Care home failed to protect child, says Ofsted

A secure children's care home in a city failed to protect a child from serious risk of harm, a regulator said.

Clare Lodge in Peterborough, the UK's only all-female secure home for children, was deemed inadequate by Ofsted after an inspection in February.

Inspectors raised concerns over an incident in which emergency services were called to attend to one of the home's six children.

Katy Cole, Peterborough City Council's cabinet member for children's services, said the authority, which owns the home, "accepts responsibility for the concerns raised".

Clare Lodge was previously rated as requires improvement by Ofsted following inspections in 2024 and 2025.

"Care managers and care staff failed to follow a child's risk plan and advice from health professionals and failed to intervene to protect and safeguard a child from serious risk of harm," the most recent Ofsted report said.

"As a result, this child required urgent medical support from emergency services."

The report said "some documents contain language that is child-blaming", which was "unhelpful and does not reflect a child-centred approach".

In a separate incident, social care leaders and care managers "failed to demonstrate professional curiosity when a child was clearly struggling" despite the advice of onsite health professionals, it added.

The report continued that staff "have not been consistently sensitive to a child's preferences in the use of pronouns" which means children "do not feel valued or respected".

It added that Clare Lodge had three different centre managers since February 2025 and, at the time of writing the report, it did not have centre manager registered with regulators.

Cole said: "We are taking Ofsted's feedback extremely seriously, and steps are already being taken to make the necessary improvements to the facility.

"We remain dedicated to further developing Clare Lodge and delivering a high standard of care for the vulnerable young girls who reside there, ensuring they are supported, protected, and given a voice.

"I am committed to ensuring that every child in this city is treated with the respect and care that I would want for my own children."

The report said that a new intervention team had recently been introduced, which had helped Clare Lodge increase the range of activities on offer and helped children offer feedback on their own care.

The children were also "accessing the community more frequently, preparing them for the future".

One child had made "measurable progress" thanks to support from the health team and care staff, it said.

Ofsted said the home must make improvements by 23 March.

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