Children's home run by Headway House Limited

Requires improvement

The children's home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The staff team is in its infancy, with high levels of agency staff being used to supplement staff vacancies.  Staff do not routinely enquire about the wishes and feelings of young people.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Staff do not have the information and detail necessary to meet all young people’s health needs because health plans are not available.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Young people are not receiving the required level of education, training or employment.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Recording and documentation are not clear. Incidents and restraints are not evaluated and monitored. Staff do not routinely debrief young people after incidents have occurred.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Complaints and allegations have been investigated, but process and policy have not been followed in accordance with the home’s policy and procedure.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Sanctions have not been routinely reviewed and monitored to ensure that they are effective and reasonable.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The ethos of the home as described in the statement of purpose is not visible within the home.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 An independent visitor has not visited the home every month as required.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Staff have not received regular, effective supervision and support with practice.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Systems applied to manage safer recruitment processes are poor with gaps in evidence.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Maintenance and repair of damaged areas are not swiftly responded to.

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The children's home strengths

 Staff are building positive relationships with young people and each state that they have a key adult whom they trust and can confide in.  Staff show respect and care for the young people in their care.  Staff are supporting young people to explore opportunities and engage in education, training and employment.  Staff have assisted young people to learn positive ways of managing their behaviour.  Young people understand that they can earn rewards and that achievement is celebrated.  Young people are engaging in social activities in the community and in developing new skills.  Pre-admission risk assessments explore and consider all vulnerability factors, detailing strategies to minimise and reduce risk.  Achievable goals are set for young people to work towards.  Staff are developing new skills and building relationships with professionals outside of the home.  Staff support young people by facilitating contact plans and arrangements.

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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, Children's Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff understand and apply the home's statement of purpose (6(2)(b)(ii)). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The children's views, wishes and feelings standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to express views, wishes and feelings, regularly consult children, seek their feedback about the quality of the home's care, and help each child to prepare for any review of the child's relevant plans and to make the child's views, wishes and feelings known for the purposes of that review (7(2)(a)(ii)(iv)(vi)). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard requires that the specific responsibilities of the home towards supporting the health and well-being of each child should be agreed with the placing authority and recorded in the child's placement plan. It is the joint responsibility of the registered person and the placing authority that this is agreed at the time of placement (Guide to the Children's Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 34, paragraph 7.7). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard requires the registered person to ensure: that staff assesses 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 manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child's health (12(2)(a)(i)(iv) and (d). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard 24 June 2016 requires the registered person to: lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes set out in the home's statement of purpose; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home (13(2)(a)(c) and (f)).

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Requirement Due date

Behaviour management policies and records The registered person must ensure that: within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure; within five days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure (35(3)(a)(viii)(c)). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Employment of staff The registered person must ensure: that each employee completes an appropriate induction specifically with regular supervision, and receives practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience (33(1)(a) and (4)(b)). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Independent person: visits and reports The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children's home at least once each month. The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI (44(1)(7)(a)). 24 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

Fitness of workers The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety (32(1)). 24 June 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation:  The registered person should agree with their local police force procedures and guidance on police involvement with the home, to reduce unnecessary police involvement in managing behaviour and criminalisation of behaviours (‘Guide to the Children’s Homes Regulations, including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.40).

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Information about this children's home

The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children with emotional / behavioural difficulties and/or learning disability. The home is privately owned, and this is its first full inspection since it was registered.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Requires improvement

Young people are settling in the home and beginning to develop relationships with key staff. Each young person reports that he has a key adult whom he can confide in. Staff have good relationships with young people and show an interest in their achievements.

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Requires improvement

Young people have made some progress while placed in the home, specifically with a reduction in their expression of challenging and risky behaviours. They have engaged in daily activities and routines and learning positive ways to manage their anxieties and feelings.

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Requires improvement

Detailed pre-admission assessments explore young people’s vulnerabilities and needs. Thorough strategies provide staff with detail about how to minimise risks and meet needs and holistic care plans.

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Requires improvement

Staff support young people to meet their health needs, for example, by referring a young person for additional support. One young person who was recently admitted to the home currently has no health plan. Young people have been encouraged to access basic healthcare services to promote their individual health needs. One young person was provided with informative health information about smoking and substance misuse.

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Requires improvement

Young people are not engaged in full-time education, and the home and others have been slow to address this. One young person is accessing a home tutor, and the staff are providing and encouraging the young person to engage in a routine of meaningful activities alongside this, to promote his education. Staff have supported another young person to explore college courses of interest to him for consideration.

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Requires improvement

Staff support young people to develop their life and personal care skills. Young people have completed basic shopping, cooking and laundry tasks.

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Requires improvement

One young person has been actively seeking part-time employment. Staff have supported him to prepare for interviews through doing practice interview questions and choosing appropriate clothing to wear.

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Requires improvement

Young people are providing input into the daily running of the home through regular house meetings and planning activities and menus. Staff are not routinely gaining young people’s views about the quality of care provided in the home or enabling their views and feelings to be presented at reviews and meetings. Staff offer regular key-work sessions to allow opportunity to explore feelings and issues, which are affecting young people. However, these are not creatively presented and not all young people currently choose to access them.

