The home was closed amid concerns about the care
Ampika Pickston(Image: Instagram: ampikapickston1)
A children’s home run by a TV star has closed following concerns about the care.
Moss Farm Children’s Home was run by Real Housewives of Cheshire star Ampika Pickston and her company AP Care Homes Limited, and was ordered to close permanently.
The care home in Altrincham had previously been closed but an appeal was lodged to allow it to continue to be registered, however a judge has now refused Ms Pickston’s appeal.
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Judge Siobahn Goodrich and a panel found at a first-tier tribunal that there was a “significant” risk of “harm to the health, well-being, and safety” of children who were staying at the home.
The report into the home included an instance where a child had been “missing from the home” and had then “made an allegation of sexual assault”.
It added: “The action taken in response to this to safeguard the child was unclear and undocumented.”
Following the findings of the report, the panel decided that the care home “no longer be authorised to carry on the regulated activity”.
The home had registered with Ofsted in June 2023, and was set up “to provide care and accommodation for up to four children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties”.
Inspectors also found evidence of a large turnover of managers at the home, who reportedly raised concerns with Ms Pickston over policies.
Ofsted also reported a “problematic approach to staff” from Ms Pickston.
The agency said that this had “overruled management decisions and demanded statements in support of her wild and unanchored views regarding views regarding Ofsted”.
In the damning report, it was detailed how “the the Home’s arrangements for protecting children from harm were not effective” and that children were left “at continuing risk of harm”.
Despite these issues, the report nonetheless acknowledged that the home was “high end in terms of facilities”, and that “in terms of comfort the view could be easily reached that any child would be lucky to live there”.
Nonetheless, the decision was taken to refuse Ms Pickston’s appeal and revoke the home’s registration.
The report said: “In our view the risk of harm to the health, well-being and safety of children who may come to live at the Home is significant and has been amply demonstrated by objective consideration of the experiences of many of the children who have lived there.”