Children's home run by Amos Aftercare Moving On Scheme Ltd in Wolverhampton

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:

 Safety in the home is potentially compromised because managers do not ensure that fire risk assessments are completed in a timely manner, or with the full cooperation of the fire and rescue services.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Risk assessment records and documents do not consider the possible negative impact that lone-working arrangements may have on the young person’s safety and welfare.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Managers do not consistently adhere to recruitment procedures. They do not seek adequate employee references for all staff, and discrepancies noted within application documents are not challenged.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Monitoring systems in the home are weak and do not effectively review the quality of care. There is no workforce development plan in place, staff training programmes do not include all relevant courses and the acting manager does not receive regular formal supervision. This hinders the home’s capacity for continual improvement.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Managers have failed to address some or the requirements issued at the last inspection.

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The children’s home strengths

 Staff work in partnership with the placing authority and other professionals. This ensures that the young person receives integrated care.

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The children’s home strengths

 Staff liaise with the young person’s family to ensure that contact arrangements are suitable. These reflect the young person’s wishes and feelings.

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The children’s home strengths

 Education attendance has improved. Staff develop positive relationships with education providers. This ensures that barriers to education are identified and addressed.

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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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure: (2)(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 particular reference to lone-working risk assessments. 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile, in relation to the children’s home, a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1, keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it, and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision (Regulation 16(1)(3)(a)(b)). 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home, the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home (Regulation 25(2)(b)). 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2 (Regulation 32(2)(3)(d)). 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development, and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)). 30 June 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once 30 June 2016 every six months. In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children, the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children (Regulation 45(1) (2)(a)(b)(c)).

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:

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Recommendations

 Ensure that when a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that a workforce plan is in place, which can fulfil the workforce-related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8).

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Recommendations

 Ensure that recruitment, supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1).

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The service is owned and operated by a private company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

26 January 2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

5 March 2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Shortfalls in leadership and management, and identified failures to protect the young person from harm, affect his progress and the quality of his day-to-day and overall experience.

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Requires improvement

Relationships between the young person and staff are generally positive. These have improved since the last inspection. Staff deliver care that reflects the young person’s individual needs and risk-taking behaviours. This enables the young person to make some progress. Staff challenge unacceptable and dangerous behaviours. They discuss these with the young person and with the external agencies involved in his care. This approach supports the young person to take responsibility for his actions and increases his engagement in the home.

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Requires improvement

The young person is able to access all relevant health services, including specialist professionals, to promote his emotional, social and psychological well-being. Staff work with partner agencies and the placing local authority to encourage the young person to lead a healthy lifestyle, to take regular exercise and to eat a healthy diet. However, the young person has only started to engage with these services in the last few days. An improved partnership between education services and the home means that the young person experiences an integrated approach to addressing known barriers to education. The young person in now participating in education and is learning key skills.

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Requires improvement

Staff work with other agencies to plan for and prepare the young person to move towards adulthood and semi-independent living. This work is in the early stages and the young person is not yet fully engaged.

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Requires improvement

The young person currently resides alone and formal young people’s meetings are suspended. However, he regularly meets with the acting manager to discuss progress, behaviour, any concerns and to make suggestions for improvements to the home. The young person says that he feels ‘listened to’ and states that the acting manager responds to any issues raised. There have been no complaints since the last inspection.

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Requires improvement

Managers and staff advocate for the young person to have regular family contact. The young person says that he appreciates these efforts, and is pleased that formal contact agreements are now in place. As a result, the young person is not isolated from his family. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Risk assessments identify the young person’s vulnerabilities and detail actions and strategies in place to reduce these. The young person says that he feels safe in the home and believes that the staff ‘want the best’ for him. There is an acceptance that the young person has become increasingly safe in the home because of restrictions on his movement introduced by other agencies. Nevertheless, these restrictions have afforded the young person the opportunity, with the support of staff, to consider his own safety and to begin to take responsibility for this.

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Requires improvement

Incidents of negative and risk-taking behaviours have started to reduce. Staff work with other agencies, such as the local police and the local authority, to deliver an integrated response to missing from home episodes. This approach considers the additional risks that may be associated with this behaviour, such as sexual exploitation, although these potential risks are not relevant at this time. The local authority does not provide the opportunity for an independent return home interview and the home does not effectively advocate for this service. As a result, possible antecedents to these events are unknown.

