Children's Home run by Past Care Ltd in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 1 Registered provider: Past Care Ltd 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 managed by a private company. It offers care for one child with emotional and social needs.

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Information about this children's home

The home was registered on 2 December 2025.

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Information about this children's home

The home is led by a registered manager.

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Information about this children's home

At the time of the inspection, one child was living in the home and contributed to the 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

Date of last inspection: not previously inspected

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: not applicable Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 2

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Summary of findings

Staff know the child well and use humour to support relationships, while remaining focused on ensuring good quality of care for the child. The care provided to the child is individualised, and their interests are nurtured and promoted. Leaders and managers work well with the child's personal and professional network to achieve positive outcomes. Leaders and managers are reflective and take action to address shortfalls when identified.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to make good progress, with a family member describing the child as 'thriving'. One professional working with the child commented that the child has made positive progress in being able to verbally communicate difficult emotions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child's move into the home was thorough and well planned, with opportunities to meet and spend time with staff and the leadership team prior to moving in. This supported the child to feel familiar with the staff and for staff to have a good understanding of the child's needs and likes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The child's education is personalised, and the child's wishes and feelings about their education are promoted. Staff have a good understanding of the child's learning style, and their education timetable reflects this. This promotes the child's engagement in their learning, with the child attending regularly. When there were delays in communication between the local authority and education provision, the registered manager acted quickly. This ensured that challenges within the wider professional network did not negatively impact the child's access to education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support the child to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. This includes supporting children to speak with and spend time with their family. Leaders and managers have secured a summer holiday for the child and their family, with a family member sharing that leaders and managers went 'above and beyond' to support this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff speak kindly about the child and with care. The child's interests are nurtured, and they are supported to attend a range of activities. The child is encouraged to try new things.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have discussions with the child to support their understanding of appropriate peer relationships. While some opportunities to develop peer relationships are provided, further work is needed to support the child to build and maintain friendships with their peers. Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 3

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

Staff understand the needs of the child well. Risk assessments are detailed and consider known vulnerabilities. Actions for staff to take to keep children safe are clearly documented and are updated following incidents. Staff understand not only how to take action to support the child's behaviours, but also what the child may be trying to communicate through these behaviours.

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

The registered manager works closely with the wider professional network to ensure that there is a robust and consistent understanding of legal measures in place to promote the child's safety.

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

Staff have undertaken a range of safeguarding training, including how to hold children when necessary to keep them safe. Restraint is used infrequently and only as a last resort. Staff have not been provided ligature training and do not have access to ligature cutters, despite a known risk. Managers recognise this shortfall and have plans to address this.

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

Staff are safely recruited. This means that adults caring for the child have been checked and verified as safe adults. When allegations are made about staff, the registered manager responds promptly to promote the welfare of the child and staff. Managers speak with the child to understand their views and provide reassurance. Appropriate professionals are consulted, and actions identified are completed in a timely manner.

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

Incidents are well managed, and any damage to property is repaired in a timely manner. Consequences for the child following incidents are reasonable and proportionate. Staff explore the child's feelings in relation to incidents, and the child is encouraged to help identify appropriate consequences. This supports the child's developing sense of responsibility.

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

The child knows how to complain and can identify trusted staff members they can share their worries with. Responses to the child's behaviour are not consistent across the staffing team. This has, at times, negatively impacted the relationship between the child and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager promotes a positive and upbeat environment for both the child and staff. This is balanced with ensuring that the child is the priority and that their needs are understood and supported. Staff feel well supported by leaders and managers. Morale within the team is high, and relationships between staff members are positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a strong advocate for the child. They work with partner agencies to secure equipment for activities that the child enjoys and to ensure that services the child accesses are the most appropriate for their needs. Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 4 Leaders and managers are reflective and committed to ensuring good care. The registered manager has high expectations regarding the care and support provided to the child. This can impact the registered manager's ability to delegate tasks. The registered manager is making progress to support the continued development of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Some staff lack confidence in making decisions without oversight from the registered manager. This causes delay for the child, which results in a negative emotional response. This is understood by leaders and managers. Support for the staff team to develop its confidence and skills in this area has been identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Team meetings and professional supervision consider the individual needs of the child and support required by staff to provide good care. The registered manager is skilled in supporting staff to reflect on their actions and their understanding of support provided to the child. Learning from training and incidents is reviewed and discussed with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The statement of purpose has not been shared with Ofsted in line with regulation following revisions. There have been some delays in submission of the monthly independent visitor reports to Ofsted within this inspection period. This impacts the regulator's ability to monitor and evaluate the care of children. Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 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, The 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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

meet each child's behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child's relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child's behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child's age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

strive to gain each child's respect and trust. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c) (2)(a)(i)(v)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff's responses to the child and their behaviours are consistent across the team. 20 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children's home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1.

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 20 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 6 notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (1) (3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that the statement of purpose is regularly updated to reflect current staffing arrangements, including staff qualifications. The registered person must ensure that this is shared with Ofsted within 28 days of revision.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that everyone working at the home understands their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 54, paragraph 10.20)  The registered person should ensure that the risks to each child, and the arrangements in place to protect them, are continually and actively assessed. The details of the steps the home will take to manage any assessed risk on a day-to-day basis should be included in the child's plan. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 42, paragraph 9.5)  Children should be encouraged to develop positive relationships with others, both inside and outside the home, as set out in the positive relationships standard. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 43,

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Recommendations

paragraph 9.13)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make the best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. ('Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards', page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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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: 2858816 7

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: 39 Kendal Close, Northampton NN3 6WJ

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Children's home details

Registered manager: Hamish Burrows-McGill

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Inspector

Siobhan Holmes, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: 2858816 8 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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