Children's Home run by In Safe Hands Care Ltd in Doncaster

Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 1 Registered provider: In Safe Hands Care Ltd

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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 run by a private provider. It can provide care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in May 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Since the last inspection, 2 children have moved into the home and one child has moved on from the home. The inspector spoke to all the children who currently live in the home.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 1232171 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/07/2025 Full Good 16/07/2024 Full Good 31/05/2023 Full Good 03/08/2022 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 3

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Summary of findings

Children are settling into the home and are being helped to live alongside each other and make progress. Children spend time with staff and access a range of activities. Staff know children well and help them to have structure and routine to their days, which has a positive impact on education. The managers know the children well and work well with professionals. The recording systems in the home are poor and do not enable effective management oversight of practice in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff enjoy spending time with children and talk about them with kindness. Children are helped to build relationships with staff through spending time in the community and accessing a range of activities together. Staff and managers understand the importance of lasting relationships for children and have shown an ongoing commitment to children who have moved out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children’s relationships when they move into the home. Children living in the home do not always get along. The manager accepts external support to promote the relationships between children, which helps to increase stability. This support has meant that the relationships between children have improved. Staff are aware of the difficult dynamics and offer high levels of supervision to the children to manage the relationships effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff promote children’s education. Children have structure to their day, which supports their education attendance and engagement. Staff take children to school, including those who access education a significant distance from the home. The manager has advocated for one child around their education provision, which means that the placing local authority is now reviewing the plans for the child.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to sustain relationships that are important to them. Staff arrange for children to spend time with friends in the community and visit their homes. Staff know who is important in children’s lives and talk about family relationships with children. They take children to visit family members and previous carers. One child now visits family who they did not have a relationship with previously.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children access routine and emergency healthcare. Changes in health plans and to medication are not clearly documented. The actions from children’s medicals have also not been followed up, which means that children are not eating a balanced diet and one child has not visited the dentist. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 4 There is no clear record or system in place when prescribed medication is refused or when vitamins are administered. Some medication in the home is unlabelled or relates to children who no longer live in the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The environment is welcoming, with photos of some of the children displayed. Children enjoy playing with staff in the garden. Staff help children to maintain their bedrooms. The home is being redecorated, but there are still areas of damage and wear to the home.

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

Children say that they feel safe and would talk to staff if they were worried. Staff talk to children about how to stay safe in the community and are increasing independence age appropriately. Staff talk to friends’ parents when children are spending time with them to satisfy themselves that children are safe when socialising.

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

Staff help children to stay safe online. Staff talk to children about their online activity and children know how to raise concerns if they feel unsafe online. Children have agreements in place about their phone use, which includes the use of parental controls.

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

Staff raise concerns about staff practice to the manager appropriately. The manager takes immediate action to safeguard children when concerns have been raised. The manager shares information with external agencies appropriately. When serious incidents take place in the home, there is sometimes a delay in notifying Ofsted.

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

While no children have been missing from the home since the last inspection, staff know what actions to take if they do. There was one incident where a child was out of sight of staff, but appropriate action was taken to locate the child quickly. While managers shared information appropriately with the child’s placing local authority, there are no written records about this incident.

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

Staff use their relationships with children to manage behaviour in the home, often through a playful approach. On occasion, physical interventions have been used to keep children safe. Not all staff have received physical intervention training, and the recording of some physical interventions lack detail. Managers talk to staff following incidents but do not review the appropriateness of the interventions.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive regular supervision sessions. New staff receive increased supervision sessions and a structured induction into the home. There are arrangements in place to ensure that family members who work in the home do not supervise one another and, where possible, they do not work together. However, there are no current arrangements for the manager to receive supervision sessions, which prevents external oversight and challenge. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 5 Consultation with children to develop the care provided by the staff at the home is limited. The independent person visits at times when they are unlikely to see children. Internal systems do not provide an evaluation of children’s experiences or consultation to inform the development plan for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Safer recruitment checks continue to be inconsistent. The checks for staff are incomplete, and therefore the manager is not assured of some staff’s suitability to work in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager does not have systems in place to review key elements of care. Children’s records are mostly handwritten and lack detail. The manager has recognised inconsistencies in staff practice and is working to improve internal communication in the home. The plans for children do not provide staff with the guidance to help children continue to make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff shortages impact management oversight. Since the last inspection, staff have been unwell and have left employment resulting in a shortage of staff. Staff and managers have demonstrated a commitment to the children and have worked additional shifts to enable children to be cared for by staff who know them well. This means that the manager and deputy manager have been working directly with the children and have not had the dedicated time to oversee the running of the home. Staff morale has been impacted by the shortage of staff. Managers have recruited additional staff to address this shortfall.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager knows the children well and is available to them. Children regularly seek the manager out to spend time with them, which they enjoy. The manager’s relationship with children enables them to understand children’s wishes and feelings and advocate for them. Professionals recognise the positive communication with the manager. Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 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 health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles.

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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

achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(c) (2)(a)(i)) 31 October 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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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

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 31 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 7 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

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; 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)(b)(c)(d( e)(f)(g)(ii)(h)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should use monitoring systems to develop the care for children. The feedback from children and the overview of care should support the development plans for the home.

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Requirement Due date

Also, in particular, that plans for staff to follow should be clear and help staff to deliver consistent care and help children to make progress.

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Requirement Due date

Also, in particular, that the manager should have clear oversight of key records and incidents in the home, including physical interventions.

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Requirement Due date

Also, in particular, that staff who are using physical interventions require appropriate training.

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Requirement Due date

Also, in particular, that the registered person receives supervision sessions from a suitably qualified person.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23 (1) (2)(b)(c)) 15 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. 31 October 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 8 The registered person may only—

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1) (2)(a) (3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 31 October 2026

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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

is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(c)(e)) 15 September 2026

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (1) (2)(a)) 15 September 2026 Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 9

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Recommendation

 The registered person should ensure that the children’s home is a nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children. The home should be well maintained and be a homely, domestic environment. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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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: 1232171 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: In Safe Hands Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Peter Wray Accountancy Services, 48 50, Wakefield Road, Pontefract, South Yorkshire WF7 7AB

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Inspector

Ali Owens, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 1232171 11 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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