A HARLOW children’s home has been told by Ofsted that it must improve.

The government inspectors visited the home last month and have published their report.

Details of the home have not been published but the nature of the report begs a number of questions.

The report states:

The children’s home provision is requires improvement because:

The interior of the property is not decorated or maintained to a high enough standard to provide a homely environment.
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Communal rooms are locked during the daytime and late evening. Rooms have also been locked as a sanction.
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Care plans are not sufficiently personalised and do not contain targets specific to individual young people.
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Risk assessments are not comprehensive or sufficiently personalised. Some key areas of risk have not been highlighted.
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Staff have accepted placements where insufficient information is available to assess whether they are able to respond effectively to the young person’s needs.
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Staff have not notified Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) of a significant incident when a young person went missing from their care.
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Complaints are not always recognised as such and as a consequence are not logged, investigated and reported on.
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Confidential case records are not always stored securely.
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Poor staff performance is not always addressed in a timely manner.
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The registered manager’s quality of care review does not state what actions will be taken to improve any identified shortfalls.