Barnsley Council-run children’s home staff ‘allowed child access to lighters’ even after incident of attempted arson

A damning report by Ofsted found that leaders and the acting manager at the home “failed to report incidents considered serious,” and managers and staff have “failed to respond to complaints made by children.”

The home provides care for up to five children who may experience social and/or emotional difficulties, and four children were living there when the inspection took place in July.

Other children will not be admitted to the home, which cannot be named, until the “provider improves the experiences of children.”

The report adds that the home has been without a registered manager since 15 June 2021, and an acting manager has been in place.

A permanent manager was appointed on July 7, but the report states that the senior leaders and managers “have not had management oversight of thehome,” which has led to “widespread failings”.

Inspectors also found that “children who misuse substances do not access services for support,” which “prevents children from receiving help to develop a healthy lifestyle”.

Staff were also found to have “failed to meet children’s behavioural and emotional needs”, and that managers “failed to ensure that children are adequately supervised at night to prevent them from leaving the home”.

“Staff have made unhelpful decisions, such as allowing a child access to lighters when there has been an incident of attempted arson.

“Managers have failed to ensure that the use of restraint is necessary and proportionate.

“In one case, records show inconsistent information about how a child was held. It is unclear if the child was held by the wrist or if they were lowered to the floor”.

The home was previously judged inadequate by Ofsted a previous inspection in July 2021, and was issued two compliance notices.

A monitering visit in September 2021 found that the provider had “demonstrated sufficient improvement to meet the compliance notices”.

Councillor Trevor Cave, cabinet spokesperson for children’s services at BMBC said the findings are “unacceptable and disappointing.”

“We want young people in our care to feel safe and have opportunities to live fulfilling lives. This is our priority,” said Coun Cave.

“A second Inadequate Ofsted judgement is both unacceptable and disappointing.

“Significant improvements have been made at the home, but conditions for maintaining and building on this haven’t been in place.

“This includes the national issues of recruitment and retention for the health and social care sector.

“The action plan focuses on making sure that the home is a good place for young people to live in the future. We’ll have a structure in place to, wherever possible, make sure that this does not happen again.

“The young people and their families have received a letter from the inspector, and we continue to be in regular contact with them.

“We’ll track performance with review meetings and cabinet member briefings, as well as undertaking unannounced visits to the home.

“We’ll provide assurance reports to cabinet and the senior management team on all looked after children and care leavers in Barnsley.”