Children's Home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Derbyshire

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 continue to be high levels of safeguarding incidents, which means that young people are not experiencing stability in their lives. Safeguarding records are poor and lack detail of action taken to protect young people.  Recording does not always demonstrate the full account of what happened and when. Examples of this were found in missing from home records, room search records and complaints records.  Care plans, risk assessments and behaviour management plans do not present a cohesive picture of precisely how young people should be cared for.  The manager does not always ensure that notifications of significant events are sent to Ofsted in a timely way.  Not all of the manager’s supervision records were available to be viewed, and his appraisal is very basic in detail. Given the issues raised at the last inspection, this demonstrates a lack of support for the manager and robust oversight by the registered provider.

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The children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 Staff are not aware of young people’s personal education plans so they do not know the full extent of young people’s learning targets, or next steps for learning.

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The children's home strengths

 The home is making steady progress. The manager and staff understand how to continue to improve young people’s care. All staff, whatever their level, demonstrate good commitment to making the necessary improvements.

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The children's home strengths

 There have been improvements to safeguarding practice, particularly in relation to when young people go missing and who are at risk of sexual exploitation.

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The children's home strengths

 Key working sessions between staff and young people have improved and when there is an incident or a significant event, staff always follow this up with them. This means that young people learn about how to keep themselves safe.

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The children's home strengths

 Young people’s contact arrangements are well-organised. Staff are very committed to making sure that young people can keep in touch with people important to them, particularly when they live a long distance away from home.

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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 within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the procedure to be followed in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must in particular, provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34 (2)(d)) 09/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify Ofsted without delay if a child is involved in or subject to or is suspected of being involved in sexual exploitation. (Regulation 40,(4)(a)) 09/10/2016

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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 children’s bedrooms are not entered without their permission, though it may be necessary to establish routines for rooms to be cleaned regularly. Usually rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or been asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or well-being. This is in particular reference to a lack of documentary evidence of obtaining young people’s permission. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20)  Ensure that staff have the knowledge and skills to understand each child’s education and training targets and their next steps for learning. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 27, paragraph 5.11)  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and

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Recommendations

understand the importance of careful, clear and objective recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The workforce plan should detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to care for four young people with emotional and behavioural difficulties and is privately owned

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 12/07/2016 Full Inadequate 21/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/10/2015 Full Good

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Recent inspection history

25/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Requires improvement

Care plans have improved since the last inspection and now give a clearer picture of young people’s needs. The quality of young people’s files is variable though. One file presents a confusing picture of the young person’s needs and how they should be cared for. The risk assessment, behaviour management plans and care plan do not correspond fully with one another. There are handwritten notes, which are not dated, and some documents do not contain the most up-to-date information. Although staff are able to recite the key information about how to meet young people’s needs, the poor documentation has the potential to cause confusion. Several other records were also of a poor quality, including safeguarding records and records of complaints.

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Requires improvement

It is clear that young people do have a voice in the home and feel very able to use the complaints procedure. This helps them to feel confident that their concerns will be listened to. However, poor recording does not enable robust monitoring to take place, ensuring that complaints have been appropriately dealt with. Records for room searches do not always confirm whether young people have given their permission for this to take place or not. This lack of clarity does not demonstrate if the young person’s privacy has been well respected.

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Requires improvement

Young people have all engaged in their education, which is personalised. They all have personal education plans but staff are not aware of the information in these plans. Staff therefore will not know what the most up-to-date targets are, or be able to encourage young people to meet them. There are some elements of good support to enable young people to break down barriers to learning. Staff have stayed with young people at school or picked them up to share their lunch break when they have found this part of the day difficult. Staff confirm that one young person had been refusing education prior to coming to the home, and they have found ways to engage them in education which is positive.

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Requires improvement

Young people work well with staff to prepare for independence. For example, staff have supported a young person to build up better relationships with their family, in preparation for their move out of the home. The young person’s transition went smoothly and they have taken away a book with their achievements documented. They will be able to reflect on their progress while they were at the home in the future. Staff put great efforts into ensuring that young people’s contacts with people that are important to them can be maintained. Special consideration is given to young people who live a long way from home. One young person has recently been very well supported to visit their family overseas. Young people engage in some enjoyable activities and they have recently been to the seaside, leisure centre, horse riding, cinema and theme parks. Some young people are unhappy about their lack of free time at the moment due to their

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Requires improvement

safeguarding risks. Staff are working hard with them and their social worker to help them to understand their risks before free time can be reinstated.

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Requires improvement

One-to-one sessions between young people and staff are working well. There is evidence of good relationships being forged. Young people are starting to engage with staff about a number of issues such as their safety, education and health. Young people report that their alcohol use is de-creasing. The one-to-one sessions are supporting young people with this as well as with other health issues, such as their self-harm. These sessions allow for some good frank discussions, where young people can talk openly about their health and safety.

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Requires improvement

Safeguarding practice has improved since the last inspection but is not yet good. There are shortfalls in the recording of important safeguarding information. There are a lot of safeguarding incidents, due to young people’s complex safeguarding needs. It can be difficult to establish the full chronology of each event. In one incident, there were several safeguarding concerns about a young person before, and while, they were missing. The records show that the police and social worker had been alerted, but do not clearly show which information was passed to them and when. This is not an isolated incident and there are several examples of where the full details of what has been done and when, could not be established. The poor records would not be of assistance in establishing a timeline should an investigation be needed, and it would prove difficult to monitor safeguarding robustly.

