'Safer culture developing' at children's home

A safer culture is starting to develop at a children offender's unit after staff were previously criticised by Ofsted for using an "unlawful painful" restraint.

Inspectors carried out a monitoring visit at Vinney Green secure unit near Bristol in November, after concluding the home still required improvements in July.

They found safeguarding issues are being addressed after Ofsted previously found children were put into solitary confinement for up to three days.

The report said: "A more positive safeguarding culture is starting to develop."

South Gloucestershire Council, which runs the home in Emerson's Green, said it was pleased inspectors found progress in all areas previously highlighted as requiring improvement.

"We were also particularly pleased to read in the report that the children said that they enjoy living in the home, feel safe and have no concerns about the care and support they receive from staff," a council spokesperson added.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the home accommodates up to 24 young people aged 10 to 18.

Ofsted's report said: "The manager and leadership team have devised an action plan to address shortfalls that have been identified following safeguarding allegations and concerns.

"Some records of allegations lacked detail and actions were not clear.

"The improvements in this plan and overall safeguarding of the home requires time to become fully embedded."

Ofsted gave the unit the lowest possible rating in 2022 for "repeated failures" over several years, and said there were "significant concerns about children's care, safety and wellbeing".

Inspectors found that five children suffered pain out of 20 recorded incidents where staff used a technique called the "finger and thumb hold" between April 2021 and March 2022.

They also ruled that physical restraint was used "unlawfully" to get young inmates to comply with requests.

In April 2023, the regulator said the situation had improved, with children praising staff and the unit being awarded a "good" rating. But by April 2024, the service was downgraded to "requires improvement" by inspectors.

Its latest report has now praised staff for implementing a plan to address previous concerns, however, it said this will take time to have a full impact.

The monitoring visit was to check whether adequate steps had been taken over the previous concerns, so did not include an updated rating.

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