Children's home run by Action for Children in Watford

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:

 Major changes in the staff team over a period of months, compounded by staff working on a rota system, have meant that children have not been able to develop stable relationships with adults who know them well and can interpret signs of distress or agitation.  The management team is not routinely evaluating children’s progress given their starting points. The management team is not reviewing risk assessments and care plans to ensure that they are effective.  Managers have not promoted a proactive dialogue with the school staff to help staff in the home and the school to work together to help children to meet their goals, including educational objectives.  Staff and managers are not reviewing activities and leisure pursuits to ensure that children benefit from well-rounded experiences that enhance their confidence and provide opportunities for learning.  Managers do not carry out regular checks of agency staff recruitment files to

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

ensure that workers are suitable for working with children. In addition, managers are not sufficiently clear about all procedures and practices that need to be followed to ensure safe recruitment of staff from overseas.  Staff and managers are not working as a team. They do not meet frequently enough to share information about children and they rely on recording tools, which are not appropriately completed. Staff meetings are not held regularly and do not discuss the details of young people’s progress. Recording at handover meetings between shifts is not rigorous. This is particularly serious given that many staff are new and inexperienced and need a clear sense of purpose and direction from managers in order to build up a sense of collective responsibility.  Some permanent members of staff have not yet completed their national vocational qualification (NVQ) level 3 training as required by regulation.

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

 Managers do not provide agency workers with supervision to ensure consistency of practice across the workforce.  The majority of the staff team has still not received safeguarding children with disabilities training. This means that they are not well equipped to predict possible risks or develop strategies to protect them.  The children’s guide does not contain the views of children who stay at the home or any details or photographs of staff and managers at the home.  There are no impact risk assessments in place to consider the potential impact of a new arrival on the existing group of children and staff.

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The children's home strengths

 Staff and managers are not risk averse. Children are taken into the community for trips out, sports and shopping expeditions. Children learn to cope and this improves their confidence.  On occasion, staff have worked with children creatively, such as helping them to cook a meal or to plan for a party. Children have responded to this with pleasure and it enhances their confidence.  Staff work to promote positive behaviour. They encourage children to work together, to respect and to be kind to one another. If children become upset or agitated, staff use distraction techniques to help them to settle. As a result, over time, children become calmer and relax.

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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: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feelings standard, with particular reference to including details and pictures of staff working in the home and children’s views, the registered provider must— (2)(c) keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document. 07/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

8: The education standard In order to meet the education standard, with particular regard to reviewing educational targets along with other goals set out by the home, the registered provider must ensure— (2)(a)(i) that staff help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans. 07/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

12: The protection of children standard In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular regard to introducing an impact risk assessment which considers the potential impact of new arrivals and a review system to track progress and evaluate improvements, the registered provider 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. 07/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, with particular regard to ensuring that information about the service in the home is shared regularly among staff and that each child has the opportunity to build up relationships with consistent members 07/10/2016 of staff, the registered provider must— (2)(b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (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.

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, with particular regard to ensuring that children’s care plans including leisure pursuits and activities are reviewed to assess outcomes and opportunities for learning, the registered provider must— (2)(b)(ii) manage and review the placement of each child in the home. 07/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety, with particular reference to ensuring that agreements are in place in respect of agency staff that have recently lived or worked overseas, specifically in relation to international police checks (certificates of good conduct). (Regulation 32 (1)) 07/10/2016

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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 experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. This is with particular regard to ensuring that staff receive training on the safeguarding of children with disabilities. (Regulation 32 (3)(b)) 07/10/2016

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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. The individual must attain the level 3 diploma for residential childcare (England) (‘the level 3 diploma’) or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the level 3 diploma. The relevant date is, in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1 April 2014, the date which falls two years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home, or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1 April 2014, 1 April 2016. (Regulation 32 (4)(a)(b) (5)(a)(b)) 30/12/2016 The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience, with particular regard to temporary agency staff. (Regulation 33 (4)(b))

