OFSTED inspectors witnessed a youngster being "excessively restrained" by staff during an inspection of children's homes for young people with autism.

The homes, operated by charity Autism Wessex, have failed to improve and following an inspection last month were rated as 'inadequate' for the fourth time since October last year.

In the damning report inspectors said there were "serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected, their welfare is not safeguarded, their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress".

The report highlighted concerns about living standards for the 12 young people who live at one of the three homes either on the site of the charity’s Portfield School in Parley Lane, Christchurch, or at another elsewhere in the town.

There were also major concerns about the safety of the youngsters with inspectors witnessing what they deemed to be an "excessive restraint" of one of the children.

This incident is being investigated by safeguarding authorities.

The report also gives details about two "serious" allegations concerned with child protection which were not reported to Ofsted.

It noted that the internal investigations were of "poor quality and failed to identify evident discrepancies in the concerns".

Inspectors also noted concerns with physical interventions between staff and youngsters.

The report said: "There have been 41 physical interventions since the previous inspection in July 2016. A number of staff have been injured during these incidents.

"Records of physical intervention for one young person are inadequate, as staff do not comprehensively record what happened and how.

"This was particularly concerning as this young person was held by agency staff in a ground hold."

Since the inspection last month Autism Wessex has announced its decision to close its children's homes on December 17.

Bob Lowndes, chief executive of Autism Wessex, said: "The residential children’s service has experienced a challenging period which resulted in Ofsted deeming it to be ‘inadequate’.

"We have sought to address concerns and put the necessary measures in place to secure good and sustainable improvement.

"This has been difficult to achieve due to the current design, size and location of our children’s homes which have had an impact on staff motivation and morale, leading to high staff turnover, therefore affecting our provision of high quality service to the young people in our care.

"As a result, the Board of Trustees and I made the difficult decision to close our children’s homes at the end of this academic term.

"We have assured all parents/carers that the wellbeing of their children remains our top priority."

The charity’s other services will continue including Portfield School which was rated as Good by Ofsted at its last inspection.