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Requires improvement

Staff complete training in safeguarding, child protection and physical restraint. The use of restraint is rare and there have not been incidents of this measure of control since the last inspection. Staff use rewards and incentives to encourage the young person to behave appropriately, with varying degrees of success.

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Requires improvement

The home is currently subject to a Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order, following an inspection by the fire and rescue service. Prior to this visit, managers failed to adequately monitor fire safety in the home or to consider the impact of any shortfalls on the young person’s safety. The fire and rescue service raised a number of necessary improvements that are required to ensure the safety of the home. The reliance on external agencies to highlight fire safety shortfalls demonstrates a lack of fire safety awareness among managers and staff. This potentially places the young person, and others, at significant risk of harm.

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Requires improvement

Staff recruitment procedures are weak. When staff are appointed, they are not subject to adequate employee checks. The organisation does not seek relevant previous employer references or fully explore gaps in employment histories. These shortfalls increase the possibility of unsafe adults working with vulnerable young people in the home. The current young person’s safety is further compromised because there are no lone-working risk assessments in place. There are no contingency plans in place to monitor the young person’s safety when he has been alone with individual staff for prolonged periods, such as overnight. The failure to consider the safety of the young person or staff in these circumstances places both at risk of harm. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

At the last inspection in January 2016, the responsible individual had relinquished his role as registered manager. The acting manager has been in post since this time and has now applied to Ofsted for registration. This application remains under consideration.

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Requires improvement

Some action has been taken to address the 10 requirements raised at the last inspection. Care plans are personalised, and the young person is now encouraged to take responsibility for his behaviours. Improvements made to some aspects of individual risk assessments, such as missing from home risk assessments, mean that the frequency of these events has reduced. The responsible individual has revised safeguarding procedures to provide staff with clear and unambiguous guidance. Behaviour management records now include all necessary information, and managers refer significant events to designated officers and Ofsted, as required. Shortfalls remain in relation to the content of the statement of purpose, formal supervision for the acting manager and addressing fire safety regulations. Additional requirements and recommendations have been made following this inspection.

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Requires improvement

The acting manager focuses the activities and routines in the home around the young person’s needs. The commitment to meeting these needs means that the young person is making some progress and that this progress is measurable, taking account of his starting point. The acting manager reviews internal and statutory support plans to ensure that the service provided by the home reflects the young person’s needs. This scrutiny means that other professionals are held accountable for their actions and inactions, and relationships between the home and other agencies have improved. For example, when additional support services, such as sessions with specialist health professionals, have not been delivered, the acting manager challenges the local authority to provide these without further delay.

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Requires improvement

The statement of purpose does not include all necessary information as required. Ofsted made a requirement in June 2015 to address this shortfall, and re-issued this in January 2016. This has not been actioned. Placing authorities are not provided with a clear summary of the aims and objectives of the service because this document is incomplete. The continued failure to address this shortfall questions the capacity of the home to improve.

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Requires improvement

Care staff receive regular supervision, although the quality of this is variable in relation to monitoring their practice and performance. The acting manager does not receive regular formal supervision, with the last recorded session taking place in January 2016. Staff complete mandatory training courses, such as first aid and food hygiene, although training plans do not include courses on child sexual exploitation, bullying or radicalisation. Staff are unaware of the signs that may indicate that the young person could potentially be at risk of harm. Furthermore, the home does not have a workforce development plan in place. This means that there is no clear vision for the development of the home, or an indication of how the service will evolve to meet young people’s changing needs now or in the future.

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Requires improvement

A number of staff have left the service since the last inspection. The acting manager relates this movement to the temporary employment contracts offered by the organisation. The lack of permanency among the staff team potentially compromises the stability, consistency and safety of care provided for the young person. New staff recruited to vacant positions are currently subject to induction and probationary periods. These staff do not hold suitable level qualifications at this time, as they have not previously been employed within children’s residential care. Experienced care staff do hold suitable level qualifications as required.

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Requires improvement

Monitoring systems are weak and require improvement. These systems do not effectively evaluate or review the quality of care provided by the home. Managers do not assess the impact of the service on the young person’s progress. When monitoring tools identify practice shortfalls, such as the failure to revise the statement of purpose, actions plans do not address areas of concern. This lack of decisive action potentially hinders the home’s capacity to improve.

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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 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 children looked after 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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