Children's Home run by New Horizons (Stockport) Limited in Manchester

Inadequate

There are serious widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected, their welfare is not promoted and safeguarded and young people’s care experiences are poor and they are not making progress.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 The Registered manager has not taken suitable action to address a large majority of the requirements raised at the monitoring visit on 30 April 2015.  The Registered Manager has not spent sufficient time in the home and has not demonstrated the skills required to effectively manage this home.  Managers have not been decisive in their actions and have failed to recognise and address serious concerns with regards staffing and young people’s behaviour, safety and welfare  Staff have not received appropriate support, guidance or responses from the leadership team, in particular during turbulent and challenging times.  New staff are not appropriately inducted to the home. Deployment of staff in terms of responsibility on shift does not take consideration of this. A lack of core staff and high use of relief and agency staff means that young people have not benefited from consistent levels of care and support.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Managers and staff have not been effective in keeping young people safe. Ineffective responses to escalating behaviour and increased challenging and risk taking behaviour means that the welfare of young people and staff has at times been seriously compromised.  Managers do not sufficiently challenge external agencies to ensure that they fulfil their duties, specifically in relation to child protection concerns and missing from home independent return interviews.  Young people do not receive the right levels of support to ensure their individual needs are met. Consequently, outcomes for the majority of young people are inadequate, including relationships, education, health and keeping themselves safe.  Young people have not been listened to and their views have not been considered in relation to their care or the day to day running of the home.

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The children's home strengths:

 The recent appointment of a strong, well experienced and qualified deputy manager has led to the start of positive change within the home, albeit relatively short-term. This provides a positive platform on which to build.   The responsible individual has recognised the need for change and demonstrates a commitment to building upon recent progress. She has verbalised a commitment to contining to develop the staff team and further recruit to ensure there are sufficient, suitably skilled staff to meet young people’s needs.  Changes to the staff team have brought about a period of stability in the home. This has led to young people positively engaging with staff and beginning to invest positively in their lives.   Young people recognise recent progress and speak positively about living at the home. Processes are now in place to ensure their views are gathered and responded to.

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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 (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. The registered person(s) must comply with the given timescales.

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Reg: Requirement Due date

5* the registered person must, and must ensure that staff; seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs and if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. This is with specific reference to independent return home interviews and child protection concerns (Regulation 5 (b)(c)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

11 ensure that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust, 30/06/2015 understanding about acceptable behaviour and positive responses to other children and adults (Regulation 11 (1) (a)(b)(c))

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Reg: Requirement Due date

13 ensure the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that; helps children aspire to fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare. In particular, lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. Specifically, that staff work as a team where appropriate and that the home has sufficient staff to provide continuity of care for each child (Regulation 13 1(a)(b) and (2)(a)(b)(d)(e)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

31 the registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs, in particular further reduce the need for routine use of relief and agency staff (Regulation 31 (1)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

16 the registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate revise it and notify HMCI of any revisions and send a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. This is with specific reference to ensuring the statement provides accurate details of the management and staffing structure of the home (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b) (schedule 1, paragraph 20)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

8 ensure that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so (Regulation 8 (1)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

12* ensure children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the registered person to ensure that staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. Also, ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health (Regulation 12 (1) and (2) (a)(i)(vi)(d)) 30/06/2015 33 The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction and that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience (Regulation 33 (1)(a)

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Reg: Requirement Due date

7 ensure children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives (Regulation 7 (1)(c)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

14 ensure that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home, specifically that they have a positive experience of admission and transition processes, ensuring that their needs are rigorously assessed and can be met by the home, including a sufficient number of permanent staff who are in place prior to their admission (Regulation 14 (1)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

27 the registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if there is no registered manager in respect of the home and the registered provider is not, or does not intend to be, in day to day charge of the home (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(iii)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

28 a person may only manage a children’s home if having regard to the size of the home, it’s statement of purpose, and the number and needs of the children, the person has the appropriate experience, qualifications and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of the children. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)) 30/06/2015

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Reg: Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

ensure that children are offered a wide range of activities both inside and outside of the home (where appropriate) and are encouraged to participate in those activities. Staff should support children to take part in school trips, out of school and other clubs, volunteering and leisure activities (The Guide, page 31, paragraph 6.5)

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Recommendations

ensure any member of staff placed in a supervisory role such as ‘shift leader’ has substantial relevant experience of working in a children’s home and have successfully completed their induction for the home (The Guide, page 54, paragraph 10.21)

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Recommendations

ensure there is a workforce plan which details the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and core training and details the process for managing and improving poor performance (The Guide, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

ensure any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (The Guide, page 65, paragraph 15.5).

