Children's home in Lambeth

Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 The home has not had a registered manager in post for more than 26 weeks. Lack of consistent leadership and management means that the service has made little improvement since the last inspection.  The manager cannot access information or records and so cannot monitor the quality of care provided for young people.  The home does not demonstrate that staff working in the home have been suitably checked and vetted to make sure that they are suitable and safe to work with vulnerable young people.  Staff working in the home have not undertaken recent training in key areas of child protection and safeguarding.  When young people are missing from care, staff do not take all reasonable steps to gather information as to their whereabouts.  Staff do not administer prescribed medication as instructed. This places young people at risk of harm.  Staff do not always take appropriate action to share safeguarding concerns

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

with the placing authority social worker.  The provider frequently operates a policy of lone working, but risk assessments do not demonstrate that this is safe or sufficient to meet the needs of the young person currently living in the home.  Staff do not act on information that may indicate young people are at increased risk of being vulnerable to radicalisation.

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The children's home strengths

 The acting manager recognises the shortfalls in the quality of care and is taking steps to improve the service.  The young person living in the home is making some progress in that incidents have reduced and he is building positive relationships with staff.

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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

13. The leadership and management standard: (2)(c) requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills 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. Staff must also undertake training to help recognise risks and take action to safeguard young people who may be at risk of radicalisation and child sexual exploitation. 1 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

12. The protection of children standard: (2)(a) the registered person must ensure that staff— (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 a child is at risk of harm. 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. 1 July 2016

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Requirement Due date

12. (1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; 1 July 2016 (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. This is with reference to handling medications, acting on disclosures and protecting young people from radicalisation and taking steps to locate young people who are missing.

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Requirement Due date

Regulation 45: (2) In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— (a) the quality of care for children; (b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities 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 for children. (4) The registered person must— (a) supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of 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. These reports must be sent to HMCI. 1 July 2016

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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)). 1 July 2016 The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if— (a) there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and (b) the registered provider— (i) is an organisation or a partnership; (ii) does not satisfy regulation 28; or (iii) is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home. (2) If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of— (a) the name of the person so appointed; and (b) the date on which the appointment takes effect (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii) (2)(a)(b)). 1 July 2016

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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

9 February 2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

15 September 2015 Full Requires improvement

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Recent inspection history

12 March 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inadequate

Young people make limited progress in all areas, and practice in relation to promoting their well-being and safety is poor. Staff frequently work alone and risks in relation to lone working are not effectively assessed or managed. This means that staff and young people are potentially at risk of harm. Lack of staff resources mean that there are sometimes insufficient staff on duty to carry out planned activities with young people. This lack of structure and routine makes it difficult for young people to prepare to engage in education. When young people go missing from the home, staff do not make all reasonable efforts to ascertain their whereabouts. They do not pass on information to the police in order to assist them to locate young people who are missing and ensure their safe return. Staff do not take appropriate action to share information with the placing authority when young people make disclosures of ill treatment. This means that allegations

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Inadequate

of physical abuse are not properly investigated. Staff do not administer medication in accordance with advice from health professionals. This resulted in a young person with a serious health condition, not receiving the treatment he needed to keep him safe and healthy. Record keeping in the home is poor. Care plans, risk assessments and daily records are confusing and often incomplete. They do not show how staff are working consistently as a team to make sure that they deliver care to young people that meets the aims and objectives of their relevant plans.

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Inadequate

Staff do not make use of information available to safeguard young people who are missing from care. In one example, where a young person was known to visit a previous care home, staff did not contact them to alert them that he was missing or to see if he had been there. Staff do not take all reasonable steps to ascertain the whereabouts of young people who frequently abscond. In one example, when a young person returned home in a taxi, staff did not find out from the driver where he had picked the young person up from. This means that when staff report young people missing to the police, they do not share information that could secure the young people’s safe return. Lack of information in respect of what young people are doing when they are missing means that staff cannot effectively assess the risks and dangers in order to keep young people safe. Staff do not always make sure that they understand or act upon information in

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Inadequate

relation to health concerns. They did not administer a preventer inhaler that was prescribed to reduce the risk of an asthma attack. This put a young person at risk of preventable harm. Staff frequently work alone in the home. Lone working risk assessments do not demonstrate that this is safe practice in the context of the high risks of physical assault that are identified in young people’s risk assessments. Individual risk assessments do not adequately identify the nature of risk that young people face. This means that risk management plans do not effectively reduce the risk of harm or remove dangers. In one example, where staff identified a risk of self-harm, there was no information in relation to the historical context or potential triggers. There was no risk management plan in place and no evidence to support their conclusion that risk of harm is low. Poor information management systems mean that the acting manager cannot

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Inadequate

access the information that he needs to ensure that young people are safe. He cannot access daily records to understand what is happening when he is not on duty. This lack of oversight removes a crucial level of scrutiny necessary to ensure safe practice. The provider was unable to produce for inspection, records of sanctions, physical restraints or serious incidents. No records were available to demonstrate that staff have undertaken recent training on safeguarding, fire safety, physical intervention and behaviour management. Staff did not act upon information that may indicate that a young person is at risk of radicalisation. The combined effect of these shortfalls creates serious vulnerabilities in service provision in relation to keeping young people safe. Despite this, the current young person appears relatively stable in the home. He has reduced incidents of going missing, he is building some positive relationships with staff and incidents of

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Inadequate

challenging behaviour have not resulted in physical assaults on staff.

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Inadequate

The service has not had a registered manager for more than 26 weeks. There have been a number of interim managers in place and the current acting manager has been in post for less than a month. As a result of this, there has been no consistent leadership to focus improvement in the quality of care. A number of requirements from the previous full inspection are still not met. Staff training records are not evidenced. In addition, lone working risk assessments remain unsuitable for purpose and do not ensure that staff or young people are safe. The acting manager is unable to access management information or any electronic records in relation to the day-to-day care of young people. This means that he is unable to have oversight of the quality of care or safeguarding practice in the home. This has a detrimental effect on the current standards of care and undermines his ability to deliver the required improvements.

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Inadequate

The acting manager has made some improvements to address some shortfalls highlighted at the last full inspection. He has also increased the frequency of team meetings and staff supervisions. The acting manager is taking note of feedback from the home’s independent visitor and has improved recording formats for care planning and risk assessments. These are not yet in use and have not yet had an impact on the quality of the service. It is of concern that this provider was unable to provide evidence of staff training or safe recruitment at the time of this inspection. They do not have effective management information systems in place to enable them to conduct a review of the quality of care. The shortfalls highlighted in this report raise serious questions about the provider’s ability to lead and manage a service to provide care for young people that is able to meet the ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality

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Inadequate

standards’ and the Children’s Homes Regulations (2015).

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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 that 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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