Reality TV star and glamour model Ampika Pickston has conceded to Ofsted that she is currently unable to keep vulnerable children safe at the care home she runs that is funded by her West Ham United owner fiancé David Sullivan, Byline Times can reveal. 

On 30 January, AP Care Homes – which is owned by Ms Pickston, who found fame on the reality show The Real Housewives of Cheshire from 2015 to 2017 – was restricted by the watchdog from caring for children until 22 April.

It was the second time in three months that the company’s sole home had been shut by Ofsted, which found that children had “suffered harm, due to serious and widespread safeguarding failures”.

This led Ms Pickston to launch legal proceedings against the body, claiming its findings were “dishonest” and “subconsciously” biased due to her celebrity profile.

Following its latest closure, the company contacted Ofsted – which inspects schools, colleges, child-minders, nurseries, and children’s homes in England – requesting a visit. It stated that it had “taken sufficient action to address the serious shortfalls” and that the restriction should be lifted. 

But, during an inspection on 6 March of the ‘luxury’ five-bedroom home in Styal, Cheshire – bought with a £1.2 million loan from Sullivan, who made his money in the adult industry – Ofsted noted that, while AP Care Homes had made attempts to rectify the “serious shortfalls”, the company had not only failed to do so but that inspectors had uncovered further regulation “breaches”.

These included concerns around “unstable” management; “poor” recruitment that placed children at risk of being looked after by adults who had not been properly vetted; “insufficient staff” to safely care for children; and the “continuity of care for children” due to a high staff turnover. 

Reporting that the facility’s employees do not “have the skills and experience to provide safe and effective care for children”, Ofsted said that the management team at AP Care Homes – of which Ms Pickston is the sole director – had accepted that the company should not be currently permitted to care for children.

An official report published on 16 April stated: “Prior to this latest monitoring visit, the provider [AP Care Homes Ltd] contacted Ofsted to report that they had taken sufficient action to address the serious shortfalls and that the grounds for restriction no longer applied. 

“Inspectors were not satisfied that the provider had taken sufficient action to address the failings that led to the restriction notice being issued. Previous requirements are restated. 

“Ofsted has raised additional requirements due to further breaches in regulation identified at this visit.  The management team accepted the failings and stated that they do not believe that the restriction notice should be lifted. The restriction remains in place.”

Ms Pickston opened AP Care Homes on 27 July last year and has overseen a chaotic eight months in charge. 

Since the company’s registration with Ofsted, there have been three responsible individuals and three managers, only one of whom was registered. Ofsted reported that there had been no registered manager in post since 13 September.

The current manager had, the watchdog said, submitted an application to register on three occasions, all of which had been returned as they were “not complete”.

These management issues have meant that Ms Pickston had, at times last year, been acting as the de facto manager, despite her not having “the skills and experience to operate a home in line with children’s homes regulations”. Ms Pickston had at one point allegedly “blurred professional boundaries” by taking a child back to her house.

Since Ofsted’s last visit on 30 January, the watchdog found that two members of staff had left and been replaced; while 14 employees had left the home since it first opened, which “raises concerns about the continuity of care for children”. 

It stated that two independent monitoring reports conducted in February had been submitted to the body, which identified “concerns [around] safer recruitment processes, inadequate recording in physical intervention records and poor risk management practices”. 

However, Ofsted found that managers had not used the information from the independent scrutiny of the home to “ensure improvement of practice in these key areas”. The company had also “failed to consider the way in which they appointed the independent person, to ensure impartiality”, as per the regulations. 

Ofsted found that records of supervision practice did not demonstrate that managers provided all staff members with the correct supervision to improve the quality of care for children. 

For example, it found that two new staff members’ supervision records were duplicated, with only the name changed, which “does not show that staff have individual time to talk about the care of children and the support systems in place [and is] a missed opportunity for new staff to discuss their learning and support needs”.

Since it most recently placed a restriction on AP Care Homes’ care for children on 30 January, Ofsted stated that the company had attempted to take steps to improve. 

It noted the manager had submitted a “review of quality of care report”, which is intended to focus on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there, and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children.

However, Ofsted said the report “did not focus on the experiences of children living in the home and the impact the care was having on outcomes and improvements for the children”, and that the manager had not “sought the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities or staff” when compiling the report.

Katharine Sacks-Jones, CEO of children’s care charity Become, told Byline Times: “Reports of safeguarding failures in a home for some of our most vulnerable children are deeply concerning. The most important voices to listen to are those of children themselves. 

“They are the experts in their own lives and their voices must be at the heart of the care system.  Above all, we must make sure that every child in care gets the love, support and stability they need.”

Managers at Ms Pickston's home had also taken action to introduce documentation, but had “not considered how these documents would enable them to monitor and review care practices to improve the quality and safety of care provided to children”. 

Although staff had attended training, Ofsted added that managers had not used their internal systems to evaluate the effectiveness of the training to improve the home’s practices.  This meant that “opportunities had been missed” to ensure staff members knew how to report allegations, follow safeguarding procedures, and properly record physical interventions.

AP Care Homes’ management accepted this “continued shortfall”.

The watchdog said the company had taken action to report allegations made by a child to the local authority designated officer (LADO), who requested that the home’s responsible individual conduct an investigation into the allegations. But, despite the LADO providing direct guidance and support to the responsible individual and the manager, Ofsted found the company had failed to do so. 

The restriction notice will remain in place until 22 April, when Ofsted will undertake a further monitoring visit.

AP Care Homes and Ms Pickston – who previously sold content of an adult nature on OnlyFans – have been contacted for comment.

There is no suggestion that David Sullivan – who has an estimated £1.2 billion fortune and who owns a 38.8% majority stake in West Ham – has any involvement with AP Care Homes beyond the provision of financing.