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Information about this children's home

This is a privately run children's home. It provides care and accommodation for up to 5 children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/03/2015 CH - Interim sustained effectiveness

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inadequate

Initial signs of stability and improvement are noted since the monitoring visit on 30 April 2015. This visit was undertaken following a number of whistleblowing concerns relating the care and safety of young people. Young people, social workers and other professionals confirmed this progress, acknowledging that the home has gone through a very challenging and unsettled period. During this period staff have been reactive rather than proactive in the management of young people’s care, risks and behaviour. This lack of planning and support has limited young people’s progress and their ability to address and overcome the challenges they face in their lives. Consequently, the large majority of young people have made inadequate progress in respect of their personal goals and targets.

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inadequate

Young people have had very limited opportunity to build secure and trusting relationships with staff. This is because of the excessive demands placed on young people to engage with, and respond to, a mainly transient staff team who they do not know, and who do not fully understand their individual needs. Consequently, young people have not positively engaged with staff who have ineffectively managed their challenging and sometimes unsafe behaviour.

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inadequate

Young people have a range of educational placements available to meet their individual needs. However, attendance is extremely poor for the majority of young people who choose not to access education, despite encouragement from staff. The need to respond to challenging behaviour in the home means that staff have not engaged with education providers in order to overcome the barriers to young people accessing education. This said, some glimmers of good practice were observed during the inspection when staff successfully negotiated and compromised with one young person to get him to engage with his substance misuse worker as part of his educational timetable. However, this spontaneous approach is only effective in the short term and is not supported by well thought out plans, which encourage young people to engage in their education. As a result, young people have made inadequate academic progress.

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inadequate

Practical arrangements are in place to meet young people’s known and emerging health needs. This includes registration with routine health services as well as opportunities to engage with specialist health professionals such as alcohol and substance misuse workers and sexual health staff. Staff encourage young people to attend all health related appointments. However, young people will often choose not to attend medical appointments or engage with specialist services. This means routine health checks are not up to date and young people continue to engage in risk taking activity without fully understanding the consequences of their actions.

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inadequate

Young people do not feel that their views have been listened to when they have made reasonable requests or raised concerns. One young person spoke about how staff did not know him well enough and did not seem interested in what he had to say or what he wanted to do. Young people spoke about asking for activities and more resources in the home such as satellite TV. They spoke about feeling ignored and that they never had explanations from staff as to why their requests could not be met. This culminated in feelings of frustration, resentment and boredom which resulted in a significant decline in young people’s behaviour. Young people note that they do feel better listened to of late and that staff are starting to positively engage with them and take into account their requests. One young person said, ‘There was nothing to do so we just played up. It is better now that staff are asking us what we want to do and are sorting things out.’ All young people put this

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inadequate

down to the efforts of the new deputy manager who they feel is responsible for driving positive change in the home. However, not all young people are being given the opportunity to pursue their individual hobbies and interests although efforts are being made to address this by staff.

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inadequate

Where appropriate, young people benefit from contact with their families in their home localities. This helps to maintain their sense of family identity and belonging as well as enabling young people to repair often fragile relationships. All contact is well planned to ensure it is undertaken in line with young people’s care plans. This ensures contact is safe and as positive an experience as possible for all involved.

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inadequate

Young people are showing an increased investment in their home. Some young people are taking responsibility for ensuring their home is clean and tidy and are becoming increasingly involved in cooking meals for the group for example. Young people are encouraged to develop their independence skills such as budgeting, travelling on public transport and managing their free time, which has become better organised of late. They are beginning to benefit from this support as they develop the necessary skills and responsibility for adult life.

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inadequate

Young people live in a large, well-appointed house which is located on the outskirts of a city. The home is decorated and furnished to a high standard. Damage is quickly repaired and given the turbulent time the home has been through, it is in an exceedingly good state of repair. Staff acknowledge that the home requires some element of personalisation as currently it does not reflect the personal interests or tastes of young people living there. Work is ongoing in this area.

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inadequate

Young people’s risks and vulnerabilities are not effectively managed. Risk assessments are not robust and do not always consider known risks or set out suitable risk management strategies. When they do, agreed actions to reduce risk are not always acted upon. For example, a number of young people require one to one supervision to effectively manage their risk taking behaviour, including going missing from care. Staff are aware that young people’s whereabouts should always be known but do not always provide this level of support in accordance with their individual risk management plan. On one occasion this meant that a vulnerable young person went missing from the home and was missing for up to three and a half hours before their absence was detected. Staff are able to recognise circumstances that may compromise young people’s safety and welfare. However, they do not always take decisive action to ensure

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inadequate

young people’s welfare is not compromised. For example, when significant concerns were raised by a staff member in relation to potential self-harm hazards, no action was taken to remove these risks. This means the young person was exposed to unnecessary risk that had the potential to seriously compromise their safety and well-being.

