Children's Home run by Bay View Child Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 1 SC416318 Registered provider: Bay View Child 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 operated by a private company. It offers care for up to 4 children who experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home registered with Ofsted in December 2010. The manager registered in September 2024.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 4 children were living at the home. Three children were spoken to as part 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/07/2025 Full Good 22/10/2024 Full Good 13/02/2024 Full Good 03/03/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making good progress and receive individualised care and support that meets their needs. Children’s views about their care are known and understood by staff, who advocate on their behalf.

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Summary of findings

Staff understand children well. They can identify changes in children’s presentation and provide appropriate support to meet their needs. Staff help children to understand their behaviours and to make positive changes.

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Summary of findings

Managers support the team to work well together in children’s best interests. Managers have effective oversight of the home and are aware of areas for improvement. There is a positive culture of learning within the team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children have strong relationships with staff and can identify adults they trust. This enables meaningful discussions about their wishes and feelings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are making positive progress. One child is due to return to the care of a parent after making significant progress in all areas. The provider is supporting the family to ensure a positive transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend education. They are supported by staff to explore their interests for further study. A clear transition plan is in place to support one child's increasing school attendance, paced in line with the child’s views and wishes. Children are also supported to develop their independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health needs are well met. Staff work with health professionals to ensure that prescribed medication remains appropriate. Another child receives intensive support from staff and specialist services and has been able to achieve their health and wellbeing goals. However, managers have not considered how to work with one child’s school to support their health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children's views are sought and understood. However, they do not have access to independent advocates to ensure their views about their ongoing care are shared with all the relevant professionals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to support children to engage in shared activities outside the home. Children’s individual interests are well supported, including attending concerts, going for drives, shopping, day trips and holidays. Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 4 Children are supported to spend time with the people who are important to them. This helps them maintain meaningful relationships and strengthens their sense of identity and belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Improvements have been made to the home and garden environment, and further redecoration is underway. However, one child’s bedroom still requires action to ensure it is maintained to the same standard as the other children’s rooms.

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

Risk assessments are detailed and clearly explain the background to risks. They outline what actions staff should take to support children to prevent harm and to respond to risk in immediate situations. Staff understand the risks to children and what is expected of them.

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

Staff are responsive to changes in children's presentation and put measures in place to help keep them safe. This shows the strength of relationships between staff and children.

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

There are few occasions where physical intervention is used by staff. There are detailed debriefs and follow up work completed with children to support positive behaviours. However, one session was not recorded in a child-focused way.

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

Children rarely go missing from the home. There has been a significant reduction for one child who recently moved to the home. The child said that managers will share with them how much progress they have made in this area, which helps them to feel valued.

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

Children said that staff keep them safe and help them to understand the risks involved in their actions. There are effectives measures in place to support safety, such as phone checks and door alarms. These are agreed with professionals and discussed with children, so they understand their purpose.

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

Consequences are used sparingly; however, at times they have focused on monetary payments, which have not been effective. The fairness and appropriateness of these measures are not clearly reviewed by managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers demonstrate strong commitment to their roles and responsibilities. They have high aspirations for children and advocate effectively with professionals to secure improved outcomes. Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 5 Staff say that they are well supported by managers and there is a good staff morale. Professionals speak highly of the team and manager’s approach to working together. This has a positive impact on children’s individual development and progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have effective oversight of incidents in the home. Records show that they complete detailed analysis and identify clear actions for staff to follow up with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff meetings take place regularly. Managers provide clear direction to staff about practice expectations. Records demonstrate how managers ensure that there is a focus on children and safeguarding practice. However, the quality of records varies with little evidence of collaboration and input from staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Reflective practice is not embedded within team meetings or supervision. The frequency of staff supervision has been affected by staff sickness, resulting in gaps in practice oversight. This is a shortfall that managers have identified, and they have plans in place to address it.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Bespoke training is completed with staff to meet children's specific needs. However, there have been delays with training provided by external agencies. The manager does not have a clear record of what training staff have completed due to delays with records being updated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are safer recruitment practices in place. Leaders and managers take appropriate action to address any staffing concerns to ensure that only those who are safe to do so work with children. Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 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, 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

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child's behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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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 30 June 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 7 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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(viii) (b)(i)(ii) (c))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, leaders and managers must ensure that any consequences given to children are fair and reviewed to ensure that they are effective.

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Requirement Due date

Children's views on the consequence given should be clearly recorded.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all children must have access to appropriate advocacy support and, where possible, this should be provided by a person that the child chooses. Looked-after children are entitled to an independent advocate to advise them and ensure they have the support needed to express their views, wishes and feelings about their care and lives. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 23, paragraph 4.16)  The registered person should take the initiative to work with education professionals to engage with them proactively and advocate for the children in their care. This relates to how school staff can support children to address barriers to their health and wellbeing. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 12, paragraph 2.7)  Staff should be familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand

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Recommendations

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 must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Team meetings should also support staff to reflect on their practice together. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 61, paragraph 13.2)  The registered person should have an up-to-date plan to show what training and

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Recommendations

qualifications have been completed by staff while working at the home and identifies any ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff. ('Guide Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 8 to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that children are provided with a nurturing environment that is welcoming. Staff should seek to meet the child's basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,' page 15, paragraph 3.7)

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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: SC416318 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Bay View Child Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Core Assets, Malvern View, Saxon Business Park, Hanbury Road, Stoke Prior, Bromsgrove B60 4AD

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Thompson

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Inspectors

Andrea Foreman, Social Care Inspector Chervone Collins, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC416318 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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