Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inadequate

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

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 The home failed to respond to a serious safeguarding concern, by not taking appropriate action to ensure the safety of young people. The home also failed to adhere to established child protection procedures by not reporting this matter.  Young people’s individual risk assessments and plans are poorly informed and insufficiently robust to appropriately promote young people’s safety and well-being.  Procedures for managing new admissions to the home failed to take account of known risks associated with young people already placed at the home. Following the admission of a young person, another young person’s progress declined significantly.  The home is not promoting consistent boundaries or expectations of behaviour to help young people learn and understand about acceptable behaviour. This is compounded by an inappropriate use of incentives and sanctions.  Staff do not provide a consistently good standard of care to support and

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

help young people to maintain good standards of hygiene and comfort in their bedrooms.  The home has experienced a high staff turnover in recent months, resulting in reliance on and frequent use of agency and temporary staffing arrangements. This has resulted in poor continuity of care, which has hindered young people’s ability to make positive attachments and find effective stability.  The staff team is not well established and lacks the necessary skill and experience to effectively support the young people placed. Apart from the registered manager, the current staff team do not possess any relevant qualifications specific to working with children in a residential setting.  The home’s registered manager has resigned her position, indicating a lack of management support and excessive working hours as contributing to her decision.

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The children's home strengths

 The home is proactive in promoting contact with family members, despite the distance for some from their home area. This provides young people with good opportunities to establish and maintain family relationships.  Staff effectively encourage and support those young people who have previously disengaged with education to attend school and make good progress with their learning.  Staff understand the importance of advocacy and are proactive in supporting young people to gain access to appropriate advocacy services.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard 6. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must ensure that staff— (2)(b)(i) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; (ii) protect and promote each child’s welfare; (iii) treat each child with dignity and respect; (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard 11. In order to meet the positive relationships standard, the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a) (i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

* 12: The protection of children standard 12. In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a)(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 any harm to the child; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; 17 June 2016 (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (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.

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Requirement Due date

* 13: The leadership and management standard 13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must: (2)(a) 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; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; (f) 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; (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard 14. In order to meet the care planning standard the registered person must ensure— (2)(a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (b) that arrangements are in place to— (i) ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; (ii) manage and review the placement of each child in the home; 17 June 2016 and (iii) plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority.

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Requirement Due date

25: Fire precautions Ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire (Regulation 25 (1)(d)). 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

28: Fitness of manager Ensure that the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)). 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

35: 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. This relates specifically to sanction records (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i-vii). 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

40: Notification of a serious event The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious (Regulation 40 (4)(e)). 17 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a 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 recommendations:  Ensure that the home works in close partnership with all those who play a role in protecting and caring for the child. This relates specifically to ensuring that there is good communication between homes within the group (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 11, paragraph 2.3).  Emergency admissions should not be taken unless the home's statement of purpose and its capacity and support systems mean that it has the capability to care for children admitted at very short notice while continuing to offer high quality of care to children already living in the home (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.6).  The registered person must maintain good employment practice. This relates

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Recommendations

specifically to ensuring that the home has a risk assessment that addresses lone working with young people (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1).  Ensure that the independent person makes a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5).

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Information about this children's home

 The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children.  It is owned and operated by a private company.  It is registered to care for children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

25 February 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Inadequate

The overall inadequate judgement for this home reflects a number of shortfalls in safeguarding practice identified during this inspection and failings in the home’s leadership and management. Both of these issues have adversely impacted on the quality of care that young people receive and the home’s ability to keep young people safe from harm.

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Inadequate

The findings of this inspection in the key judgement area of ‘how well children and young people are helped and protected’ is judged inadequate. In accordance with the Ofsted evaluation schedule, once this area is judged inadequate, the overall ‘experiences and progress of children and young people’ will always be judged as inadequate.

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Inadequate

Widespread safeguarding concerns include:

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Inadequate

 Poor identification of risk and management of young people’s behaviour within the home.  A lack of ability to identify and address concerns specific to those young people deemed to be at high risk of child sexual exploitation.  Poor management of a serious safeguarding concern that was identified as a result of this inspection.  Inconsistent use of sanctions and incentives to promote positive behaviour.

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Inadequate

This combined with a number of weaknesses identified in the home’s operation and management fully support the overall judgement of inadequate as young people’s safety and well-being is not being consistently well promoted.

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Inadequate

Following a concerning rise in notifications to Ofsted following their last full inspection in December 2015, the provider gave an undertaking to Ofsted on 28 January 2016 that there would be no further admissions to the home until the provider was confident that one young person had gained stability and the home was appropriately staffed. However, despite this criteria not being achieved, a further young person was admitted on 28 April 2016.