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inadequate

There have been a number of incidents of young people going missing from home. These are generally well managed with staff searching the area and following police missing from home protocols when necessary. Staff make every effort to remain in contact with the young person via telephone and retain good links with the police. However, there is no process in place to ensure young people have the opportunity to engage with independent return interviews following their absence. This is a missed opportunity to enable young people to discuss their reasons for going missing, which may be related to issues in the home, and explore agreed strategies for reducing their missing from care episodes. The Registered Manager is aware of the responsibility of the placing authority to ensure there is a mechanism in place to provide this service. This is because it was raised as a requirement at a recent monitoring visit. However, no action has been taken to

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inadequate

improve this process which means young people are not receiving the services which they are entitled to.

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inadequate

The home has appropriate child protection policies and procedures in place. However, the manager is not always robust in her application of these policies and does not always ensure that external safeguarding agencies fulfil their responsibilities, when concerns are raised by the home. For example, a serious child protection concern was raised and reported to the Local Safeguarding Children Board, within the homes local authority. This agency failed to discharge their duties, which was not challenged by the Registered Manager. As a result, no strategy meeting had been convened at the time of this inspection, even though this incident occurred a number of weeks previously. On a positive note, appropriate action had been taken to manage the risk on a day-to-day basis within the home. However, there is a potential for young people’s welfare to be seriously compromised because no multi-agency response has been agreed.

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inadequate

The home has been extremely unsettled and young people’s behaviour has at times been extremely challenging. This is mainly as a result of staffing related issues, including a lack of core staff and high use of relief and agency staff. This means that young people have not until recently had the opportunity to establish positive relationships with the adults in the home. This, along with a lack of effective leadership and decision making has resulted in young people failing to engage positively with the homes routines and staff. Young people spoke rationally about this period and demonstrated a good understanding of what had caused their behaviour to deteriorate. They said that they did not respond well to the constant changes to staff and did not feel that they had to behave for adults whom they did not know. As a result, minor situations frequently escalated into incidents of heightened and destructive behaviour, which on occasions has placed young

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inadequate

people and staff at risk. This has resulted in an increase in police involvement, including one occasion when staff felt that unsafe that they had to lock themselves in the office until the police arrived. Although no charges were brought against young people, there is the potential for them to be criminalised because of the ineffective actions of the adults caring for them.

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inadequate

The registered manager has not taken suitable action to address six of the seven requirements raised at the monitoring visit on 30 April 2015. One requirement relating to notification of significant events, which was initially raised at the interim inspection on 17 March 2015, has been addressed.

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inadequate

There has been a lack of effective management and oversight in this home. The Registered Manager is experienced, suitably qualified and has been in post since the home was registered in January 2014. She manages another home within the organisation and is required to divide her time between the two homes. This arrangement has become increasingly untenable as both homes have gone through an extremely challenging and unsettling time. This has resulted in the manager neglecting many aspects of her duties, in particular the leadership and support of the staff team. She has not maintained a visible presence in the home and staff have not been supported in their decision making and the day to day care of young people. This has led to a lack of cohesive team working and a failure to consistently meet young people’s known and emerging needs. The impact of this lack of care and support is evident in the escalation in young people’s challenging

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inadequate

behaviour, increased risk taking behaviour and ineffective actions by staff to safely manage young people’s risks and vulnerabilities. As a result, young people have not received the appropriate care and support that consistently promotes positive outcomes and safeguards their welfare .

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inadequate

Despite her commitment to young people the Registered Manager does not have the time or skills to effectively manage two homes without compromising the care and welfare of young people. During the inspection the responsible individual confirmed that the current manager will be resigning her registration with Ofsted in order to focus her attention on the other home that she runs. An experienced and skilled deputy manager has recently been appointed to the home. Staff say she is visible and provides a good level of support to the manager and to them. Young people and staff cite numerous examples of how the home has changed for the better, albeit over a very short period of time. One young person said, ‘Things are much better now. The deputy manager makes sure we are listened to, which has led to us all behaving better.’ The young person went on to talk about how the staff had helped him to join a pool team and that because he

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inadequate

was less bored his behaviour had improved.

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inadequate

The manager has failed to respond staff concerns and effectively challenge the poor performance of some staff. This has resulted in low staff morale which has culminated in a number of staff leaving the home since the last inspection. This has undermined the stability of the staff team who have had to rely heavily on the use of relief and agency staff. This means young people, all of whom are on one to one staffing, have not been cared for by staff who have a sufficient understanding of how to meet their needs. Young people identify this as a primary cause for the deterioration of their behaviour. One young person said, ‘It is not fair when you don’t know the person who is looking after you. Why should I behave for somebody I do not know and who does not know me. It is much better now that the same people are here.’

