Children's Home run by The Rubix Care Group Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 1 Registered provider: The Rubix Care Group 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 owned and managed by a small private provider. The home provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, there were 2 children living at the home and they both spoke with the inspector.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not currently have a registered manager. A new manager is in post, and they have applied to register with Ofsted.

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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: 2767334 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/06/2025 Full Good 09/07/2024 Full Good 23/01/2024 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 3

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Summary of findings

The manager ensures that planning for children moving into and out of the home is robust. Both children are making progress from their starting points. Children’s health needs are met, and they are supported to maintain relationships with people who are important to them. However, educational progress is not yet consistent.

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Summary of findings

Safeguarding practice is effective, and children say they feel safe and happy. The home is clean and welcoming, although some repairs are required.

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Summary of findings

The management team has a good understanding of children’s needs and vulnerabilities. A stable staff team provides consistency, and staff receive appropriate training, supervision and support. Management oversight is generally effective, although improvements are needed to some risk assessments and records.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move into and out of the home in a positive and well-supported way. The management team ensures that these moves are carefully planned, child centred and fully involve children during the process. This helps children to have positive experiences and reduces anxiety during periods of change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have developed trusting relationship with staff. Staff are caring, nurturing, child centred and dedicated to supporting children and have a good understanding of each child’s individual needs. As a result, children are making good progress from their initial starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Childrens health needs are being met. There are good arrangements in place to meet children’s complex emotional and mental health needs. Staff work alongside other professionals to ensure that children receive appropriate support. Staff also educate children on health-related issues so they can make positive choices about leading a healthier lifestyle.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have successfully improved children’s school attendance since they moved into the home. One child now attends every day and is completing work experience. However, another child’s attendance remains inconsistent. Staff do not provide this child with a structured daily routine that incorporates formal and informal learning opportunities when they are not in school. As a result, opportunities are missed to promote the value and importance of education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spend positive time with people who are important to them, despite them living some distance from the home. Staff actively support these relationships by transporting children to family homes and supervising family time when required. This helps children Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 4 maintain meaningful relationships and provides them with a supportive network of people who matter most to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to participate in a wide range of activities in the community. Children are encouraged to try new experiences, including attending a driving range, boxing club and trampoline club. These opportunities help children to build confidence and develop their self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly encourage children to express their wishes and feelings through daily conversations, weekly meetings and planned discussions. Children choose their meals and weekly activities and share their views about improvements to the home environment. This ensures that children actively participate in decisions that affect their daily lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff celebrate children’s achievements and recognise their progress. There are weekly incentives and goals set for each child, which are meaningful and individual to each child. Staff also support children to develop age-appropriate life skills, such has cooking and shopping. This supports children to develop skills to become more independent in the future.

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

Childrens safety and welfare are at the heart of staff practice. Children said that they feel happy and safe living in the home. They know that staff will listen and respond if they had any worries or concerns. Two complaints have been made, and staff have managed these appropriately.

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

Staff remain proactive in protecting children from harm, despite the challenges they experience in supporting children with complex needs. They prioritise children’s safety and welfare and respond consistently to identified risks. Although risk management plans are in place, the manager has not ensured that one child’s current risks are fully reflected in their plans. As a result, staff do not have the most up-to-date information needed to understand and respond effectively to the child’s vulnerabilities.

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

Children receive a consistent response when they go missing from the home. Staff follow clear procedures, which include working alongside other professionals and actively searching for children until they return safely. The manager also ensures that children are spoken to by an independent person on their return, so their views and experiences can be understood.

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

Staff are calm and caring in their approach. When physical intervention has been necessary, it has been used appropriately and proportionately to keep children and others safe. The manager ensures that children are spoken to after incidents, so they understand why the hold was necessary. Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 5 The manager responds effectively to significant incidents, allegations and concerns about staff practice. Appropriate action is taken, including removing staff from their duties while allegations are investigated. The manager also ensures that all appropriate safeguarding agencies are informed. As a result, children have been safeguarded effectively and there has been appropriate scrutiny of practice.

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

Children benefit from living in a clean, comfortable and welcoming environment. They have personalised their bedrooms, helping them to feel a sense of belonging and ownership. However, some areas of the home need attention, such as the loose toilet seat in the downstairs bathroom, appropriate fixing of the curtain rail in the dining room and repainting several marked walls. Also, the use of a bedroom door alarm for one child has not been appropriately risk assessed to ensure that the use is appropriate and necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a change in the management of the home. The current manager has applied to register with Ofsted. The manager was not available for the inspection. In her absence, the responsible individual is overseeing the day-to-day management of the home, supported by the deputy manager. They are both knowledgeable about the children’s needs and vulnerabilities, they are child centred in their approach and committed to achieving best outcomes for the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team maintains effective oversight of the day-to-day practice. However, they have not ensured that all children’s records are accurate and contain clear, up-to-date information about children’s current needs and vulnerabilities.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team recently completed a quality review of care provided to children. As part of the process, managers sought appropriate feedback from children, parents and professionals. However, they did not obtain feedback from staff. As a result, managers have missed an opportunity to gain a full overview of the quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is now a stable staff team in place that is providing consistency for the children. Staff demonstrate a strong ethos of teamwork. Although there have been some staff changes, the management team has ensured that this has not affected the children’s care. Staff demonstrated a detailed understanding of each child’s individual needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive a comprehensive training programme that includes the organisation’s mandatory training as well as additional training to meet children’s specific needs. Staff spoke positively about the training they receive and said that it helps them to develop their skills and knowledge required for their role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team provides staff with regular supervision sessions and appraisals in the required timescales. These sessions allow staff the opportunity to reflect on their Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 6 practice, discuss challenges and identify areas for further professional development. Staff said that they feel well supported by the leadership team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff meetings take place regularly and are well attended. These meetings provide staff with an opportunity to share information, discuss children’s progress and promote consistent approaches to the children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team works effectively with other professionals. The team takes a collaborative approach, as well as challenging other professionals effectively to ensure that children’s needs are being met. Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 7

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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 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;

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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. (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that each child’s risk assessment is regularly reviewed and updated when new risks are identified such has the child’s risk to fire setting. 2 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 2 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 8 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b) (2)(c)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must ensure that issues of maintenance in the home are addressed. Specifically, the curtain rail in the dining room needs fixing appropriately, a toilet seat needs fixing and spill marks on several walls need repainting.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that if bedroom door alarms are used, there is a clear identified risk, and these are kept under review. 2 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that— 2 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 9 that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(x)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered provider must ensure that when children are refusing to attend education, there is clear structure and routine in place at the home to support the child’s learning.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that they have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulations at least every six months. This should include feedback from staff. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards,’ page 64, paragraph 15.2)  The registered person should ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Reviewed documents should include accurate and clear information on the needs of the children. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 10

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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: 2767334 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Rubix Care Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Unit 1 Cottam Lane Business Centre Cottam Lane, Ashton-on-Ribble, Preston, Lancashire PR2 1JR

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Inspector

Simon Jones, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2767334 12 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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