Children's home in Lambeth

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged Requires improvement at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judge that it has declined in effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Since the last full inspection, the registered manager has resigned and there have been a number of temporary, acting management arrangements in place. The absence of a stable leader means that there are no effective systems in place for monitoring the quality of care and management oversight of the quality of care is poor. The majority of the requirements from the last inspection remain unmet. An independent visitor undertakes monthly monitoring visits to review the quality of care and produces a monthly report with recommendations to improve the service. These reports are of good quality and the recommendations are insightful, but unfortunately, there is limited evidence that the home takes action to respond to the recommendations. This has resulted in the quality of care declining since the last inspection.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home is unable to evidence that staff are subject to robust vetting procedures when recruited, or that they have had recent training in relevant areas of child protection. This presents a risk that staff providing care for vulnerable young people are unsuitable for the role and do not have the necessary training to keep them or the young people safe.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The young people who currently live in the home are settled and incidents of challenging behaviour have significantly reduced. One young person described how he ‘gets on well with staff’. He said they encourage him to engage in positive activities and offer to take him out, but he often doesn’t take staff up on their offers. He feels safe in the home and gets on well with the other young person who resides there. The home has increased staffing levels and this means they are better able to manage incidents safely and provide individual attention to young people to encourage them to engage in productive routines. Despite this, young people make limited progress in terms of education. All young people have education provided by way of home tutors. One young person has improved attendance and punctuality but another seldom engages. Staff in the home are not clear about the long-term educational goals for young people.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home’s care plans do not identify the necessary steps for improvement or interventions to support success; nor do they evidence that young people make progress in education or learning skills for independence. They do not always reflect the placing authorities care plans for young people, for example, where the placing authority care plan identified the need for a young person to access child and adolescent mental health services, there was no plan to address this in the homes care plan. Staff make sure that young people attend checks and appointments for their physical health and young people are generally healthy.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Transitions for young people leaving the home are rarely planned. Young people who have recently left the home have moved to youth offending institutions or secure accommodation. Sometimes the catalyst for unplanned endings and criminal proceedings, stem from incidents that happen in the home. This raises questions about the homes ability to manage and care for young people who present with a history of offending or high levels of challenging behaviour.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Communal areas of the home are well-kept and provide a homely environment for young people. Young people’s bedrooms do not match these standards and appear sparse and uncared for. In one room, the bed was broken, a light fitting was damaged and not working and there was little in the room to personalise it and make it welcoming. The environment was not conducive to ensuring young people receive the necessary nurturing and care needed to help them feel valued and loved.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The staff in the home do their best to help the young people in their care but shortfalls in leadership undermine their efforts. Team meetings are not regular and do not involve all of the staff, making it difficult to achieve consistency of care or share experiences on how to improve the service. Staff do not receive consistent formal supervision or annual appraisal. Leaders and managers do not provide a sense of shared purpose and direction, which results in staff feeling disempowered to take effective action to advocate for young people. Care plans are not regularly reviewed and there is no constructive challenge to placing authorities when plans drift or are not helping young people make progress. A lack of purpose and coherent strategies for intervention, result in young people being contained, rather than stretched to reach ambitious goals and achieve success. One young person related that he had no idea if he would be taking any exams at the end of his

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

studies. He had no perception that he was learning skills for independence and felt that this was something he would get support to learn when he moved. Similarly, the staff didn’t know if he would take exams or who may be responsible for arranging them.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Increased staffing levels help reduce risks and there are always sufficient staff on duty to provide supervision and manage incidents. Individual risk assessments do not always clearly identify risks or risk management plans to ensure staff, young people and others are safe. There are frequent changes to the staff rota and these are not always recorded, so there is no accurate record of who actually works in the home. While the provider indicates that the home now has a ‘core’ team of staff; most staff still work in other homes run by this provider and not all staff work full time in the home. This means that young people experience a high number of different carers, making it harder for them to form secure attachments and build trusting relationships with staff.

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Information about this children's home

This is a privately run home, registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four young people under the category of Emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

12/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

03/03/2014 Interim Satisfactory Progress

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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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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person is required to ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; in particular, the manager needs to supervise the staff working in the home, have regular team meetings and involve the team in service development. 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skill to meet the needs of each child. In particular, the provider needs to demonstrate that all staff have up to date and relevant training in key areas such as child protection, first aid, fire safety, behaviour management and physical interventions. 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff –

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Requirement Due date

(i) 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 harm to the child. (iii) Have the skills to identify and act upon signs that the child is at risk of harm

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Requirement Due date

In particular the provider must ensure that risks to staff take into account the challenges of the young people living in the home and that sufficient staff are on duty to manage risks – especially when staff are working alone.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that staff all staff working in the home have undertaken recent training to ensure that all staff on duty have training in 15.03.16 first aid, fire safety, behaviour management and physical restraint.

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Requirement Due date

Staff must undertake child protection training which is regularly updated and covers risks to children vulnerable to child sexual exploitation, trafficking and radicalisation.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating – (a) the quality of care for children (b) the feedback and opinions of children and the quality of care they receive in it; and (c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided to children. (4)(a) supply to HMCI a copy of the quality care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (5) the system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(2)(4)(5)) 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees – (a) undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and (c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)(c)) 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

(1) 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 may be reasonable to meet their needs.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the provider should reduce the number of different staff working in the home and develop a core team of full time staff. (Regulation 31(1)) 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must- 15.03.16 (a) maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; (b) ensure they are kept up to date in particular with reference to the records of each person working at the home and of persons who work at any time at the home who are not mentioned in the records kept in accordance with paragraphs 1 or 2 of the schedule ( Regulation 37(2)(a-b))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety. (Regulation 32(1)) 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

6. The quality and purpose of care standard:

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard the registered person must ensure that staff provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably. 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard the registered person must ensure that children receive well-planned care from the home and have a positive experience of admission and transition processes. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

(iii) plan for, and support, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care, in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with his or her placing authority; (c) that each child’s relevant plans are followed. 15.03.16

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Requirement Due date

{an asterisk is added in the table above where Compliance = 'Y'} * These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection 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

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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

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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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