Children's Home run by PALS Residential Services in Liverpool

Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 1 Registered provider: PALS Residential Services 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 managed by a private provider. It provides care for up to 3 children who may experience social and emotional difficulties, and who may have learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager registered with Ofsted in July 2021.

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Information about this children’s home

At the time of this inspection, 3 children were living at the home and the inspector spoke with all 3 children.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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Overall experiences and progress of

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Overall experiences and progress of

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/08/2025 Full Good 06/08/2024 Full Good 06/09/2023 Full Good 03/01/2023 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 3

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Summary of findings

One child is still living at the home since the last inspection, and 2 children have moved in. The manager’s careful planning means that children are prepared for moving into the home and settle quickly. Children are tolerant of each other and learn to live together.

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Summary of findings

The home is well presented and children live in a calm environment. The manager and staff advocate strongly for the children, ensuring they benefit from attending the education provision that best meets their needs. This has allowed children to sit important exams, which has helped them secure places at their preferred colleges. Children also learn to develop independent living skills to prepare them for their next move.

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Summary of findings

There are plans for the registered manager to change roles to become the responsible individual. However, the recruitment of a new manager ensures that the children and staff will receive a smooth transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience well-planned moves into the home, even when a child needed to move in in an emergency. The manager completes detailed assessments to consider the new child’s needs and what impact they will have on the child or children already living at the home. The manager also ensures that staff have the skills to safely care for all children. As a result of the planning, children settle quickly and live harmoniously together.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make progress after moving into the home. The manager and staff recognise the importance of education and advocate on behalf of the children to get the best education provision for their needs and interests. Children sit exams and for two of them they have secured college placements. When one child has struggled to engage with a home tutor, staff have persisted, but this has not resulted in the child attending any formal education for several months.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All three children have experienced trauma in their lives, which has affected their emotional wellbeing. Staff are caring and nurturing and provide consistent care and boundaries. Children respond well to this and have developed good relationships with staff. This has helped to ensure that staff recognise when children are feeling upset so that they can stop any situations escalating.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise the children’s different cultural and religious needs. They are also open to learning firsthand from the children themselves. When needed, staff will also challenge and educate children to help them be more tolerant of others’ religions and backgrounds. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 4 Children have access to a range of activities and new opportunities. Staff are good at working with children to recognise their potential. This includes two children having football and basketball trials, which has resulted in them obtaining places on football and basketball teams.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are all developing their independence skills. This includes children being responsible for menu planning, purchasing food and preparing meals, with staff support when needed. This is preparing them for when they move to their next homes.

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

Staff know the children’s risks and vulnerabilities well, which are carefully outlined in their individual risk assessments. Staff have discussions with children about these risks to try and educate them about how to keep themselves safe. Furthermore, when children need additional support to help them deal with difficult emotions, they speak to the in-house therapist. For one child, they are beginning to engage with the therapist, which has allowed the child to discuss their past experiences.

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

Children have good routines, and because of the good relationships developed with staff, children do not exhibit behaviours that need staff to physically intervene. There are very few safeguarding incidents. Furthermore, children do not go missing from the home, and the last time a child was late returning home was six months ago.

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

Staff are intuitive and know when there are subtle changes in a child’s behaviour or normal routines. This means that staff can intervene quickly, if needed, to safeguard and protect children from harm. The use of external services also provides additional support to children.

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

Staff have regular discussions with children about sensitive topics related to their needs at the time. Children are aware of the expectations related to their ages and vulnerabilities; however, staff allow children to take age-appropriate risks. Staff recognise that children need to develop resilience as they move towards independent living.

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

When the manager identifies that the staff team is unable to keep a child safe, particularly in the community, then he makes timely decisions. This ensures that the child moves to a more appropriate home in a planned way.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager is enthusiastic about making sure that staff fully support children to meet their needs and for the children to have good experiences. He is supported by an equally enthusiastic deputy manager, and they work well together. Both have high expectations of the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The registered manager will be taking on the role of responsible individual for the home, so has applied to voluntarily cancel his registration as manager. The registered manager Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 5 is keen to ensure that there is a smooth handover for children and staff, so a new manager has been appointed and is currently working alongside the current manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

A strength of the managers is that they are strong advocates for the children. This includes ensuring that children who use independent advocates or solicitors have their views represented. When needed, the manager also challenges the placing authority about the children’s care planning, or if they are not fulfilling their statutory duties. One child has begun to attend their reviews for the first time to ensure that their views are heard and listened to by the placing authority.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Children benefit from a consistent staff team. A further strength of this home is that it replicates a family home, and the staff team consists of staff members who are good strong role models for children. Managers get to know the children well, allowing them to recruit new staff who fulfil specific, targeted roles in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The managers are very meticulous in respect of their monitoring and auditing of the staff’s practice. This is to ensure that they are fully aware of the events of the home and to reward staff or challenge them if staff’s standards fall short of their expectations. Staff’s recording is detailed and accurate. Although children have access to their files, some plans are not written in a way that is child focused or useful for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff said they are well supported by managers, and managers have an open-door approach. Staff receive regular and reflective supervision and team meetings where the children are always discussed. Staff all speak positively about working at the home and said that this replicates a family home. Staff said that they want children to have the best opportunities and experiences while they are living at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

All requirements and the one recommendation were met from the last inspection. Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 6

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Recommendations

 The registered provider must ensure that staff record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third- party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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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: 2634272 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PALS Residential Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 119 Asser Road, Liverpool L11 8NL

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Children’s home details

Registered managers: William Sergeson Kristopher Maloney

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Inspector

Tina Ruffles, Social Care Inspector Inspection report for children’s home: 2634272 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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