Children's home in Westminster

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:

 There has been a serious dip in the quality of care. Following the last interim inspection in February 2016, a local authority and a young person raised complaints with Ofsted. Ofsted visited on 1 April 2016 and found a serious decline in safety and protection at the home. Ofsted restricted new admissions for a six-week period, met with senior managers in the organisation and made a number of requirements to improve quality. Progress was monitored at a further visit on 18 May 2016.  Young people are still not making good enough progress, particularly in their education, friendships and community involvement. They do not receive their statutory entitlement to 25 hours of good-quality registered alternative provision.  Managerial oversight of significant incidents and of systems for medication are still not good enough.  Staff induction, training and supervision and appraisal are not happening systematically. Not enough staff have achieved the nationally recognised

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

qualification within government timescales.  The registered person has not yet concluded a review of previous shortfalls or placement disruptions in order to inform future admission decision making.  The statement of purpose is out of date and inaccurate.

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The children's home strengths

 Interim managerial arrangements have been effective in restoring staff morale and initiating action to improve.  Succession planning for management has been good and created a secure feeling in the home.  The registered person has provided stability for the two current young people and prioritised safeguarding improvements.

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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 In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, with particular reference to analysis of placement success, health promotion and social and community involvement, the registered person must ensure that staff— (1)(a) understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

8. The education standard In order to meet the education standard, with particular reference to receipt of statutory entitlement to education and structured daily routines, the registered person must ensure that— (1) children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

13 The leadership and management standard 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— (1)(a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential. (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; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 30 September (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; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

(i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; (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 The care planning standard 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. 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification, by the relevant date. (Regulation 32 (4)(5)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction, receives practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. Regulation 33 (1)(a) (4)(b)(c)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must 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 (3)(a)(b)) 30 September

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 30 September

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered person should 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, including 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).  Ensure that the (workforce) plan is updated to include any new training and

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Recommendations

qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. Ensure that the following elements of the workforce plan are included in the statement of purpose: (in accordance with Schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20)) the staffing structure, experience and qualifications of staff and arrangements for supervision of staff practice (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8 and 10.10).

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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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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

3 February 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Young people have not, and are still not, fulfilling their potential. Outcomes are not yet sufficiently improved for the two young people currently living at the home. Progress is limited, particularly in education and in building relationships or friendships in the local community. Young people have little investment in building a life locally. Neither of the present young people receive their statutory education entitlement and attendance at times is poor. The structure of the day at the home does not support young people to keep to an educational routine through suitably structured activities. Staff are still developing their skills to challenge young people when they do not want to engage in education or in activities. The quarterly education report, produced by the organisation’s education advisor, does not identify areas of challenge, progress or action required to help staff help young people.

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Requires improvement

Two young people moved out following the last interim inspection, one young person as part of a planned progression to independence, the other young person refused to return to the home from a family visit and had an accelerated move to independence. Two other young people moved out as a result of the concerns, because the home had not managed to keep them safe or meet their needs. One new young person moved in, in an emergency, after the interim inspection and before concerns surfaced. The organisation does not analyse placement success or breakdown. Young people do not always adopt the healthy lifestyles promoted by staff. Staff acknowledge young people’s right to make choices about their health, but seek to educate and influence individuals where health and well-being could be improved. Staff use key working sessions to discuss health and complete workbooks on related topics. Young people have also attended workshops on subjects such as

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Requires improvement

drug awareness and knife crime. Young people’s engagement with these processes varies. For example, their knowledge of healthy foods is positively influencing the preparation of well-balanced meals. However, both current young people still choose to smoke. Staff are building their understanding of child development and how it relates to young people, but they need more training and effective tools for effective direct work. For example, they have worked through education packs on sexual health with young people, yet a social worker recently identified a young woman who still had limited understanding of her menstrual cycle. Arrangements for medication are not good. There is no managerial system for auditing the safe receipt, storage, administration and dispensing of medication, including controlled drugs. There are positives. Careful gatekeeping of admissions following the expiry of Ofsted’s legal restriction means that the two remaining young people now have

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Requires improvement

stable placements. Improved care, more thoughtful key working and better managed staff, result in a more positive, safer environment for young people. Improved consistency among the staff team is leading to better relationships with, and between, young people. Relationships between the current two young people are manageable and do not have the bullying, risky element that was present between previous residents. The staff team is developing its anti-bullying skills. Staffing levels, effectively at one-to-one, currently support close supervision and mean that young people always have staff who can take them to places, offer activities and spend time talking to them when it matters most. Young people’s views, wishes and feelings are now well managed and tracked by managers to ensure that their words lead to action. Individual consultation during key working sessions and individual conversations are currently more effective than

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Requires improvement

formal house meetings. Young people’s complaints are taken seriously now, and they get a clear outcome. The house has been redecorated and maintains a homely, well-furnished appearance. There is enough communal space to enable young people to have both private time in the two largest bedrooms and with others in the dining room and sitting room. A separate small education room provides space for study. The home has the highest food hygiene rating and mealtimes promote opportunities for group discussions. Young people are placed away from their homes. Staff work well with families and follow local authority care plans to support safe visits home or to stay with family. Staff have been proactive recently in managing risk during contact. Moving on plans are not well defined at the moment. Staff work well with the local authorities to consider options. Both of the current young people are heading towards departure from the home, but local authorities have not yet set the timescales,

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Requires improvement

pace or final destinations. Staff support young people as they struggle to come to terms with frustration about this and try to equip them with the skills that they will need at the next stage of their lives.