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inadequate

A number of experienced and qualified staff have been recruited. This, combined with the appointment of a credible deputy manager, has strengthened the core staff team and led to a reduction in the use of agency staff at key times. The majority of shifts are now covered by permanent staff who are in the process of getting to know young people. This has contributed to a much more settled home. However, agency staff continue to be used to cover the significant majority of waking night shifts. Also, there is an over reliance on staff working additional hours and the use of staff from the organisations other home to cover shifts. This is because there are not enough permanent core staff to meet the required supervision levels of the young people currently living in the home. Consequently, the home will continue to remain in a fragile position until all staffing matters are addressed.

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inadequate

Recruitment is ongoing and the responsible individual has recognised that the home needs a sustained period of consolidation in order to build on the progress made over recent weeks. She has expressed a commitment to ensuring that shortfalls are addressed, including the appointment of a manager and skilling up of staff before any future, carefully assessed admissions can be considered.

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inadequate

The home’s Statement of Purpose has been updated since the last inspection. The document lists all staff employed by the organisation and includes details of their qualifications and experience. It does not clearly identify which staff form part of the core team working in this home, or which relief staff are to be deployed in this home. This creates the false impression about the numbers of qualified and experienced staff and is potentially misleading to current, and potential, stakeholders who have placed, or are considering placing young people in this home.

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inadequate

The need to fill gaps on rotas has meant that new staff have not experienced a rigorous induction. Staff confirm that they were provided with the opportunity to read policies and procedures and familiarise themselves with the information in young people’s files. However, they did not have the opportunity to shadow more established staff and have not been provided with the opportunity to complete relevant training. Also, a number of these staff have had to assume responsibility for shifts, often supported by other new starters and agency staff. This does not provide new staff with the opportunity to learn the homes routines, develop their knowledge or establish initial positive relationships with young people, which is contrary to the aims outlined in the homes induction policy.

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inadequate

Arrangements for staff supervision have been exceptionally poor. There has been a lack of focus on professional development as the need to have staff on shift has been overwhelming. Staff confirm that they have not had regular formal supervision. Examination of records confirms this. For example, one member of staff was noted to have only received two formal supervisions since commencing work in January 2015. This means that there is no formal process to reflect upon and develop practice, discuss and address concerns or focus on improvement and meeting young people’s needs.

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inadequate

Systems for monitoring the quality of care and the homes performance are ineffective. Visits are undertaken by an independent visitor each month. These visits have failed to identify the significant shortfalls, including a failure to take robust action in relation to missing from home return interviews and a failure to follow safeguarding protocols, for example. This lack of rigour has already been acknowledged by the responsible individual who is in the process of addressing these issues.

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inadequate

Circumstances have forced leaders and managers to undertake a review of this home and some decisive action has been taken, including changes to management arrangements. Discussion with the responsible individual confirms that she has some understanding of the inadequacies that have occurred and how these shortfalls will be addressed. However, there is no written strategic plan that identifies how these significant shortfalls can be addressed in a planned and well thought out manner that promotes improvement.

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What the inspection judgements mean

The experiences and progress of children and young people are at the centre of the inspection. Inspectors will use their professional judgement to determine the weight and significance of their findings in this respect. The judgements included in the report are made against Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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What the inspection judgements mean

An outstanding children's home provides highly effective services that contribute to significantly improved outcomes for children and young people who need help and protection and care. Their progress exceeds expectations and is sustained over time. A good children's home provides effective services that help, protect and care for children and young people and have their welfare safeguarded and promoted. In a children's home that requires improvement , there are no widespread or serious failures that create or leave children being harmed or at risk of harm. The welfare of looked after children is safeguarded and promoted. Minimum requirements are in place, however, the children's home is not yet delivering good protection, help and care for children and young people. A children's home that is inadequate is providing services where there are widespread or serious failures that create or leave children and young people being

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What the inspection judgements mean

harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people living in the children's home. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference adults make to the lives of children and young people. They read case files, watched how professional staff work with children, young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care given to children and young people. Wherever possible, they talked to children, young people and their families. In addition the inspectors have tried to understand what the children's home knows about how well it is performing, how well it is doing and what difference it is making for the children and young people who it is trying to help, protect and look after. This 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 Children's

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Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards. the guidance raising concerns and making complaints about Ofsted, which is available from Ofsted's website: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted . If you would like Ofsted to send you a copy of the guidance, please telephone 0300123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children's social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, workbased learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for looked after children and child protection. If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team,

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Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

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Information about this inspection

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Information about this inspection

Store Street Manchester M1 2WD T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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