Children's home in Westminster

This monitoring visit

This home was judged to require improvement at the full inspection on 22 July 2015 and to have sustained that level of effectiveness at an interim inspection on 3 February 2016. This home was subject to a restriction of accommodation order between 5 April and 20 May, following an inspection on 1 April 2016. There were concerns about safeguarding practice, staffing sufficiency and competence, and management effectiveness. This monitoring inspection took place to evaluate progress and the registered person’s compliance with the restriction notice. The registered person has complied with the restriction and no new children have been admitted to the home during this period. Two of the original four young people have moved to other placements, and two remain in residence. Ofsted set seven requirements with varying timescales and four recommendations at the last inspection. The organisation submitted an action plan for improvement

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This monitoring visit

and to meet these regulatory shortfalls. The registered person has failed to meet one of the two requirements within timescales. The home failed to notify Ofsted of a serious incident. The requirement to implement proper safeguarding procedures is untested as there has been no cause to make a child protection referral. Two recommendations to improve the quality of internal and external monitoring and staffing levels are also not met. Following the last inspection on 1 April, there has been significant change in the management arrangements for the home. The registered manager was suspended on 4 April. The responsible individual was suspended on 14 April. The registered provider has not yet concluded these matters. On 15 April, an experienced registered manager was transferred to the home and is now in charge on an interim basis. The organisation notified Ofsted of these arrangements and also that a new responsible individual took over from 13 May

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This monitoring visit

2016. In the two week period until 14 April, following Ofsted’s last visit on 1 April, staffing shortfalls and weak management continued to impact on young people’s safety, despite Ofsted’s clear identification of risk. Two young people were missing and beyond staff care on three occasions. One young person was at risk of child sexual exploitation and another was vulnerable while with local youths in risky locations. Staff records of these incidents made clear that there were not enough staff on duty to allow them to go looking for the young people. Staff did not follow the agreed protocol for responding when young people go missing. They reported the incidents to police but did not search the area. Even when staffing numbers did allow, they did not always look for young people, leaving one young person missing all night. Managerial review and follow up after these three events was not good enough. There is no evidence that a manager considered the implications of

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This monitoring visit

inadequate staffing or that practice protected young people. External monitoring by two independent visitors noted the events and that the local authority had not completed a return interview, but they did not give an opinion on whether children had been effectively safeguarded on these occasions. There are currently not enough permanent, experienced and competent staff to provide continuity of care for the maximum registered number of five young people. Senior managers within the organisation are clear that the organisation’s core minimal staffing model of two staff to five young people is acceptable but that individual managers are authorised to increase staffing levels when required. This had not happened here until very recently, under the new temporary manager. The organisation has found it hard to recruit, support and retain staff at this home. The current staff team is depleted and, despite recruitment, there will shortly be

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This monitoring visit

only three permanent members of staff working in the new team at the home. Additional staff have been drafted in from other homes and further recruitment is underway. No agency staff are used. A newly recruited deputy is waiting for recruitment checks to begin work. The new interim management team of manager and deputy have begun to make practice safer. Using temporary staff, they have increased staffing levels to a minimum of three staff on duty with two young people during waking hours. There have been no serious incidents of concern under their leadership. Staff report feeling much more confident under these arrangements. They report improved relationships with local police and a focus on strengthening staff ability to respond in a crisis using real life surprise scenarios. Current challenges for staff include ensuring a satisfactory, full-time education for one particular young person, currently supported at the home by staff and the organisation’s teacher. The new

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This monitoring visit

acting manager is building relationships with young people and with staff, asserting his role and standards. One young person stated this was one of the better care homes she had lived in, saying that ‘They work with you not against you.’ A full programme of redecoration is underway and the organisation is investing in the home itself and a better resourced staff team. Ofsted met with the acting responsible individual and the managing director for the registered person’s children’s homes on 9 May 2016 to hear their plans for improvement. They have begun an internal review into the situation. The results of this have not yet been shared with Ofsted. Senior managers feel that they are moving forward now and have given Ofsted a commitment to a slow process of limited admissions to three young people in order to complete the action plan under the interim manager. Despite this, there are still weaknesses at the service, which could jeopardise any new placement until these

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This monitoring visit

staffing and quality of care matters are further forward. Temporary staffing and management arrangements, and untested admission-decision making at this home, mean that the beginnings of improvement currently evident are not yet assured under a properly registered manager and permanent fully staffed team.

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Information about this children's home

This privately operated children’s home is registered to provide care for five young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home’s statement of purpose describes an age range of 10 to 18 years.

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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

7. In order to meet the children's views, wishes and feelings standard, in respect of acting on children's concerns, the registered provider must ensure that children receive care from staff who— (1) (a) develop positive relationships with them; (b) engage with them; and (c) take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children's care and welfare and their lives. 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

11. In order to meet the positive relationships standard, in respect of effectively managing bullying, so that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (1) (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

2the registered provider must ensure―: (a) that staff (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child's age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful (vii) help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship (xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and 31 May 2016 (xiii) have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others.

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Requirement Due date

12. In order to meet the protection of children standard so that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe, in respect of bullying, child sexual exploitation, missing, and risk from knives, the registered person must ensure― (2)(a) 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 any harm to the child (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other (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

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Requirement Due date

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. 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children's home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (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 (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 31 May 2016 development of the quality of care provided in the home (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and

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Requirement Due date

improved by taking into account and acting on— (i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

14. In order to meet the care planning standard, in respect of robust pre-admission assessments and child-focused admission decisions, the registered provider must ensure that children― (1) (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home; and (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (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; 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

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Requirement Due date

consistent with arrangements agreed with the child's placing authority; (c) that each child's relevant plans are followed. 31 May 2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if: a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(e)) 31 May 2016 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children's home from abuse or neglect; and sets out the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect. The procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular provide for liaison and co-operation with any local authority which are, or may be, making a child protection enquiry in relation to a child

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Requirement Due date

accommodated in the home; provide for the prompt referral of an allegation about current or ongoing abuse or neglect in relation to a child to the placing authority and, if different, the local authority in whose area the home is located; provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response; describe the measures which may be necessary to protect children following an allegation of abuse or neglect; and describe how and to whom staff are to report, without delay, any concern about abuse or neglect of a child. (Regulation 34 (1)(2)(a)(b)(d)(f)) 31 May 2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. Consider better reflection in formal reporting of results of consultation with all stakeholders: parents, young people and all placing authorities and review of learning after placement endings (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24).  Plan staffing levels to ensure that they meet the needs of children and can

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Recommendations

respond flexibly to unexpected events or opportunities. Staffing structures should promote continuity of care from the child's perspective (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15).  Only accept placements for children where the registered person is satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. Challenge (under regulation 5(c)) any placing authority who asks them to accept a child in the absence of a complete and current relevant plan, as the expectation that a placement of a child without the necessary information would go ahead (in circumstances other than an emergency) is inadequate in relation to their role. It is essential that homes understand what will be required of them before they

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Recommendations

accept responsibility for a child's placement, to avoid disruption and instability for the child in future and for other children in the home (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraphs 11.4 and 11.5).  Ensure that staff are familiar with the home's policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4).

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the home since their last Ofsted inspection. This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. 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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