Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 1 Registered provider: Radical Services 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

This home is operated by a private provider and provides care for up to 2 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager left in December 2025. A new manager is in post and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Two children were living in the home at the time of this inspection, and they were both spoken with by the inspector. One child has left the home during this inspection cycle.

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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: 1249264 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

02/07/2025 Full Good 18/06/2024 Full Good 08/08/2023 Full Good 18/05/2023 Full Inadequate Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 3

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Summary of findings

Children are making progress and enjoy living at the home. They have positive relationships with staff. Staff provide children with positive experiences and keep them safe.

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Summary of findings

The new manager has begun to implement clearer boundaries for children, which has helped reduce concerning behaviours.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers provide staff with high levels of support and training. This helps staff to understand children’s needs and care for them confidently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home environment that is welcoming, child friendly and personalised to their wishes. The children have their own pet rabbit and hamster that they chose, and they take pride in caring for them. The home resembles a family home, and this helps to provide children with a sense of belonging.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from a range of activities both inside and out of the home. Staff and the home’s psychologist take part in group and individual activities with children. These shared experiences help children form trusting relationships with staff and, in particular, with new members of the team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff and managers provide children with physical affection and praise. Recognition and rewards are generously shared with children. Staff celebrated one child’s anniversary of living in the home by making a video with memories from past and current staff. This helps children feel accepted, loved and valued. One child said, ‘They [staff] are my family and this is my home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported with their health and staff have helpful discussions with them to support their feelings and wider relationships. This helps children understand positive choices and build confidence in attending appointments relating to their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When children move to the home, the needs of all children are considered. Introductions between staff and the child take place, which helps children experience well-planned moves. The manager engages with the children’s wider professional networks to help understand their individual needs. However, the manager does not always fully consider the staff’s experience and skills to ensure that they can adequately meet these needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are provided with therapeutic care that reflects their care plans. However, for one child, their care plan did not reflect their learning difficulties or how staff should communicate with the child. This has potential for staff not to understand the most appropriate methods of communication with this child. Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 4

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

Staff have a good understanding of risks to children. Staff complete clear risk management plans that are regularly reviewed and include clear strategies to manage risks. This ensures staff have the right information to help them keep children safe.

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

Staff are confident in their responses when children go missing from home. Staff work collaboratively with wider professionals to help keep children safe. Children have meaningful discussions with staff following any incidents, which helps them to understand how to keep themselves safe. This has supported children to make safer decisions and has reduced incidents.

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

Staff are vigilant in recognising indicators of self-harm and deterioration in children’s mental health. They closely monitor children and work effectively with external professionals to keep children safe. When risks for one child escalated to an unmanageable level, staff advocated on behalf of the child with partner agencies. This helped the child move to a home that was able to keep them safe.

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

The manager ensures that safer recruitment checks are completed. New staff are given opportunities to shadow more experienced staff, and a good range of training is provided. This helps staff feel confident in how to respond to the risks and vulnerabilities of the children.

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

Leaders and managers are quick to act and safeguard children when concerns about staff conduct arise or allegations are made by children. They work closely with relevant partner agencies to ensure that children’s views are clearly explored. Appropriate restorative work between staff and children is also undertaken, helping to ensure children’s relationships with staff remain positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the strengths and areas of development in the home. She has identified necessary improvements to staff practice since commencing in her role and has included feedback from children in recruitment practices. These improvements have had a positive impact on the children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say that they feel well supported by managers, and they hold the manager in high regard. One member of staff said, ‘The manager is organised and hands-on, which trickles down to us and how the children are cared for.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has developed effective and robust monitoring systems, which help her have good oversight of children’s care. This, and high expectations of the team, leads to her identifying child-focused actions, which help staff understand their responsibilities, particularly when any practice shortfalls arise. This helps to drive improvement in the care that children receive. Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 5 Team meetings and staff supervision sessions take place regularly. These include some discussion about children’s needs and how these are being met. However, the team meeting minutes do not reflect discussions about all children and their care needs. This could affect staff’s understanding of how to most effectively care for some children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a workforce plan, but this, as well as the home’s statement of purpose, does not include information about current staff qualifications, training or experience. The manager is currently updating the information in these documents. Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 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 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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (2)(c)) 14 August 2026

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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;

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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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a) (2)(b)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that children’s care plans include all key information relating to their care. 14 August 2026

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the following elements of the workforce plan should be included in the Statement of Purpose: (in accordance with Schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20)) the staffing structure; experience and qualifications of staff and arrangements for supervision of staff practice. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10) Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 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: 1249264 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Radical Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 The Calls, Leeds LS2 7JU

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Inspector

Amey Henry, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1249264 9 regulates 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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