Another Bradford Council children’s home has been rated Inadequate.

The home, which is run by the local authority, was visited by Ofsted on October 27 and 28.

It received the lowest rating possible, after being downgraded from Requires Improvement To Be Good, which the setting received last November.

Just last month, the education watchdog – which inspects children’s services as well as traditional schools, nurseries, childminders and after-school clubs – rated another Bradford Council-run children’s home as Inadequate.

This latest failure comes at a setting that can cater for one child who may have social and/or emotional difficulties, providing emergency, short-term or medium care for them.

At the time of the inspection, it housed one child with complex emotional health needs.

The inspector found there were “serious failures” in safeguarding practice and that the provider failed to have sufficient managerial oversight of staffing arrangements and the use of restraint practice.

The report said: “This could have resulted in the child being significantly harmed.”

Restraint and holding the child for staff’s own safety happens frequently at the home.

Agency staff are trained to use advanced techniques with the child but the provider’s own staff and managers have knowledge of a different model of physical intervention.

It means the child does not have a consistent response.

The quality of records relating to these holds is also “extremely poor”.

This includes information missing about what led to restraint being used and how long the child was held for.

The inspector found that the vetting of agency workers has been ineffective and some staff had been deemed as suitable to work with children without their history being fully evaluated or risk assessed.

The children’s home is now taking action to rectify this, according to the report.

Staff work with police when the child goes missing, to reduce their associated risks and help them return, and there has also been a reduction in the frequency and intensity of behavioural issues for the child.

The report states: “Improvement in the child’s routine, high levels of staff supervision, and a more consistent language used by staff when communicating with the child have helped to reduce the likelihood of the child feeling emotional dysregulation.”

Picklu Roychoudhury, Assistant Director for Improvement at Bradford Council’s Children’s Services, said: “We took swift action to address the issues raised by Ofsted.

“As soon as we received our feedback we drew up an action plan and those actions have already been carried out.

“We will continue to work with Ofsted to make sure that the home is a warm, safe and supporting place for children that delivers high-quality care.”