manager and deputy manager ensure that staff are trained around relevant areas such as risk assessment and professional curiosity to support their practice. Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that safe decisions are made about children’s care to reduce opportunities 16 March 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 7 for them to go missing from home, which must be clearly communicated to staff. Staff must make every effort to locate children who are missing from the home and have the support in place to assist them.

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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

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that staff can care for all children effectively and that staff consider children’s needs. 16 March 2026

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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

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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) (2)(f)(h)) 16 March 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 8 Specifically, leaders and manager ensure that the care that staff provide for children is closely reviewed and monitored to ensure this meets children’s needs.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that Ofsted is notified if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home that the registered person considers to be serious. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10).  The registered person should ensure that staff support children to engage in suitable structured activities when they are not in school. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15).  The registered person should ensure that they help to prepare children for moves from the home to live independently. This includes working with other relevant persons to ensure that children are working towards the admission expectations of supported accommodation providers in respect of education. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27).

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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: 2787739 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Positive Pathways Solutions Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 97 Ribchester Road, Clayton Le Dale, Blackburn BB1 9HT

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Inspector

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2787739 10 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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