Children's Home run by Time-Out Children’s Homes Limited in Calderdale

SC069293 Unique reference number 16 August 2010 Inspection date Steve Pearson Inspector Random Type of Inspection

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28 January 2010 Date of last inspection .

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This document may be reproduced in whole or in part for non-commercial educational purposes, provided that the information quoted is reproduced without adaptation and the source and date of publication are stated.

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You can obtain copies of The Children Act 2004, Every Child Matters and The National Minimum Standards for Children's Services from: The Stationery Office (TSO) PO Box 29, St Cripins, Duke Street, Norwich, NR3 1GN. Tel: 0870 600 5522. Online ordering: www.tso.co.uk/bookshop

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About this inspection

The purpose of this inspection is to assure children and young people, parents, the public, local authorities and government of the quality and standard of the service provided. The inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. This report details the main strengths and any areas for improvement identified during the inspection. The judgements included in the report are made in relation to the outcome for children set out in the Children Act 2004 and relevant National Minimum Standards for the establishment.

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The inspection judgements and what they mean

this aspect of the provision is of exceptionally high quality Outstanding: this aspect of the provision is strong Good: this aspect of the provision is sound Satisfactory: this aspect of the provision is not good enough Inadequate: 3 of 7 Inspection Report: SC069293

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Brief description of the service

The children's home provides care and accommodation for up to two young people of either gender from 11 years to 17 years of age.

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Brief description of the service

The house is a modern, detached property and has four bedrooms. There are two bedrooms designated for young people and one of these bedrooms has en suite shower and toilet facilities. Of the two remaining bedrooms, staff that sleep-in use one and one has been turned into the staff office. There is a bathroom on the first floor, with a lounge, separate dining room and kitchen on the ground floor. The house has an enclosed garden at the rear and a small garden plot at the front. It is in a residential area of a small town. There is easy access to public transport, leisure and other facilities.

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Brief description of the service

Two young people were living at the children's home at the time of the inspection. The young people spoke to the inspector about how they are cared for.

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Summary

This was an unannounced, interim inspection. It assessed the key national minimum standards (NMS) associated with how young people are enabled to stay safe. The inspection also assessed whether the registered persons had met the requirement and two recommendations made at the previous inspection on 28 January 2010. These were about the cleanliness of the home, the child protection policies and procedures and risk assessments.

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Summary

As this was an interim inspection, all of the key national minimum standards were not assessed. Consequently there was not enough evidence to assess or amend the overall outcome judgement made at the previous full inspection.

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Summary

The acting manager and staff care for young people safely. Young people's need for privacy is promoted appropriately. Young people are fully supported to raise concerns informally and formally and the staff fully understand how to respond to any allegations, suspicions or evidence of abuse. Although there is no bullying in the home, risk assessments of young people bullying and being bullied are not available. Assessments of the risk of other hazards which may affect young people are also weaker because they do not readily identify all the necessary information.

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Summary

The acting manager and staff are effective at promoting positive behaviour. The house is maintained in a safe condition and the recruitment procedures are clear and effective.

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Summary

The registered persons have failed to inform Ofsted about changes in the management arrangements of the home. This made it more difficult for Ofsted to be assured the home was being managed appropriately. Additionally, not all the necessary records are being maintained in the home. The overall quality rating is good. This is an overview of what the inspector found during the inspection.

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Improvements since the last inspection

The outside of the home is now clean and tidy and there is no longer any evidence of cigarette butts littering the ground. In addition, the child protection policies and procedures are now 4 of 7 Inspection Report: SC069293 more robust because the Local Safeguarding Children Board has assessed them and made comments about them.

