Children's Home run by Serenity Specialist Care Ltd in Birmingham

Unique reference number SC471672 Inspector Rebecca Quested Type of inspection Interim Provision subtype Children's home

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Registered person Serenity Specialist Care Limited Registered person address 82-86 Reynoldstown Road Bromford Birmingham West Midlands B36 8UG Responsible individual Naveed Ahmed Registered manager POST VACANT Date of last inspection 15/10/2014 2 of 8 Inspection date 16/12/2014

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Previous inspection inadequate Enforcement action since last inspection A restriction notice was made for six weeks. Five compliance notices were served.

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This inspection

This home was judged inadequate at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection the home was ‘not judged’ .

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This inspection

The home has not provided accommodation to children and young people since the last inspection in October 2014. No overall judgement about quality or progress is therefore made. The inspection focused on whether the children’s home is meeting its statutory requirements in order to maintain its registration. Inspectors found that a number of requirements remain unmet and/or were not able to be tested because no children are being cared for. A number of new requirements are raised and an additional condition of registration has been accepted by the provider. This states that three months’ notice is required before a new child’s placement may commence.

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This inspection

The home was inspected for the first time on 14 and 15 October 2014. As a result of serious concerns about care and practice the home was made the subject of a restriction notice, five compliance notices and 25 requirements. The date for action to be taken in respect of the compliance notices and the requirements was 14 December 2014.

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This inspection

This inspection took place on 15 and16 December 2014. The Registered Manager’s post is now vacant, therefore the Responsible Individuals were present throughout the inspection. The restriction notice has been lifted and there are currently no children living in the home. The five compliance notices related to: ensuring the proper safeguarding and welfare of children; running the home with sufficient care, competence and skill; reviewing and improving the care provided; and the fitness of the staff employed in the home. There has been some progress in meeting these. However, without a Registered Manager in post and no children living in the home, it is not possible to adequately test the effectiveness of the actions taken. 3 of 8 The Responsible Individual ensures that an independent person visits the home and provides a report to Ofsted. The reports are detailed and of good quality; they recommend actions which the home must consider. However, leaders and managers

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This inspection

do not respond in a timely way to the actions recommended, despite the independent visitor reminding them to do this. From October to November 2014 all of the independent visitor’s recommended actions remain unmet. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that there is compliance with regulatory requirements and to improve the quality of the home.

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This inspection

The Responsible Individual ensures that there is monitoring of the quality of care provided in the home at least every three months. The monitoring report is sent to Ofsted. However, in monitoring the care provided there is no evidence of consultation with young people, their parents or placing authorities. Currently there are no children within the home to consult and the Responsible Individual is unable to consult with those that have recently left the home due to ongoing investigations by the Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) and the police. The review of care also contains some factual inaccuracies. This reduces the opportunity to improve the care provided through the exercise of review. For example, the Registered Manager identified that there had been no complaints in the period under review. There had been complaints which are subject to LADO and police investigation. Furthermore, the Responsible Individual did not scrutinise this report before the Registered

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This inspection

Manager sent it to Ofsted. This is despite knowledge of the Registered Manager’s shortcomings following the inspection on 14 and 15 October 2014.

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This inspection

The Registered Manager resigned from post at the end of November 2014 and Ofsted accepted the resignation. However, the Registered Manager remained in post for some six weeks following the inadequate inspection judgement. He continued to undertake managerial functions including the completion and submission of the quarterly review of the quality of care provided by the home. This meant that the home continued to function without sufficient care, competence and skilled leadership for that period. The Responsible Individual has now developed an action plan to address the shortfalls in the home. For example, improved recruitment processes, improved supervision systems and the use of a consultant to advise and assist in the development of the home. This suggests that the home may continue to operate with sufficient care, competence and skill in future, but it cannot be tested at present.

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This inspection

There remain serious concerns regarding the people recruited to work in the home. Staff are working at the ‘sister’ home because there are no children living here. The staff records do not include full and satisfactory information, for example, written references from the person’s most recent employer. The Responsible Individual is developing safer recruitment processes which will help prevent unsuitable people from being recruited, but this cannot be tested at present.

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This inspection

It is not possible to evaluate whether the home is being managed in a way that will promote children’s welfare and to make proper provision for the safeguarding of 4 of 8 children because there are no children living here. The Responsible Individual is instigating training to ensure staff understand safeguarding and are able to safely manage behaviour and physically intervene, if necessary. He is also considering changing the shift pattern and improving recruitment standards to ensure that children receive more consistent and skilled care.

