Children's home SC367737

inspection

One compliance notice was issued at the last full inspection.

p.2

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.

p.2

The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The responsible individual has not taken sufficient action in a timely manner to improve the quality of care that is provided to young people. He has not assessed the risks to young people visiting the local park.  The independent visitor has not recently sought the views of parents and young people in order to gain their opinion about the quality of care that is provided. In addition, the reports following the independent visits do not provide the responsible individual with effective feedback on how to improve the service.  Young people are not provided with the advice, guidance and support to meet all their needs as identified in their care plans.  Restraint records lack the required information, and the responsible individual has not notified Ofsted following a significant incident.  The responsible individual and staff do not always receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and training.

p.3

The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 The home does not provide children with a welcoming, child-friendly and homely environment.

p.3

The children's home strengths

Young people’s attendance and engagement at school continue to be good. Two young people are doing very well at school and have taken GCSE qualifications. They have been accepted to attend college, dependent on the outcomes being good. Another young person is succeeding well in his carpentry apprenticeship and is positive about his future work career. Young people spoken to are positive about the care and support that they receive. They feel listened to and have good relationships with the staff.

p.3

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 ‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person(s) must comply within the given timescales.

p.4

The quality and purpose of care standard

6—(1) In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, children must receive care from staff who— (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. (2) In particular, the registered person must— (b) ensure that staff— (ii) protect and promote each child’s welfare; (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. 5 August 2106

p.4

The health and well-being standard

10—(1) The health and well-being standard is that— (b) children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being.

p.4

The health and well-being standard

In particular, support in the promotion of their sexual health and positive relationships. 5 August 2016

p.4

The protection of children standard

12—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. 5 August 2016

p.4

The leadership and management standard

13—(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the 5 August 2016 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.

p.4

Employment of staff

33—(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. 5 August 2016

p.5

Behaviour management policies and records

35—(3) The registered person must ensure that— (a) within 24 hours the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— (i) the name of the child; (iii) the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv) a description of the measure and its duration; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure. 5 August 2016

p.5

Notification of a serious event

40—(4) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— (e) there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. 5 August 2016

p.5

Independent person: visits and reports

44—(2) When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person— (a) if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. 30 July 2016

p.5

Review of premises

46—(1) The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purpose of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). (2) When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. 5 August 2016

p.5

Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):  Ensure that all areas of the children's home are presented as a homely and welcoming environment, not to give an institutional impression. In particular, consider introducing soft furnishing, pictures and photographs, and encourage young people to personalise their bedrooms. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15 paragraph 3.9)

p.6

Information about this children's home

A private company operates this home, and provides care and accommodation for up to three young people who may display emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning difficulties.

p.7

Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

p.7

Recent inspection history

8 February 2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

p.7

Recent inspection history

11 March 2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

p.7

Requires improvement

Leadership and management are inadequate. The responsible individual has not been sufficiently proactive in addressing all the weaknesses that were identified at the previous inspection. However, young people are making progress in their education and adhering to boundaries imposed by staff in order to promote their safety and well-being.

p.8

Requires improvement

Young people’s care plans require improvement. Plans include updated information about recent events but, they do not include information about young people’s sexual health needs and relationship guidance. Staff are not instructed on how to support the young people in this matter. As such, young people do not receive help in an important development area of their lives.

p.8

Requires improvement

Staff hold weekly one-to-one discussions (key-worker sessions) with the young people. The records of these sessions are poor quality. They do demonstrate that staff are following up the identified areas in the young people’s care plan. Importantly, young people are lacking guidance from staff in areas such as substance misuse, smoking, sexual health and keeping themselves safe.

p.8

Requires improvement

The home does not provide children with a welcoming, child-friendly and homely environment. Some areas of the home require repair and redecoration, and some areas of carpets are heavily stained. Furnishings such as armchairs, dining tables and chairs are of poor quality.

p.8

Requires improvement

Two young people continue to do well at school and have taken GCSE qualifications. They are waiting for their results and hoping to go to college. This is dependent on their examination results. Another young person is succeeding well in his carpentry apprenticeship and continues to have high aspirations for his future.