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Improvements since the last inspection

Risk assessments of the hazards which may affect young people do not clarify the likelihood or severity of such hazards. This means they are not as informative as they should be and so a recommendation made at the previous inspection has been repeated.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The provision is good. The manager and staff care for young people safely. Young people receive the privacy they need and the staff are aware of the boundaries of confidentiality. Young people are fully supported to raise concerns formally and informally. Formal complaints are recorded and responded to, in line with the national minimum standards.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The staff are fully aware of how to respond to allegations, suspicions or evidence of abuse. The acting manager has also obtained guidance from the Local Safeguarding Children Board about the content of the home's child protection procedures. The staff receive safeguarding training from people within the provider organisation and from the local authority's Children's Services department. This means the staff receive such training from people with a wide range of knowledge and experience.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Effective measures are in place to counter the risk of any bullying. For example, a young person said 'there's no bullying here, we get on well together'. However, the risk of bullying and being bullied are not specifically recorded, which means counter bullying measures are not fully robust.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Policies and procedures are in place if any young person fails to return to the children's home on time. Such occasions are recorded by the staff. However, this recording does not fully meet with the expectations of the national minimum standards. For example, the staff do not record the reason why a young person failed to return or any actions taken in response to those reasons.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The manager and staff are effective at promoting positive behaviour. They prefer to use praise and reward rather than sanctions and consequently the use of sanctions is extremely rare. No physical intervention has been used since the home opened three years ago. One young person confirmed 'we don't get sanctioned much but when we do it's fair'.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The premises are maintained in a safe condition. Professional technicians regularly service the electrical equipment, gas appliances and equipment for preventing, detecting and extinguishing fires. The staff conduct fire drills at monthly intervals although they never conduct such drills when young people are expected to be asleep. There is therefore a risk that young people are not fully prepared to respond to the fire alarm at any time of the day or night.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

The acting manager and staff have assessed the risk of hazards which may affect young people. However these assessments do not clarify the likelihood and seriousness of these hazards. The 5 of 7 Inspection Report: SC069293 assessments are also unclear about who is responsible for implementing any further actions. Consequently such assessments are not as useful as they could be.

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Protecting children from harm or neglect and helping them stay safe

Clear and robust arrangements are in place to ensure that any people who are recruited to work at the children's home are suitable.

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Organisation

The organisation is good. The Registered Manager is no longer in day-to-day control of the children's home. However, the registered persons did not inform Ofsted about this change in management arrangements or about the new arrangements that were put in place. This is a breach of legislation, which made it more difficult for Ofsted to be assured that the children's home was being managed appropriately.

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Organisation

Important information is also not being maintained in the children's home. Specifically, the home is not maintaining a staff register. This means that, should it ever be necessary, it is difficult to readily obtain information about staff who have worked in the home. Additionally, the staffing roster does not record the start and finish times of the staff and acting manager. Consequently it is harder to assess the actual hours worked by staff at the home.

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Organisation

The inspection did not assess the other national minimum standards associated with the organisation of the home. Consequently the rating for organisation remains the same as it was at the previous inspection.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions, which must be taken so that the registered person meets the Care Standards Act 2000, The Childrens Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The Registered Provider must comply with the given timescales.

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Due date Action Standard

1 September 2010 inform Ofsted without delay of the matters in this regulation relevant to the departure of the Registered Manager (Regulations 7-(2)(a)(b) & 38 (b)) 1 September 2010 maintain in the children's home those records required by legislation. In particular this relates to a staff register and a roster of the day-to-day hours actually worked by the acting 6 of 7 Inspection Report: SC069293 manager and the staff in the home. (Regulation 29 (1), Schedule 4 (2),(11))

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the registered person should take account of the following recommendation(s): • revise risk assessments to include a measure of likelihood and severity when assessing the risks of hazards to young people and clarify in the action plans those who will be responsible for reducing the risks further (NMS 26) • ensure that, if a young person goes missing, the staff ask and record the reason why and ensure any actions taken in response to this reason are also recorded (NMS 19) • conduct a risk assessment for the likelihood of each young person bullying and being bullied (NMS 18) • conduct occasional fire drills at night. (NMS 26.8) 7 of 7 Inspection Report: SC069293

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