'Widespread failures' at Portsmouth City Council children's home

Ofsted said it found "serious and widespread failures" at the council-run home

Staff at a children's home missed opportunities to prevent "serious and widespread failures", a report found.

Inspectors rated the Portsmouth City Council-run home as inadequate and said some children "have not been kept safe" after they visited in April.

An Ofsted report said a child was at risk of abuse from children who stayed undetected in their room overnight.

The council said it was "extremely disappointed" with the report but an improvement plan has been implemented.

The home, which is one of three run by the authority, provides accommodation for up to three children aged between eight to 18. The other two homes were rated good by Ofsted at their last inspections.

Inspectors said staff did not "thoroughly explore concerns raised by a child" about children presenting a risk to each other, and "missed opportunities to prevent harm from happening and reoccurring".

'Fear of confrontation'

Ofsted said: "On at least two occasions, a child has been at risk of abuse and exploitation by children from outside the home who stayed undetected in the child's room overnight.

"Staff did not act to prevent this, even though there was reasonable cause to suspect that there was a risk.

"The lack of supervision of children and the low levels of professional curiosity mean that some children have not been kept safe."

It found staff, though they "formed strong bonds with children", were "reluctant to challenge or to intervene or protect children for fear of confrontation".

Sarah Daly, council director of children, families and education, said: "As soon as we were told of the provisional inadequate judgement we took immediate action and put an improvement plan in place to address the issues identified.

"We hope that when the home is re-inspected Ofsted will agree that changes have been made to prevent similar issues ever happening again."

The report found staff were later "much clearer on their roles and responsibilities" in protecting children and how to supervise and support them in the home.