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Requires improvement

Managerial monitoring of significant incidents is still not consistently effective. Some records lack sufficient information to make clear what has happened during and after incidents. For example, records did not show that police were called during a rare physical intervention. This had not been picked up when managers reviewed the records. Young people are much safer at the home than they were three months ago. Those with especially risky behaviour involving knife crime, serious going missing from care and potential for child sexual exploitation have now moved out. Managers and staff have focused on keeping the remaining young people safe. After a hesitant start, this has been successful. Staff are much better informed by managers about procedures. Creative ‘on the job’ direction from the interim manager and deputy manager, rehearsing ‘safeguarding scenarios’, has prepared staff well to act in any event. They have

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Requires improvement

made a proactive response when the current young people have been at risk while going missing during home contact, and through social media contact with unsafe adults. Staff ability to assess, plan and reduce the risks for the current young people is now effective. The local police report improved confidence. Policy and practice are much improved. All significant incidents have been notified to Ofsted promptly. Serious behavioural challenges are much less frequent and staff have managed any incidents safely in the last two months. Regular checks ensure that the environment is safe. Clear evidence demonstrates that the organisation implements safer recruitment policies to ensure that only fully vetted staff work with young people.

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Requires improvement

Significant changes in leadership and management followed from Ofsted’s restriction of the accommodation here. The registered manager and responsible individual were removed from their responsibilities in mid-April 2016, following serious safeguarding failures. Managerial succession planning has been effective. An interim, experienced manager was appointed, and has applied to register. An interim, experienced deputy manager was transferred to the home. The organisation has subsequently appointed a new, permanent manager, who has yet to register, and a new deputy manager. A new responsible individual has been appointed. The home has fully met four of the previous seven requirements and three of the recommendations. Further shortfalls have been identified at this inspection. There has been progress on some, but not all, elements of weakness in leadership and management. Further work is required to continue improvements to

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Requires improvement

strengthen and support the staff team before future admissions. A significant proportion of staff are newly employed, have not completed induction and so are unable to lead shifts. Staff induction, training and appraisal are not good enough. Not enough staff, who should have, have achieved the level 3 qualification within timescales. Only two of the current nine members of staff working at the home have achieved this. Others are enrolled or have made slow progress. All new staff undertake a programme of basic training before they start work, but there is no systematic approach to planning or reviewing the effectiveness of this, or further training. Staff who supervise do not have adequate experience or training in this essential support. There is no strategic plan to link training with the needs of the young people. For example, not all staff have had training in missing from care procedures, around child sexual exploitation, child mental health, self-

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Requires improvement

harm, attachment or managing challenging behaviour. Much training is done in isolation and on-line, without the benefits of discussing and developing a team approach. There is not an induction programme that systematically links initial training with supervision and probationary learning. The training records and information about staff experience and qualifications in the statement of purpose are out of date or lack detail about training or refresher dates. Opportunities for the staff to meet and learn together at meetings do not happen often enough: only once since April. Staff at all levels, from newly employed to the manager, do not have formal recorded supervision at the rate required by the organisation or that provides for reflective, research based practice in relation to their role and the needs of young people. There is not an up-to-date statement of purpose that describes the current set up

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Requires improvement

and functioning of the home. Records of incidents and about staff and young people lack detail. Some staffing documents are unsigned or incomplete. Managers have not ensured complete records of significant incidents, nor have there been any learning points identified for staff from the only restraint in six months. The organisation has not yet evaluated the success of the last six young people’s placement endings since the last full inspection. This has not been a feature of any review of the quality of care. Previous shortfalls in admission decision making have not been tested through a full process. The interim manager has prioritised remedial safeguarding actions and the needs of the current young people. He has not made any new admissions while actions to improve are still in the early stages. There have been improvements. An expansion of the independent external review team results in more child-focused monitoring of safety and welfare. Staffing levels

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Requires improvement

in the small permanent staff team now do meet the needs of the reduced number of young people living at the home. A further five staff have been recruited and are waiting to start. A team of flexible ‘as and when’ workers is planned to support any additional staffing needed. Continuity of care is much better. Staff report a transformed atmosphere and significantly better leadership in the home. They relish the improved staffing ratios that enable them to take more time with young people. The quality of their record keeping is improving because they now write respectfully about young people. Change is not fully embedded and does not yet result in improved outcomes for the two residents here. Action plans are adequate and underway. Further work is needed to meet all previous and fresh shortfalls. Further change is ahead, with the transition from interim to permanent manager arrangements. A positive start has

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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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