Children's Home run by Steps Support Residential Limited in Newcastle upon Tyne

Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 1 Registered provider: Steps Support Residential 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 provider. It provides care for one child who may experience social and emotional difficulties and/or have a learning disability.

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Information about this children’s home

The child living in the home was spoken to briefly during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager is experienced and qualified. She registered with Ofsted in December 2025.

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Information about this children’s home

The inspector was aware during this inspection that a serious incident that occurred at the setting since the last inspection is under investigation by the appropriate authorities. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate incidents of this kind, actions taken by the setting in response to the incident were considered alongside other evidence available at the time of the inspection to inform inspectors’ judgements.

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Overall experiences and progress

of children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 2 Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Summary of findings

There are significant shortfalls in how effectively the child has been helped and protected by staff and in the leadership and management of the home. The child has not been kept safe as a result.

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Summary of findings

Staff do not have up-to-date information to help them safeguard the child effectively. Training identified to upskill staff to keep the child safe is not implemented by managers.

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Summary of findings

Leaders and managers, including the registered manager have ineffective oversight of the child’s care and do not provide staff with the support they need in their roles. Staff supervision does not routinely take place, and managers do not identify some poor staff practice and take action in response to this. Senior managers have also failed to take action to improve the quality of care provided to the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

While the child has made progress in some areas, the shortfalls in how they have been protected, and in the leadership of the home have contributed to the child being at ongoing risk. This undermines the progress that the child has made.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff build warm and nurturing relationships with the child. This supports the child to build resilience and increases their ability to regulate strong emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The child receives some good support with their learning. The child is on a reduced timetable due to their emotional health. Staff are working creatively to provide the child with additional learning opportunities. They are also working effectively with external professionals to identify a full-time education placement for the child and to ensure that she has the therapeutic support needed to meet her emotional wellbeing needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is warm and welcoming with evidence of the child’s activities and achievements on display. There are a variety of photographs of the child, and the people who are important to them, around the home. The child’s bedroom is personalised with ambient lighting and has a warm and cosy feel. This makes it an inviting place to be .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff understand the importance of the child’s family relationships and friendships. They encourage and facilitate the child’s friends and family to visit, often helping with transport. Staff warmly welcome visitors. This helps to promote an inclusive environment, which the child responds well to. Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 3

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

Staff do not always take effective action to keep the child safe. Not all staff are aware of one significant area of risk for the child and the strategies to manage this. Risk assessments are weak, outdated and do not include essential information to help staff to understand the child’s experiences and how to protect them. This contributes to staff actions to protect the child being ineffective.

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

Staff, including managers, do not always respond effectively when the child goes missing from home. The guidance available to staff about how to respond is lacking in clarity and direction. Staff do not always follow the child and when the child’s location is known, they do not always act swiftly to collect them. These shortfalls contributed to the child experiencing significant harm while they were missing from home. Managers have failed to review procedures in a timely manner in response to this incident and take actions to safeguard the child.

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

Staff do not have a clear understanding of what the level of supervision for the child should be and why this is necessary. There are no clear strategies to strengthen supervision at times of increased risk.

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

Not all staff understand what constitutes a physical intervention and therefore they do not record such incidents consistently. This prevents appropriate support for the child and staff following such incidents and the opportunity for them to reflect on how they feel and raise any worries they may have about their care.

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

Staff are inconsistent in how they support the child to manage their behaviour and make safer decisions. Boundaries that staff put in place are, at times, undermined by others. There is no plan of how staff will work with the child to improve their understanding of risk. This fails to support the child to reduce the risks that they face.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not effectively monitor and review the quality of care the child receives. Management oversight of risk is particularly poor. Incidents and behaviours are considered in isolation. Therefore triggers and patterns in the child’s behaviour are missed . This has left the child more vulnerable to harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is insufficient scrutiny of staff practice to assure leaders that staff have the skills and knowledge necessary to provide consistently good-quality care. Managers did not identify when staff have not followed safeguarding procedures and significant incidents are not routinely reviewed. When managers have identified practice issues and learning as a result of this, they have not taken prompt action, together with others to implement this learning.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff say that they have an unpredictable staff rota, which impacts on their ability to manage their home and work life balance. A lack of planning and having to provide Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 4 cover at short notice, and the commitment this involves from staff, is not always recognised, impacting on staff morale and retention .

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders do not provide regular supervision sessions or the opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice individually and as a team. Some new staff have had no supervision, which prevents the opportunity to reflect on difficult situations and how this made them feel. It also reduces the manager’s ability to identify additional training or support required to promote their development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior leaders have failed to recognise the shortfalls and so the support needed to improve practice has not been available. There is a new responsible individual in post who has a plan in place to address the shortfalls and improve the quality of care . Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 5

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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

* The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. 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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies;

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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)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)) 5 July 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

promotes their welfare. 5 July 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 6 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; 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)(a)(c)(e)(f)(g)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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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

the name of the child; 5 July 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 7 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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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that the children are encouraged by the staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’, supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19) Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 8

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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: 2858011 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Steps Support Residential Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 38 Hawthorn Road, Newcastle Upon Tyne NE3 4DE

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Inspector

Lisa Gordon, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2858011 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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