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home provides shared care and long-term care for up to five children, aged eight to 18 years of age, with physical and learning disabilities and associated medical needs. A charitable organisation runs the home.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

14/03/2016 Interim Declined effectiveness

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Recent inspection history

17/03/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Requires improvement

All children have an allocated key worker but as staff work on shifts and children attend for short breaks, they do not see their key workers on a predictable, regular basis. There have been significant changes to the staff team that now includes several new staff. This has made it difficult for the children to develop confident relationships with a stable team. The mother of one child said, ‘He needs people who know him well. As time has gone on the staff get to know him better and we get to know the staff. This is absolutely key.’ Staff do engage with children and key worker sessions are well recorded but there is currently no process to review and reflect on the sessions along with other information about a child. Many of the children who come to the home do not communicate verbally so it is crucial that those working with them reflect on behaviours and responses that can indicate how they might be feeling. For

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Requires improvement

instance, the mother of one child said, ‘He reacted very badly to the change of staff. I think that was at the centre of his sudden aggression, but relationships are building up.’ All children attend school and attendance is high. However, there is no predictable framework for reviewing education outcomes along with other targets. The home is not working alongside the school staff to help children to meet their goals. Both school and care staff say that in the past there has been a proactive and positive dialogue between them. They are both hopeful that now the staff group in the home has settled that this dialogue will improve. A senior teacher said, ‘Overall, this was a very good relationship which needs rebuilding.’ Children have access to a range of activities inside the home and in the community. Each child has an individual activity planner, identifying pursuits which the children are known to enjoy. The management team has recently carried out an audit of

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Requires improvement

these plans and discovered that in practice, activities are often rearranged. There is no indication that any child suffers as a result but this does not ensure that children benefit from well-rounded experiences that enhance their confidence and provide opportunities for learning. When children have been able to build up trusting relationships, staff have proved creative and purposeful. For instance, staff helped one child to plan a party for her birthday and to invite all of her friends. Staff devised a booklet for her, which she has kept, with all the preparation written in it, providing a record of her contribution and decisions. Photos of the event are on the noticeboard, showing the child, her friends and the staff all enjoying themselves. Her mother said, ‘She has a karaoke machine which she used. We had 80 people and she loved it. She loves the attention.’ Another child learnt to swim with consistent encouragement

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Requires improvement

from staff. This has enhanced his confidence. One child said to the inspector that she ‘likes everything’ and feels very happy there. She attends regularly and says that she enjoys it. She says that the staff are ‘very kind to her’.

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Requires improvement

Staff and managers have made some progress towards addressing the requirement to improve the quality of risk assessments for individual children. These records are now up to date, providing clear rationale for identifying a specific risk and balancing them with management strategies. However, there is no process in place to assess the impact of new admissions on the existing group of children. This does not enable managers and staff to comprehensively plan for children or to fully consider group dynamics before a child is admitted. There is no review system to help the staff to track progress and evaluate the improvements given children’s starting points. This is a wasted opportunity to demonstrate how their stays at the home are enhancing children’s life chances. Each child has a care plan which provides clear information about the child, including goals and targets for health, physical care and independence work.

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Requires improvement

However, the management team are not reviewing these in partnership with social workers and families to clarify whether targets have been met within an agreed timescale, what staff have done to support them and what new goals could be set. This does not help to ensure that children reach their full potential. Information about children, including risk assessments and care plans, is not shared systematically throughout the staff group and management team. Managers do not ensure that staff are systematically signing the risk assessments to indicate that they have read and understood the information. As a result, staff are not establishing clear, consistent boundaries for managing children’s behaviour. The group of children coming to this home has remained consistent for some months. There is a high ratio of staff to ensure children’s safety both in the home and in the community. Each child has a risk assessment to guide their internet

