A BRADFORD children’s home where missing information means staff are not safe to be working with children has dropped from Good to Inadequate.

Ofsted visited the home, which is run by Bradford Council, on October 3 and 4 this year and deemed it to be the lowest rating possible.

The setting has been registered with the education watchdog since 2018 and caters for six children with physical or learning disabilities and/or a sensory impairment but Ofsted does not provide an address.

It was rated Good in its previous inspection, last September.

This time the inspector found the children’s home was Inadequate in all three main categories – the overall experiences and progress of children and young people, how well they are helped and protected and the effectiveness of leaders and managers.

One member of staff has been working on shift at the home despite their references not being reviewed by the manager, according to the inspection report.

Recruitment records at the setting have information missing, including employment references, gaps in employment and reasons for leaving previous employment.

The report states: “This does not ensure that staff are suitable or safe to be working with children.”

The inspector also found that the manager does not ensure that the staff take effective action when there are serious concerns about a child’s welfare.

Children sustained injuries on at least one occasion while under the supervision of staff.

But managers failed to investigate safeguarding concerns arising from this.

The report states: “The managers failed to appropriately identify this poor practice and, therefore, no action was taken.

“These failures expose the children to the risk of harm."

The inspector also noticed the manager did not notify the local authority designated officer of a safeguarding incident, while there has also been an increase in medication errors.

Children at the home do not benefit from additional experiences as a result of the staffing capacity, but they do have good relationships with their key workers and the inspector witnessed laughter and positive interactions.

The report states: “It is evident that staff are in tune with the children’s individual communication needs, which helps them to respond to the children’s wishes.”

Marium Haque, Strategic Director for Children’s Services, said: “We’ve responded immediately to the issues identified by Ofsted and put in an action plan that has already been enacted.

“We will continue to work with Ofsted to ensure that the children who receive support in this home are safe and receive high quality care.

“We are committed to ensuring the home continues to take positive steps and improves rapidly.”