Children's Home run by Therapeutic Care Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 1 Registered provider: Therapeutic 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

This home is run 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

At time of this inspection, one child was living at the home. The child spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in April 2026.

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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: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2025 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/11/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 3

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Summary of findings

The child is making good progress from their starting point and staff promote hobbies in line with the child’s interests.

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Summary of findings

Staff encourage the child’s engagement with education and promote meaningful family relationships.

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Summary of findings

Recording practice is variable, which limits the manager’s ability to fully evaluate incidents and identify learning from practice to improve the quality of care provided to children. Staff did not seek medical advice when concerns were raised about the child’s emotional wellbeing.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers ensure that staff receive regular supervision to help them in their roles.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child has lived in the home for over a year. The child is making progress in many areas of their life and have developed positive relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

One child recently moved into the home on an emergency basis. The manager gathered relevant information. However, it quickly became apparent that the child’s needs were greater than initially understood at point of referral. As a result, the child experienced further instability, requiring a move out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child’s health needs are well understood, and the child is supported to access general health services to promote their overall health and wellbeing. In addition, staff benefit from consultation with the organisation’s therapist. This strengthens staff’s understanding and enhances the consistency of care to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff demonstrate a strong commitment to promoting the child’s education. The manager is working closely with the placing authority and education professionals to identify a suitable education provision that can meet the child’s needs effectively. In the interim, staff are supporting the child to engage in educational activities and varied learning opportunities. However, opportunities to escalate concerns more promptly when progress was limited have been missed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to see people they love and care about in line with their care plan. This supports the child’s sense of identity.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly encourage the child to express their wishes and feelings through daily conversations and regular planned discussions. The child can choose their meals and Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 4 activities for the week and share their views on how the home could be improved. This enables the child to participate fully in the daily life of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child is supported to engage in hobbies and activities that reflect their individual interests and supports them to make long-lasting memories. The child has a pet and is encouraged to care of it. This helps the child to build independence skills and learn about responsibility.

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

Missing-from-home episodes are managed and responded to promptly by staff. Staff follow the missing-from-home protocol and understand what actions to take. Staff search for the child and ensure that they return home safely.

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

Staff use physical intervention as a last resort and to keep the child safe, and the least restrictive intervention is used. The child and staff are offered debriefs following the use of physical intervention and the manager has good oversight of incident reports, which are evaluative and reflective. However, details about the duration of holds are unclear on some occasions.

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

Staff understand the child’s needs and vulnerabilities. Appropriate external agencies are involved when required, ensuring that there is a coordinated and responsive approach to keeping the child safe. Staff use a range of resources including videos, visual materials, and statistics to help the child understand, and engage with, important information on a variety of topics such as staying safe, knife crime and healthy relationships. This supports the child to make safer choices.

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

The child knows how to raise any concerns. When the child has raised concerns, the manager has appropriately addressed these and the outcome is shared with the child.

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

Staff respond appropriately to incidents and take suitable action to safeguard children, including completing welfare checks, undertaking room checks and escalating concerns when required to the relevant professionals. However, there was one occasion when staff did not seek health advice promptly in response to concerns about a child’s emotional wellbeing.

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

Staff ensure that the child is provided with clear routines and boundaries. Staff spend time with the child to help them understand appropriate behaviours. Staff use incentives and consequences for unwanted behaviour. Consequences are fair and proportionate.

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

Robust safer recruitment processes are in place. This ensures that staff are suitable to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 5 The current registered manager stepped down from their role for approximately 3 months. During this time, they undertook the role of deputy manager in the home. They were supported by an experienced manager and the responsible individual to ensure that there was continued oversight and stability for children and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff say they enjoy working in the home and feel valued and well supported by the managers, who are always available to offer advice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings provide regular opportunities for staff to discuss children’s needs, review care plans, and monitor progress. They also serve as a forum for reflection and to support ongoing development and learning for staff. This equips staff with the knowledge and skills to meet the child’s needs effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular supervision sessions offer a supportive space for staff to reflect on their practice, discuss challenges, and explore areas of development. Appraisals are also completed at regular intervals and are enriched with feedback from the child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The recording of incidents is variable, and at times key information is missing. This limits the manager’s ability to fully evaluate incidents, implement learning and embed it in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers use familiar staff from other homes within the organisation when increased staffing levels are required. This provides reassurance to the child, and supports consistent practice and stability within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from a comprehensive training and induction programme. The manager is committed to ensuring that staff have access to tailored training in line with the child’s emerging needs. This enhances staff’s ability to respond to the child and their needs confidently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that there is effective multi-agency working with strong communication. This means that the child’s needs are consistently advocated for in order to achieve positive outcomes across all areas of their lives. Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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 and;

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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)(iii)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that staff promote and protect children’s wellbeing and obtain medical advice when there are concerns related to a child’s emotional wellbeing. 3 July 2026

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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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 3 July 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 7 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)(c)(e)(f)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that when incidents or physical interventions are recorded, they include all relevant information to enable robust evaluation and take into account any learning outcomes that can be put in place to support the development of staff.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that there is effective planning undertaken prior to introducing children to the home and that this is done in a way that maintains stability for existing children. The registered person should ensure that staff establish key information about the child and the expectations of their care. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 57, paragraph 11.8)  The registered person should work closely with the placing authority to source full- time educational provision for children at the earliest opportunity. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 28, paragraph 5.14)

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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: 2771219 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Therapeutic Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Errigal House, Avroe Crescent, Blackpool FY4 2DP

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Responsible individual:

Registered manager: Christopher Grindrod

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Inspector

Shauna Morley, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2771219 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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