Children's Home run by Leeds City Council in Leeds

Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 1 SC033657

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Registered provider: Leeds City Council 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 local authority. It provides care for up to 5 children, who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

One child is currently registered as living at the home, but the home is currently empty. This is because the home is being refurbished, and the child is living away from the home for a short period of time. The child was spoken with during the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There is a manager in post who has been working in the home since April 2026, but they are not yet registered with Ofsted.

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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 widespread failures that mean children are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 17 February 2026

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/02/2026 Full Good 24/09/2024 Full Good 23/08/2023 Full Good 20/02/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 3

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Summary of findings

Significant failings in safeguarding practices, as well as in the leadership and management of this home, have negatively affected children’s overall experiences and progress. Serious concerns emerged about fire-setting behaviour, hate crimes among peers, violence from children towards staff and damage to property that resulted in the police being called. These failings demonstrate that leaders and managers do not take effective action to protect children from harm or ensure that they receive safe and consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is currently undergoing a full refurbishment to repair significant damage caused by the children. Over an extended period, staff have been ineffective in safely managing children’s behaviours and preventing damage to the property. This has negatively affected children’s experiences while living in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff attempts to prevent children from vaping inside the home have not been successful. Despite being educated on the health risks, children continue to vape. Staff are currently ineffective in discouraging this behaviour or promoting healthier choices, leaving children exposed to ongoing health risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have engaged in a wide range of activities with staff during their time living at the home. Furthermore, staff have supported them to learn independence skills such as applying for jobs, budgeting, cooking, understanding first aid and sexual health. This has gone some way to developing children’s independence skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

One child said they like to spend time with staff, especially at the gym. The child spoke about their love for football and how they are ambitious to have a career in sport. They spoke about some difficult times living in the home and referred to staff being ‘burnt out’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff understand the importance of children spending meaningful time with their families and other people who are important to them. Staff understand children’s family networks well. Staff also recognise that maintaining these relationships is central to children’s identity, emotional wellbeing and sense of belonging.

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

Staff actions are not effective in preventing bullying in the home. One child experienced verbal threats and racial abuse from their peers. The child said, ‘I just got used to it’ when referring to being subjected to hate crimes. Staff do not consistently prevent or effectively manage incidents between the children. This leaves children experiencing Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 4 conflict and feeling unsafe when verbal and threatening incidents occur and has resulted in one child moving out of the home for their own safety.

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

Fire-setting in the home and garden is a serious, unmanaged risk. Children encourage each other to set fires, which increases the danger, and used a garden fire pit to burn aerosol cans. Staff failed to remove the fire pit quickly enough, and children tipped it over, damaging the floor. Staff lack the necessary skills to manage or reduce these safety risks. Furthermore, broken fire doors in the home compromise the integrity of the building and the safety of staff and children.

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

Risk assessments do not identify all known risks for some children. As a result, staff do not have clear strategies to manage and reduce these risks effectively. This places children at further risk.

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

Children play-fighting with each other is a frequent and unmanaged issue that has resulted in injuries. Children regularly play-fight despite staff attempts to discourage them. On some occasions, these incidents have escalated, leaving children requiring medical attention.

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

Leaders and managers do not have sufficient oversight of incident reporting. Important details are missed, and there is little analysis to identify underlying patterns or the causes. Consequently, leaders fail to learn from these incidents, meaning that preventable issues reoccur.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a stable manager for a long period of time. This has had a significant impact on the safety and wellbeing of the children. Poor management oversight means staff have lacked direction and support during an extremely difficult time. Staff have used the police to manage children’s behaviours following serious incidents.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Flawed decision-making by leaders has placed children at risk. Leaders and managers moved a child back into the home without ensuring that staff could meet all the children’s needs safely. Consequently, care planning is ineffective, risks have increased and children have had poor experiences. Leaders and managers have failed to prioritise the safety and welfare of the children in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all allegations made against staff are taken seriously. There have been occasions where the local authority designated officer was not informed of incidents in a timely manner. Safeguarding procedures have not been consistently followed when there have been concerns about individual staff. This undermines safeguarding practice and increases the risk that concerns about staff are left unaddressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all safeguarding incidents are reported to Ofsted as required. The failure to consistently notify the regulator of serious incidents prevents Ofsted from having Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 5 effective oversight of safeguarding practice in the home. This means that potential risks and patterns are not being fully scrutinised or addressed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff feel supported by leaders, despite inconsistent management arrangements. Staff speak positively about their line managers and understand the challenges of running the home without a permanent manager in post. However, staff acknowledge that escalating risks have become difficult to manage, leading to concerning shortfalls in practice. Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 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

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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. 23 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 7 (Regulation 12 (1) (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(d)(e))

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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

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 has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

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)(d)(f)(h)) 23 August 2026

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children’s home;

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Requirement Due date

provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of fire;

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Requirement Due date

make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention; and

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Requirement Due date

ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably 23 August 2026 Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 8 practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire.

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home.

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Requirement Due date

In this regulation, “the fire and rescue authority” means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(b) for the area in which the home is located. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d) (2)(a)(b) (3))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

A notification made under this regulation—

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Requirement Due date

the other persons, bodies or organisations (if any) who or which have been notified; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions taken by the registered person as a result of the matter;

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Requirement Due date

must be made or confirmed in writing. (Regulation 40 (4)(e) (5)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(b)) 23 August 2026

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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 Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 9 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: SC033657 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Merrion House, Merrion Centre, Leeds, West Yorkshire LS2 8LX

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Inspector

Gemma McDonnell, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children's home: SC033657 11 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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