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Requires improvement

activity and staff monitor use of electronic devices. Staff receive good training from the nurse working in the home, who is aware of all the clinical needs for the children and ensures that staff have the competencies to meet them. Staff are confident and not risk averse, so that children benefit from going out in to the community. The mother of one child said, ‘She is totally safe both inside the building and outside. They are careful with her, as she can be impulsive so they make sure that they have enough staff. She has no sense of stranger danger.’ The use of restraint or sanctions to control behaviour is rarely warranted or necessary. Staff and managers work hard to promote positive behaviour among children. They encourage an appropriate sense of personal responsibility in children’s behaviour to staff and to one another, encouraging kindness and respect. If children become upset or agitated, staff use distractions such as treasure hunts

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Requires improvement

in the home to help them settle. The social worker for one child said, ‘Staff go out of their way. He is meant to go home twice a week but sometimes it doesn’t work out so staff will come and bring him back. Over two or three years, this has really improved and he is calmer.’

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Requires improvement

The manager has been in post for five months and has been supported for the past three months by a service coordinator. The manager has worked in childcare for 14 years and in residential childcare for four years with two and a half years’ experience as a service coordinator. The manager is currently in the process of registering with Ofsted. He has relevant national vocational levels (NVQs) 3 and 4 in working with children. Both the manager and the service coordinator are in the process of registering for the NVQ level 5 qualification in leadership and management. The management team places a high priority on the professional development of staff. The majority of the permanent workers are already qualified to NVQ level 3. However, some workers have not yet achieved their qualifications. Agency workers who are being recruited as permanent staff are due to be registered on their NVQ level training once they have completed their induction programme.

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Requires improvement

Managers have made some steps to address the requirements and recommendations of the previous inspection. However, some shortfalls remain. Risk assessments, care plans and education information on all children have been improved and updated. However, managers do not review these regularly to assess progress, identify new goals and set out timescales. Managers have reviewed and updated the children’s guide but it does not include any details or photos of staff working in the home and there is no reference to the views of children. The manager has updated the statement of purpose. Information held about children’s specific health needs is improved and there is now at least one member of staff who is fully trained in first aid on every shift. Overall, training is not complete, particularly with regard to safeguarding children with disabilities. An audit has taken place of all staff who have been involved in fire drills.

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Requires improvement

Supervision for permanent members of staff is taking place but not yet as regularly as agreed in supervision contracts. Agency staff do not receive regular supervision, which does not ensure consistency of practice across the workforce. A good template is used but recording varies in quality and some supervision records are not dated. All staff now have personal development plans in place, which provide the framework for annual appraisal. Managers have undertaken an audit of recruitment files of permanent members of staff, to ensure that relevant checks as to their suitability to work with children are in place. However, managers have not undertaken the same exercise in respect of temporary agency staff and are not sufficiently clear about all of the procedures and practices to be followed to ensure the safe recruitment of staff from overseas. These gaps in practice do not safeguard the welfare of children.

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Requires improvement

Managers have not scrutinised the development of the staff team adequately. Staff meetings are not held regularly throughout the year and staff do not discuss the details of young people’s progress at the meetings. Staff use message books to record comments about the service rather than discussing them thoroughly in staff meetings. Records of handover do not routinely contain basic information about the shifts and they lack purpose and direction. This is crucial because the staff team consists of both experienced and newly recruited workers, but they are not developing a sense of collective responsibility or addressing difficult or challenging issues. This does not drive improvement. Managers have formulated a detailed action plan of improvement with timescales. They have started to monitor the quality of care through lead practitioner audits of safeguarding, staff supervision, case files and activity planners. They are also using

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Requires improvement

feedback from parents and social workers to inform practice. They are using information gathered to develop new systems and inform and improve practice, for instance the mother of two children said, ‘I told them that I must be listened to so we have agreed to restart monthly meetings. I do feel more confident.’ As the staff group is settling, workers are beginning to feel more confident. One member of staff said, ‘We are coming through a bit better now and it is an opportunity to look at the service so we try to be positive. I am a long-running member of staff and I know how good it can be.’

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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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