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This inspection

Of the other 25 regulatory breaches identified at the last inspection there are two which are not yet met. Five new requirements are raised, one of which is a compliance notice. There has been some progress made in meeting regulatory requirements. The home now ensures the privacy and dignity of children in the home as blinds cover the bathroom windows. The home is operating a disciplinary procedure which allows for the suspension of an employee where necessary in the interests of the safety and welfare of the children. The home has provided placing authorities with requests for information.

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This inspection

The Responsible Individual has not reviewed the Statement of Purpose and a copy has not been sent to Ofsted. This means that the matters listed in Schedule 1 are still not included in the Statement of Purpose. The Responsible Individual delegated this task to the Registered Manager despite the known shortfalls in his abilities. The Responsible Individual is reviewing systems to ensure that central registers are appropriately kept. The records are currently blank templates because there are no staff and children in the home. However, the templates developed do not cover all the areas that need to be covered. For example, the register of staff does not include the address, date of birth and sex of staff. There is also no system developed to record any storage of young people’s valuables. The recording of physical interventions has been reviewed but the new template does not provide for reviewing the effectiveness and consequences of physical interventions.

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This inspection

The Responsible Individual is not operating a system to record adequately written records of complaints and the actions taken. This means that it is not possible to respond promptly and safely to complaints or to take account of and act upon the lessons learnt from them to improve outcomes for young people. Overall, the Responsible Individual does not appear to have a comprehensive knowledge of The Children’s Homes Regulations and does not make sufficient reference to them or consider the reasoning behind them when developing systems. As a result, some of the changes implemented do not meet regulatory requirements.

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This inspection

The Responsible Individual has ensured there has been a fire risk assessment. The assessment is contradictory and unclear. For example, it says that there is no risk from young people smoking in the home and then states that there are designated smoking areas, some of which are indoors. It also describes daily checks of various items with no mechanism to record such checks. It risk-assesses situations which are not relevant to this home. As a result, the fire risk assessment is neither sufficient nor suitable for the home.

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This inspection

The Responsible Individual is working with a consultant to improve the quality of 5 of 8 care provided by the home. The Responsible Individual plans to introduce a new management structure and to include the newly appointed Registered Manager in the recruitment of a new staff team. He expresses a commitment to drive forward the quality of care provided through employing only qualified staff and reviewing the shift patterns so that they meet children’ s needs. The Responsible Individual anticipates that the home will only begin to consider admitting children and young people once new staff have been recruited and trained. As the Responsible Individual does not intend to offer placements for some time, notice will be given to Ofsted three months before a child’s placement commences. 6 of 8

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people with learning disabilities. It is owned and managed by a private provider.

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Statutory Requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person/s meets the Care Standards Act 2000, Children's Homes Regulations 2001 and the National Minimum Standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that there is full and satisfactory information available in relation to a person working at the home in respect of Schedule 2 (Regulation 26 (3)(d)) * 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

4 (2001) shall compile in relation to the children's home a written statement which shall consist of a statement as to the matters listed in Schedule 1 (Regulation 4 (1)) 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

5 (2001) notify HMCI of any review of the statement of purpose within 28 days (Regulation 5 (b)) 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

17B (2001) ensure that within 24 hours of any measure of control, restraint or discipline a written record is made in a volume kept for the purpose which shall include the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure (Regulation 17B (3)(f)) 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that a written record is made of any compliant, the action taken in response, and the outcome of the investigation (Regulation 24 (5)) 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) maintain in the children's home the records specified in Schedule 4 and ensure that they are 16/02/2015 7 of 8 kept up to date ( Regulation 29 (1))

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Reg. Requirement Due date

(2001) ensure that the requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and any regulations made under it are complied with in respect of the home (Regulation 32 (1A) (b)) 16/02/2015

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Reg. Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice Website: www.ofsted.gov.uk

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Reg. Requirement Due date

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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What inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspections we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children’s homes: framework for inspection.

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Information 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 to assess the effectiveness of the service and to consider how well it complies with the relevant regulations and meets the national minimum standards.

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Information about this inspection

The report details the main strengths, any areas for improvement, including any breaches of regulation, and any failure to meet national minimum standards. The judgements included in the report are made against the framework of inspection for children's homes.

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