p.8

Requires improvement

Young people spoken to are complimentary of the care and support that they receive from the responsible person and staff. They feel listened to and supported.

p.8

Requires improvement

Staff’s monitoring and recording of the young people while they are away from the home are insufficient. Staff undertake visual checks to ensure that the young people are where they say that they are. However, their records and analysis do not evidence what the young people are doing, who they are with or whether there are any concerns highlighted while they are away or upon their return. The staff’s actions do not demonstrate that they are adequately safeguarding young people. This has been a recurrent weakness at previous inspections.

p.9

Requires improvement

The responsible individual does not complete detailed risk assessments of the places that young people visit. He has not risk assessed a skate park which one young person visits daily. The responsible individual’s review of the location of the home does not include information about child sexual exploitation in the city or the proximity of other children’s homes. Therefore, young people are not robustly safeguarded from identifiable risks.

p.9

Requires improvement

Since the previous inspection, there has been one recorded incident of the use of restraint. Records relating to this incident are poor and do not include all the information that is required when restraint has been used. In addition, the responsible person has not evaluated the appropriateness of the use of the measure.

p.9

Requires improvement

Positive behaviour is promoted and, generally, young people get on well with each other. Young people no longer leave the home late at night and they are adhering to boundaries in respect of this.

p.9

Requires improvement

There have not been any recorded sanctions, episodes of young people going missing or referrals to safeguarding agencies since the previous inspection. Young people say that they feel safe and said that bullying is not an issue.

p.9

Requires improvement

Since the previous inspection, the responsible person has ensured that all staff have received child protection training and how to respond to sexual exploitation. Staff spoken with demonstrate a good awareness and understanding of matters relating to child exploitation, although they have not applied this learning to risk assessing the home’s location or young people’s visits to the local park.

p.9

Requires improvement

Since the previous inspection, there has been an improvement in the promotion of fire safety. All young people and staff have now taken part in a fire drill and the responsible individual has taken action to ensure that all fire exits are accessible. The registered person ensures that all checks are undertaken on the home’s utilities in order to provide a safe environment.

p.9

Inadequate

Leadership and management remain weak. The responsible individual does not provide staff with concise, prescribed information on how to monitor the whereabouts and activities of one young person who may be at risk of harm. As a result, he has not been able to gather comprehensive data that can be scrutinised and evaluated. Therefore, he is not able to identify clearly any patterns or trends or to arrive at an informed decision that the young person is safe. Neither does this demonstrate that the responsible individual understands the impact that this may have on the safety and well-being of the young person.

p.10

Inadequate

The responsible individual has not met all the requirements and the recommendation that were made at the previous inspection. Action to deal with weaknesses at previous inspections is slow. An external consultant has recently been appointed to assist with the development and introduction of monitoring tools and systems to improve service delivery. However, these improvements are yet to be used by staff. Therefore, the impact of these planned measures is not yet possible to assess. As a result, weaknesses remain.

p.10

Inadequate

The independent monitoring of the quality of care at the home does not provide a critical view or comment on how the service can be improved. In addition, the independent visitor has not interviewed young people or staff to gain their view of the quality of care.

p.10

Inadequate

The arrangements for the supervision of staff and the responsible individual are not effective. The responsible individual is not provided with professional supervision. As a result, he is not being professionally challenged or steered to make improvements. The quality and content of staff’s supervision records have started to improve. However, they require further development by including thorough discussions about current safeguarding matters that concern the young people.

p.10

Inadequate

The responsible person has failed to notify Ofsted of a serious incident at the home.

p.10

Inadequate

The compliance notice that was issued in May 2016 has been met. As a result, young people are no longer leaving the home late at night or visiting an unchecked adult’s house.

p.10

Inadequate

The responsible person has established better links with external agencies. He is now proactive in engaging and sharing information with the placing authority, the designated officer from the local authority and the local police.

p.10

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’. 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

p.11

What the inspection judgements mean

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 harmed or at risk of harm or result in children looked after not having their welfare safeguarded and promoted.

p.11

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

p.12

Information about this inspection

Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and ‘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 0300 123 4234, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk .

p.12

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, work- based 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,

p.13

Information about this inspection

The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.13

Information about this inspection

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.13

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

p.13