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Inadequate

Shortfalls were identified during this inspection with the quality of pre-admission information that the home had gathered about the young person. The home had not secured a sufficient chronology of information and gaps were apparent in the home’s understanding of this young person’s history. Additionally, there was no documented evaluation to reflect consideration of the likely impact that this placement would have on the young person already resident in the home. The registered manager was unable to demonstrate a clear process used by the home for matching young people’s suitability within the admissions process. The absence of a robust matching practice prior to admission, and shortfalls in information, resulted in poor quality placement and risk assessment planning that is intended to keep young people safe and promote their well-being.

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Inadequate

Young people do not consistently share positive relationships with staff. At best, they express ambivalence about the home and the staff team. One young person said, ‘I don’t want to move but I wouldn’t say I’m happy here.’ Another said, ‘Staff don’t really bother me. I’m so unhappy, I want to go home. I don’t want to build relationships here.’

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Inadequate

Young people express their belief and views that staff do not want to work at this home. They highlight a number of staff changes in support of this belief and their understanding that some staff also have very little experience of working in children’s residential care. Young people have not yet achieved good stability in this home. They have not had good opportunities to make positive attachments to staff or develop meaningful relationships to support them in making consistently good progress.

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Inadequate

The home is generally well maintained and comfortable, providing a homely environment for young people. However, particular concern was identified with one young person’s bedroom during this inspection. The bedroom was found to be excessively untidy, chaotic and had an unpleasant stale odour. Staff acknowledged an awareness of the room’s condition but had not made any attempt to reasonably support the young person to improve her sleeping environment. Consequently, staff fail to promote good standards of care and hygiene to ensure the young person’s comfort and well-being.

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Inadequate

Staff have supported young people’s education and activities to promote their learning and creativity. Staff help with home study, creative activities and educational outings as well as providing practical assistance in the classroom. For one young person, this has been successful in facilitating a re-introduction to school from her starting point of being disengaged with education and learning prior to coming to the home. This has supported this young person to make good progress in many curriculum subjects as well as encouraging her artistic talents. This has resulted in some growth in confidence and self-esteem.

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Inadequate

Staff have also shown good commitment to engage with young people’s families to promote contact, particularly with those that live at a distance from the home. This has included regular telephone contact with family members and facilitation of visits and meetings that enable young people to spend time with those that are most significant in their lives. Judgement grade

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Inadequate

Young people are not consistently supported to ensure that they are kept safe from harm, and their day-to-day care arrangements are not sufficiently robust to ensure that their welfare is effectively promoted.

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Inadequate

Young people’s individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans are poorly written and do not reasonably take account of the range of potential risks that can be identified as a result of young people’s known histories. They do not consistently detail potential triggers or provide staff with sufficient guidance to safely manage young people’s behaviour. In addition, they are not frequently updated to address new concerns following incidents that occur at the home.

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Inadequate

For example, for one young person deemed to be at high risk of child sexual exploitation, their individual risk assessment does not highlight concerns surrounding the young person having daily access to a mobile phone that has a camera facility and the ability to access the internet and social media sites. Although the plan notes that the mobile phone is to be handed in each night, there is not an agreement in place that details how the mobile phone’s usage is to be checked and monitored. Staff acknowledge having some misgivings about the appropriateness of this vulnerable young person having a mobile phone, especially as another young person in the home is not allowed a mobile phone. However, staff have not acted on their concerns to challenge this with either the registered manager or the young person’s social worker. This lack of planning compromises young people’s safety and undermines the ability of staff to keep all young people

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Inadequate

As a result of this inspection, a serious safeguarding incident was identified that raised multiple concerns. These included the registered manager’s conduct, the home’s bedtime routines, supervision of young people and the home’s ability to recognise and report a child protection concern.

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Inadequate

Despite being provided with credible and reliable information raising concerns about young people in the home, the registered manager during a ‘waking watch’ duty, failed to take sufficient action to ensure the immediate safety of young people and check that the home was appropriately secure. The registered manager also failed to report this matter in accordance with established child protection procedures. A clear lack of direct action on this occasion failed to prevent an incident occurring that seriously undermined the safety and well-being of young people. Records pertaining to the incident were incomplete and poorly recorded to enable the reader to have a comprehensive understanding of the incident. This fails to promote transparency with the relevant parties concerned with young people’s safety. Staff acknowledged that young people’s behaviour is very challenging at times. Young people will become aggressive, throw food and other items, often refusing

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Inadequate

to follow staff direction. One staff member identified that some colleagues have felt too intimidated by this kind of behaviour and as a result have left the home’s employment. Staff are not consistently promoting clear boundaries and expectations that enable young people to feel safe and well supported.