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Requires improvement

Staff are supporting young people to access activities in the local community. Young people have learned new skills while at the home and have developed their social skills with peers outside of the home.

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Requires improvement

Staff have followed the home’s house rules, which are currently presented as a list of ‘do not’ behaviours. Staff have not applied these expectations consistently in their approach with young people. The ethos of the home was not evidenced as described in the statement of purpose.

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Requires improvement

Staff have managed conflicts within the home. However, relationships between peers are poor with no work having been completed to improve this. Staff have not investigated, explored and reviewed incidents.

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Requires improvement

Young people benefit from contact with families and friends and staff promote this effectively. This is underpinned by risk assessments and young people’s plans. Staff request reviews of these when required. Staff maintain positive working relationships with families and carers and involve them in many aspects of care planning. The Young Person’s Guide is colourful and easy to read with lots of practical information about the local area and services available. It gives information to young people that is important to them, and details how to make a complaint.

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Requires improvement

Young people are beginning to feel safe and secure in their environment. They will seek support and guidance from staff when they are worried or concerned. Staff have considered many of the risk factors and vulnerabilities that young people present. Detailed plans inform staff how to minimise risk and to support young people with managing risky behaviours. Historical risk factors and vulnerabilities are explored in pre-admission assessments. However, this detail has not transferred to further plans and risk assessments. Intervention strategies are informative, but there is no evidence that all staff are up to date regarding plans for each young person. The home’s safeguarding and e-safety policies do not ensure that all current risk factors are identified and staff procedure is not explicit. There have been no episodes of missing since the home opened. There are plans in place for staff to follow should this occur.

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Requires improvement

Staff have investigated complaints made by others outside of the home, and a record of the outcome and the response to the complainant is evidenced. Staff have not followed the home’s policy and procedure following a young person making an allegation about a member of staff. Staff investigated the allegation but did not refer to required agencies. Managers have not responded strategically to conflict between young people, and conflict resolution has not occurred. Young people have made complaints about each other, which have not been recorded or investigated as complaints. Behaviour management plans provide staff with detail about behaviours and how to support young people. Young people are encouraged to use a variety of strategies to assist them to self-regulate their behaviour. However, the plans do not provide a stepped approach for staff to follow, to achieve a consistency of approach. Recording of behaviour management measures lacks clarity.

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Requires improvement

Physical intervention has been used, and staff are trained in the home’s preferred method of approach. Incidents are recorded, providing the required detail but records lack clarity. There is no detail of any debriefing provided to young people following an incident, and management monitoring and evaluation has been inconsistent. Sanctions have not been linked to the trigger or cause. Young people have received the same sanction frequently, which has not been effective. Monitoring and evaluation of these sanctions has not been swift or thorough and does not identify trends or patterns. There has been a lack of the use of restorative approaches to sanctions. The house rules are presented in a negative ‘do not’ format. This fails to model and support young people in aiming for positive behaviour. Staff talk to young people about unacceptable behaviour, but some targets set for them are not realistic or achievable.

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Requires improvement

Staff do not gain clear guidance from the police involvement policy or from young people’s individual plans about the circumstances in which they should call the police. The manager is beginning to develop relationships with the local police . Staff practice in respect of health and safety is weak. They have not consistently completed the necessary environment checks, and there are gaps in recording. The house is not maintained to a good standard, as there is a slow response to repair damaged areas. The manager’s development plan does not include all the areas of improvement needed in the home. Staff recruitment files are chaotic, disorganised and do not evidence all required aspects, to show that safer recruitment practices have been followed.

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Requires improvement

The staff team is not stable as there are staff vacancies. The manager uses known agency staff to address gaps in staffing levels. A recruitment programme is in progress.

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Requires improvement

The ethos of the home as described in the statement of purpose is not reflected throughout the home, and the manager has identified that this is an area for development.

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Requires improvement

The manager has a system in place to review and monitor the quality of care provided in the home. The frequency and application of this lack robustness and consistency. The evaluation does not identify the strengths and weaknesses in the home. The manager’s development plan details some areas to improve and dates tasks completed. The manager has not routinely updated this document to reflect all current issues and key areas to develop.

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Requires improvement

An independent visitor has not visited the home each month, nor has the regulator received any reports. The manager has not addressed this.

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Requires improvement

Staff have had supervision, which has been effective, but the frequency of this is not in line with the home’s policy and procedure. Some records of supervision are not present in the home.

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Requires improvement

An induction programme with key tasks, information and learning supports new staff to develop their knowledge. Newly recruited staff have not received regular supervision through their induction period.

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Requires improvement

Training has been provided in key areas, including behaviour management and fire marshal training. Further training has been identified and is planned to take place over the coming months. Online training is also being explored, to cover a variety of topics.

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Requires improvement

Care plans are up to date and the detail provided reflects that they are working documents. In some records, the additional information creates confusion and lacks clarity for the reader. Recording and reporting are inconsistent in their quality, and the manager’s monitoring and evaluation of these are inconsistent. The manager has good relationships with young people and insight into their needs. Staff are in the initial stages of forming relationships with others outside of the home. Staff have actively worked with professionals to achieve the best outcomes for young people. The manager has not robustly challenged others when key information and plans are not in place to meet the needs of the young people in their care.

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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 children looked after 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 that 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 whom 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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