Leeds children's home is '˜inadequate'

The home, the name and location of which is not revealed, was rated inadequate after inspectors found it did not help or protect young people and had ineffective managers during a visit last month.

The facility, run by Leeds City Council, had been rated ‘good’ in two previous visits in 2016 and 2017, but failed to meet even compulsory requirements in the visit on June 6 and 7.

The report said: “The young people are subject to physical and emotional harm and lived in an unpredictable environment. This results in violent and chaotic episodes that staff cannot control.”

The inspectors found shards of glass and metal poles in the garden and said the children posed a significant risk to each other. Five broken windows, holes in the roof and incidents where children climbed on to the conservatory were also flagged up in the report.

Self-harm was a known risk in the home, but workers had not been trained to tackle this.

Staff spent more time trying to manage behaviour than addressing the issues at the care home, which meant aspirations for the children was low.

School attendance was deemed poor, but Ofstead found the staff had tried to counter this.

Steve Walker, director of children and families at Leeds City Council, said:“We want the very best for all our children and young people especially those in local authority care and take the feedback received from Ofsted about one of our residential children’s homes very seriously.”

He said the council have taken immediate steps to address the issues and have delivered on the requirements set out in the compliance notices.