Children's home run by Derby City Council in Derby

Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 1 SC397293 Registered provider: Derby City 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 provides care for children with autism and learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

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

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since April 2025.

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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

Date of last inspection: 23 September 2025

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/09/2025 Full Inadequate 25/02/2025 Full Good 13/12/2023 Full Good 21/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is well maintained and decorated in an appealing and child- friendly way. Children’s bedrooms and sensory spaces have continued to be developed by managers. They are now bright and interactive spaces, where children enjoy spending time. Children have lived with each other at the home for several years. A decision to not move any new children into the home has afforded the children a period of needed stability.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well understood by staff. The responsible individual has worked well with safeguarding partners to remain professionally curious about one child’s wellbeing. A resulting health intervention is having a positive impact on the child’s level of discomfort, and their self-injurious behaviours are beginning to reduce. The child’s social worker shared that staff had risk assessed effectively how to support the child while they had a stay in hospital. Consequently, the child was accompanied by staff they were familiar with and were able to remain calm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend specialist educational provisions. One child has been recently experiencing upset during the transitions to and from school. The introduction of a tutor at the home is now positively re-engaging the child in learning and a rapport has been quickly developed with the tutor. There are plans in place for staff to also utilise some of these techniques to relationship build with the child moving forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have benefited from specialist training and support to understand the tools needed to communicate effectively with children who are non-verbal. Staff are beginning to implement children’s meetings and one-to-one discussion to share information with children and gain their views. Recordings of these discussions do not consistently have detailed information and reflection from staff. While improved, this remains an area of ongoing development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The responsible individual has developed a ‘hospital passport’. This is a useful tool for children, especially as they move into early adulthood. This document serves as a comprehensive oversight of children’s needs and prevents their information having to be repeatedly verbally shared by staff accompanying them. This supports children’s privacy and dignity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s plans offer a clear overview of the children’s needs. They offer practical advice for staff to follow and are reflective of the children’s changing needs, such as the required aftercare following a child’s stay in hospital. Children’s plans are in folders that are not appropriately organised, and this has the potential for the most pertinent information to be missed. Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 4

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

Children’s risk assessments are clear and detailed. They offer pragmatic advice to staff about how to contextualise and recognise behaviours. Staff understand how to support and distract children to prevent incidents escalating to a point where children may become upset.

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

There have been no significant incidents at the home since the last inspection. Professionals spoken to shared that staff are appropriately supporting children and are supervising them while in the home. Staff are encouraging children to spend increasing amounts of time in the community and engaging in activities. As a result, children are increasingly settled and there have been no further peer-on-peer altercations.

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

Children’s personal care is being delivered in a safe and accountable way. Personal care plans are individualised for each child and detail how children wish to experience this aspect of their care. There are now systems in place to track and understand children’s behaviours and antecedents to them. These records, alongside regular body mapping, provideboth an important chronology and useful insight into how self-injurious behaviours could be prevented in the future.

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

When physical interventions have taken place, these have been proportionate to prevent children causing serious injury to themselves. Managers have been proactive to ensure that debriefs with staff and children occur within timescales. Physical intervention records are not, however, completed fully, and information was spread across several documents. Staff recording and reflection have not, therefore, been prioritised in a timely way as required.

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

The home has been well supported by senior managers in the absence of a registered manager. Proactive recruitment remains ongoing for this position. Positively, a deputy manager has started work at the home. Senior managers have remained committed to putting in place systems to better understand and oversee the care offered to children. They remain strong advocates for the children in their care and willing to challenge staff practice where required.

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

Professionals and parents spoke positively of the care offered to children. They recognise the improvements in the physicality of the home, but also the opportunities being offered to children. Social workers commented that staff are more proactive alongside children and that their social worlds are broadening because of recent changes.

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

Managers do not yet have appropriate oversight in place to ensure that all staff, including agency staff, are safely recruited. This means that Ofsted could not be assured that all staff working at the home were safe to do so. Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 5 Staff training has been prioritised and bespoke training implemented where needed. Core staff working at the home have the required qualification. However, several agency staff, who have worked at the home for many years, are not afforded the same opportunity to access this qualification.

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

Staff are not yet receiving regular supervision. The responsible individual has tried to gain additional support for this from within the wider provider group. Despite these efforts, several members of staff have gone three months without direct supervision. This prevents staff having needed space to learn, reflect and raise concerns where required.

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

Ofsted has not received a statement of purpose in over a year. While this has been updated by an interim manager, it has not been sent within required regulatory timescales. Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 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 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; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, 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)(b) (3)(d) 2 March 2026

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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))

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Requirement Due date

This particularly refers to supervision of staff taking place in line with the home’s policy of staff receiving structured supervision each month. 2 March 2026

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 2 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 7 This specifically refers to any revised statement of purpose being submitted to HMCI within 28 days.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a) 2 March 2026

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping, and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should ensure that all staff in a care role, including external agency or bank staff, must have the qualification in regulation 32(4) within the relevant timescale listed in regulation 32(5). The registered person may extend the time period if the member of staff hasn’t worked in the role for a prolonged period, such as sick leave or maternity leave, or if it is not reasonable to expect the member

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Recommendations

of staff to complete in this timescale due to the nature of the hours they work. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 53, paragraph 10.2)  The registered person should ensure that records of restraint are kept and 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)

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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: SC397293 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Council house, Corporation Street, Derby DE1 2FS

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Inspector

Louise Copping, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: SC397293 9 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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