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Requires improvement

Restraints are only used as a last resort. Although there has been an increase since the last inspection, this is not a reflection of poor or unsafe staff responses by staff. They always ensure that restraints are a last resort, for safety reasons and proportionate. Records of restraint generally meet the regulations but do not always give the full details of what happened. For instance, there is sometimes no information about where staff were positioned or if the young person was standing or sitting. This lack of information does not help managers to accurately assess if practice is safe and appropriate.

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Requires improvement

Positive relationships with staff allow young people to share their concerns, worries and experiences about being unsafe. This means that young people engage well with staff, who help them to develop their own sense of safety.

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Requires improvement

The manager deals with allegations about staff in accordance with the company personnel procedures. Young people are therefore protected from adults that may be unsuitable to work with them. Staff know what they must do if they receive an allegation or if they have a concern about a young person. They are developing their knowledge about safeguarding matters well and have received further training since the last inspection regarding safeguarding and child sexual exploitation. They said: ‘We have definitely improved our safeguarding and are more aware of it now’.

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Requires improvement

Staff have particularly improved their practice when young people go missing from care. They are vigilant in their efforts to find them and have collected some helpful intelligence to assist police in their investigations, especially where there are concerns about young people being sexually exploited. Staff show particular determination in their efforts to find young people and to keep in touch with them. They have collected information about visiting cars, friends and possible inappropriate adults. Their joint working with police has ensured that concerns have been escalated.

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Requires improvement

Health and safety is well managed and there are regular checks on the building to ensure that the home is safe.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager has been in post since the home opened in 2014. He is working towards the Level 5 diploma in leadership and management and meets the criteria to manage a children’s home.

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Requires improvement

Ofsted has received several notifications about serious events in the home since the last inspection, demonstrating an unsettled period. The manager has not ensured that Ofsted have been made aware of all safeguarding matters, particularly in relation to child sexual exploitation. This has not allowed the regulator to monitor the safety and well-being of the young people involved.

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Requires improvement

Although the manager monitors young people’s safety, this monitoring is based on information from some poor, and sometimes, inaccurate records. The poor quality of recording does not allow him to robustly monitor events in the home. For example, safeguarding records are not clear about when and how issues have been escalated. The manager needs to ensure that this is rectified, which in turn will make his oversight more accurate. The manager referred to his supervision being weekly in order to improve the effectiveness of monitoring. Most of these weekly records were not available though. He has completed an appraisal with his manager but this contains only basic information and would not stretch or inspire him to develop his own practice further. Given the issues raised at the last inspection, this demonstrates a lack of support for the manager and robust oversight by the registered provider.

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Requires improvement

The registered persons have met the two compliance notices set at the last inspection. There have been improvements to safeguarding practice, particularly in relation to when young people go missing and are at risk of being sexually exploited. There are also improvements in the effectiveness of leadership. New systems have been developed to ensure that all concerns are escalated to the relevant professionals, such as the police and social workers. There is a new concerns folder where staff can raise and document their concerns, which is then overseen and monitored by the manager. The daily logs have been re-designed to ensure that staff are prompted to think more carefully about any concerns that they have at the end of every shift. In addition, there are new weekly and daily checks completed by the manager to make sure that each concern has been escalated to the correct professionals. One social worker was pleased with progress

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Requires improvement

made on information sharing and confirmed that there have been improvements in ‘sharing key safeguarding information’. This now enables social workers to make important and informed decisions about young people’s safety and welfare.

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Requires improvement

The 10 requirements made at the last inspection are met. All young people’s views or complaints are responded to properly and records show that they always receive a response. Staff have taken actions to ensure that young people’s health needs are met. A ‘looked after children’ nurse regularly visits the home to discuss any health concerns, such as the repeated use of alcohol. Staff assist young people to understand their own risks and how to keep themselves safe. They can identify when a young person is at risk and know that they must pass this information on to their manager. Staff training has been strengthened, with all staff receiving a refresher training course on safeguarding and child sexual exploitation. This means that staff are building up their knowledge of how they should protect individuals. Care planning has improved and a clearer picture is presented about young people’s needs and risks. However, further improvements are needed to ensure

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Requires improvement

that all documents, such as behaviour management plans and risk assessments, contain the same information. The address of the children’s home displayed on the internet, allowing unsuitable adults to know where vulnerable young people live, has been removed. The arrangements for the administration of medication are safer and it can be established that young people have received their medicines in accordance with their prescription. Each staff member has now had their individual performance appraised, so that they know what they need to do to improve their practice further.

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Requires improvement

The provider has arranged for there to be an independent visitor to the home to check on the home’s performance. This visitor has completed a detailed account of the strengths and shortfalls, giving the manager a clear picture of how he can make further improvements. These visits are helping to drive improvement.

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Requires improvement

The manager ensures that he considers the best interests of the young people. When young people wish to make a complaint about another professional or about how they have been treated by someone else, they are fully supported. The manager has been a good advocate for young people and he stands up for them when he thinks that they have not been fairly treated. For example, he has recently supported a young person with a concern where they felt they were unfairly treated when they were in hospital.

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Requires improvement

Staff are appropriately supported and feel able to go to their manager if they have a concern. Staff receive regular supervision sessions, giving the manager opportunities to closely monitor their performance. The manager advised Ofsted that he does not have a full staff team and some staff have left since the last inspection. However there are still one-to-one ratios of staff to young people on every shift. This is because there are only two young people in placement. The manager plans to only build up higher numbers of young people as staff develop in their competence and are sufficient in number to provide a good level of care.

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Requires improvement

The manager has ensured that the necessary improvements from the last inspection have been made. Staff and managers now have a clearer understanding of the homes strengths and weakness. They now show commitment to improving young people’s lives.

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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 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 that 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

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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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