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Inadequate

Records and feedback from staff during this inspection revealed inconsistency surrounding the use of incentives and sanctions. For example, rewarding young people with a cash incentive if they spent the night in their own bedroom rather than in each other’s bedroom. Some staff highlighted their understanding that this was a basic rule of the home and should not attract additional reward. Additionally, shortfalls in recording practice were identified. One sanction received by a young person during inspection was not recorded within the required timescale and other records reviewed did not demonstrate consistent management oversight to determine the effectiveness of strategies used. This weakens the value of these records in maintaining a clear account of disciplinary measures and enabling staff to form a perspective on approaches that work well and those that are less effective.

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Inadequate

Young people do on occasion go missing from this home and this has shown some increase since the most recent admission to the home. However, young people are usually only missing for short periods of time. Staff appropriately report those occasions when young people go out of sight and they work in good cooperation with local police to search and ensure their early return to the home. As such, staff act quickly to minimise those opportunities for young people to come to harm in their local community.

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Inadequate

Staff rarely use physical restraint in this home and generally rely on other established behaviour management techniques to de-escalate challenging situations. However, their success has been mixed with damage occurring at times to the home and on occasion police being called to assist. Staff have not achieved consistently good behaviour management practices to support young people to keep themselves safe.

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Inadequate

Despite a number of staff changes and one young person recently admitted to the home, staff and young people have not recently practised fire drills, during the day or night, to ensure that they are all familiar with what to do in the event of a real emergency. Routine practices are important to promote fire safety with all living and working in the home. Judgement grade

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Inadequate

The registered manager advised at the outset of this inspection that she had resigned her position. She detailed personal reasons, long working hours and a perceived lack of senior management support as the key factors that influenced her decision. In particular, she voiced concern that she felt pressured into agreeing a new admission to the home at a time when she believed it was inappropriate. She acknowledged that this had the impact of further de-stabilising the placement of a particularly vulnerable young person that was waiting to have a new placement identified. However, it is not apparent that she took any decisive action to make her concerns known to senior management and halt the proposed admission. Ofsted have still to be formally notified of management changes in accordance with regulation.

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Inadequate

The registered manager confirmed that although the home is still actively recruiting, it is struggling to retain staff. This means that young people are being cared for by a variety of new, mostly unqualified staff and a high number of agency staff that are unfamiliar with young people’s care and support needs. This impacts hugely on the ability that young people have to develop meaningful relationships with staff and fails to provide them with the placement stability and continuity of care that they require.

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Inadequate

Staff profiles detailed in the home’s statement of purpose highlight that a large number of staff have minimal experience of working with children in a residential setting. As such, the home is not currently operating in accordance with its statement of purpose as there is not a consistent staff team with the necessary skill and experience to meet the complex and challenging needs of young people placed.

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Inadequate

Staff expressed satisfaction in that they were receiving regular support through supervision and team meetings. The core staff team has not yet benefited from an annual appraisal to review their development and progress, as none have yet completed a year in post and most are still within their probationary period.

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Inadequate

It was identified that staff have been regularly working alone with young people. However, the management of this arrangement is not supported by a risk assessment as required by the home’s lone working policy. This means that suitability of the arrangement has not been reasonably appraised, nor have staff been guided on specific arrangements that promote their health and safety as well as the young people that they are caring for.

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Inadequate

The registered manager, although having completed a recent review of her monitoring activity within the home, failed to identify the range of shortfalls in practice identified by this inspection. Records reviewed during this inspection demonstrated little active reflection of practice and minimal management oversight. Additionally, the widespread nature of concerns has not been identified by the home’s external monitoring arrangements. This indicates that the overall quality of monitoring of the home is weak and insufficiently robust to ensure that young people are effectively safeguarded and that the conduct of the home is promoting their welfare.

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Inadequate

Although the registered manager was able to convey some areas of practice requiring improvement in the home, and had noted some actions in her monitoring review report that was sent to Ofsted, these were not comprehensively drawn together in the home’s development plan that is intended to inform and guide staff.

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Inadequate

In response to a safeguarding concern that was identified during this inspection, the registered manager demonstrated a poor understanding of the risks associated with children and young people deemed to be at high risk of child sexual exploitation. Her actions in responding to this incident demonstrate a severe lack of leadership and management essential to ensuring the safety and welfare of children accommodated in a residential home. Similarly, staff fell short in demonstrating sufficient knowledge and confidence in child protection issues and practice relevant to safeguarding the young people in their care.

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Inadequate

In addition to the home not reporting this child protection concern, the home also failed to notify Ofsted of this as an incident that is deemed to be serious. This demonstrates a lack of transparency between the home and the regulator. The absence of documentation, supporting the home’s communication with senior management and another residential home owned by this organisation and involved in this matter, compounds the lack of transparency shown by the home in dealing with this matter.

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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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