Children’s home run by Rochdale Council failed to protect youngsters at risk of sexual exploitation or ‘effectively monitor’ their whereabouts and activities

A children’s home run by Rochdale Council failed to protect youngsters at risk of sexual exploitation or ‘effectively monitor’ their whereabouts and activities, a damning new report has found.

Ofsted has rated the home – which cannot be named – as ‘inadequate’, having previously ordered it to improve following an inspection in February. The council says ‘swift and decisive’ action has now been taken and an updated report, which will reflect this, is imminent.

However, the current report – based on a two-day visit in June – details ‘serious failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded’.

The care and experiences of children and young people were said to be ‘poor’ and they were ‘not found to be making progress’.

Among the most serious findings is that staff had ‘not addressed the risks to children who are at risk of child sexual exploitation’.

“Following an incident during the night that involved two children, risk assessments have not been updated,” the report adds. “There was no plan as to how staff would prevent recurrence of incidents in the future.”

Nighttime arrangements to reduce risks to children were also described as ‘weak’.

“Staff rely on hearing the children move about at night to alert them to children being out of their rooms,” inspectors noted. “This is not effective.”

Moreover, officials found ‘no evidence’ of any plans showing staff were ‘working with children to reduce effectively their involvement in criminality and exploitation’

The report continues: “There are currently no attempts to monitor their phone and internet use or to carry out visual checks on them when they are out of the home. Staff do not have measures in place to assure themselves of children’s whereabouts, including when they are at risk of being criminally exploited. “

Since the home was last inspected, there have also been a significant number of incidents of children going missing from home.

The manager and staff acknowledged ‘their repeated inability’ to effectively monitor children’s activities and whereabouts outside of the home, adding that they were ‘at a loss’ to positively influence them or counteract the negative role models they identified with.

“Beyond phone calls or texts to children, staff do not have a system for assuring themselves that children are safe,” the report notes.

Records did not clearly identify staff actions in response to incidents of children going missing from home, with officials noting that ‘this does not assure managers that staff are working in a way that safeguards children’.

Leadership at the home was also found to be badly wanting.

The report details how two strategy meetings were held in respect of one child but the manager was ‘not clear’ as to whether the ‘required action’ had been taken. The youngster has since been implicated in further criminal activities.

In a scathing rundown of failures, inspectors noted that ‘the manager does not inspire or lead a culture in the home that ensures that staff are effective in their work’, adding that shortfalls in the quality of care ‘have a negative effect on children’s welfare and progress’.

The report continues: “The manager has not ensured that staff develop meaningful, measurable and effective plans to effect positive change for children. The manager has failed to ensure that staff plan and review their work to meet children’s needs.”

In further criticism, the manager was found to have ‘not robustly responded to an incident of children being in each other’s rooms overnight’. This, the report said, ‘was a failure by the manager to fully appreciate the risks to children and ensure that staff responded in a proactive way’.

A spokesperson for Rochdale council said the authority was committed to providing excellent services for young people in our care, ‘no matter the challenges’ and was ‘working steadfastly to ensure all of our children’s homes provide the very best care to children and their families’.

“We are extremely disappointed with this inspection, the service was not good enough,” they said. “Swift and decisive action has already been taken to strengthen the plans for the young people living in the home, supporting staff with the improvements required and working very closely with Ofsted on improving the service.

“We are continuing to temporarily suspend admissions while we carry out our improvement plan. Since the inspection, the actions we have taken in response have been subject to a monitoring visit by Ofsted.

“That visit concluded that we have made progress regarding the safeguarding shortfalls identified and we have met the required actions.”

Ofsted has told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that an updated report will be published ‘at some point next week’. However, as this is a monitoring report, it will not change the overall rating.

Nick Statham, Local Democracy Reporter