Children's Home run by Tees-Valley Care Limited in Redcar and Cleveland

Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 1 Registered provider: Tees-Valley 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 and operated by a private provider. It provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties. This was after Ofsted imposed a variation of conditions on 25 November 2025 to reduce the number of children that the home can care for from 3 to 2 children.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in August 2022.

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Information about this children’s home

One child was living at the home at the time of this inspection. No children were spoken with.

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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: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

At a full inspection in July 2025, the home was judged to be inadequate. Serious safeguarding shortfalls were identified. Ofsted issued two compliance notices under Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 2 regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard).

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Whistle-blowing concerns were received by Ofsted, and a monitoring visit was undertaken on 13 August 2025. This resulted in the home’s registration being urgently suspended due to further significant shortfalls being identified.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

On 5 November 2025, Ofsted carried out a further monitoring visit and identified progress had been made. The suspension notice ended on 6 November 2025. Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/07/2025 Full Inadequate 03/09/2024 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/04/2023 Full Good 25/07/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 4

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improvement to be good

The child has been missing education for a long period. Staff have had mixed success in engaging the child in activities that the child enjoys, and have not implemented any form of learning, either formal or informal. The child has minimal structure to their day and therefore stays in their bedroom until late afternoon, either sleeping or scrolling on their phone. This is a missed opportunity to engage the child in meaningful discussions about learning and development and does not equip them with the skills and knowledge to make progress in their education.

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improvement to be good

Children are not encouraged to attend health appointments. Staff have struggled to support the child to attend the local dentist and opticians since moving to the home. Staff have also not been pro-active in helping the child to understand the importance of this. This means that children are not always having their basic health needs met.

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improvement to be good

The child is starting to build positive relationships with staff and has started to spend more time in the home. Staff take an interest in the child’s likes and interests and supporting them with caring for a new pet. This helps children to feel listened to. However, staff are not always pro-active in encouraging children to engage in activities. They either spend time out with friends and there is limited encouragement for them to get involved or try new interests. This prevents children from having opportunities to gain new experiences.

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improvement to be good

The manager carefully considers new referrals to the home to ensure that children’s needs can be met. When a child cannot visit the home, staff work with the multi-agency team to prepare the child by providing information and pictures of staff. Additionally, the in-house psychologist completes an assessment of the child’s needs. This helps to identify the support children will need.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments and care plans do not provide staff with enough guidance to manage risks coherently. Staff work well to develop positive relationships with professionals involved in the child’s care, and staff are gaining a clearer understanding of some of the risks that affect the child. However, some risks are not understood fully or in enough detail for staff to be confident that current mitigation is sufficient to safeguard the child.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always take effective action when there are concerns about children’s safety, such as escalating their concerns. Furthermore, staff are not always curious to explore risks with the child when they are sharing information about their experiences and safety. This means that staff do not always understand children’s risks or respond to them to keep children safe. Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 5 Children are not always supported to understand risks. Staff have some discussions with the child around risks such as about the misuse of substances. However, staff have missed opportunities to have meaningful discussions and explore risks further with the child. This prevents the child from learning strategies to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff are responsive in supporting the child to return home. Staff maintain regular contact with the child when they are out in the community. When the child shares their views and requests, if it is safe to do so, changes are made to the child’s safety plan including newly agreed expectations and boundaries. This helps the child to feel listened to and has resulted in them not going missing from the home.

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

Leaders and managers oversight is not yet effective. Audits do not always identify shortfalls in staff practice. Leaders have started to implement new processes to address this. For example, through using additional audits of staff recordings and supervisions. However, this is in the early stages and the effectiveness of this is not yet known.

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

The manager is not effective in escalating concerns to the local authority. For example, not all the children’s essential documents are held on the child’s files. This includes up- to-date care plans and placement plans from the local authority. Furthermore, there has been limited escalation around the lack of education offered for the child. Instead, staff have implemented a suggested programme of support. This prevents children from getting the right level of education, support and learning.

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

Team meetings and staff supervisions do not address practice issues. Some opportunities are provided to staff around their own development and the child’s views are shared. However, there is limited focus on the child’s experiences, and concerns are not always followed up. This prevents the manager from addressing practice issues and is a missed opportunity to improve the care that children receive.

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

Staff have shared that they feel supported by the management team. There is a core staff team who are provided with regular practice-related supervision sessions and support around their own emotional wellbeing. Staff have refreshed their training and say that they are continuing to learn and make changes to improve outcomes for children.

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

The manager and staff build positive relationships with multi-agency professionals. The staff communicate regularly with professionals and family to provide updates in a timely manner. All professionals said that they are kept up to date with what is happening for their child. Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 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 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; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)) 18 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; 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)(f)(h)) 18 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 7 The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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 barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; and

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)) 18 March 2026

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being.

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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

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b) (2)(a)(iii)) 18 March 2026

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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; 18 March 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 8 participate in activities that the child enjoys and which meet and expand the child's interests and preferences; and

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Requirement Due date

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))

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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: 1272220 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tees-Valley Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Tees-Valley Care, PO Box 547, Middlesbrough TS1 9HG

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Inspector

Natalie Clark, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1272220 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 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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