Children's home run by Time-Out Children’s Homes Limited in Calderdale

Good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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The children’s home provision is good because:

 Young people have benefited from the unconditional support of a very patient and resilient group of staff.  Young people’s views and opinions are valued, and their participation in planning their care and making decisions about the day-to-day running of the home is encouraged and promoted at all times.  Links with partnership agencies are strong and are very effectively used by the manager and staff to ensure that young people receive the services and support required to meet their individual needs and promote their safety and well-being.  Young people’s safety is given a high priority and is consistently promoted through a range of effective safeguarding procedures and well thought out risk-management strategies that are designed to help young people to safely manage their known and emerging needs, behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities.  Management arrangements have significantly improved and the home is

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The children’s home provision is good because:

now effectively managed by a competent and able manager who has high expectations and provides strong, child-focused leadership for staff.  The registered manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and demonstrates a strong commitment to improving the quality of care delivered in the home.

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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

In order to meet the protection of children standard, in particular the standard in paragraph (1), the registered person must ensure—

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Requirement Due date

(2) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and protect each child effectively from harm;

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Requirement Due date

(d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that daily safety checks are thorough and that any potential hazards such as overloaded electrical sockets are made safe. 08/09/2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, in particular the standard in paragraph (1), the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

2 (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

(d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that a competent and suitably skilled staff team is identified for this home prior to the admission of any child. 10/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard 10/10/2016 In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person must ensure that children—

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Requirement Due date

1(b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that deadlines for the discharge of any child are effectively managed so that there is sufficient time to prepare for the admission of another child without impact on the one who is leaving. 31: Staffing of children’s homes

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the staffing of children’s homes standard, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31(2)(a)). 10/10/2016

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Requirement Due date

35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the behaviour management policies and records standard, the registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made. (Regulation 35(3)(a)). 10/10/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 For the children’s home be a homely environment the registered person should ensure that all outstanding repairs to the home are completed prior to the admission of any young person. ('Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)  The registered person should ensure that staff complete any outstanding core training. ('Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)

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Information about this children’s home

This is one of a number of children’s homes operated by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The organisation also has a small therapy department as well as primary and secondary education provisions that young people can access if appropriate.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 10/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 17/12/2015 Full Requires improvement 28/01/2015 Full Adequate 21/08/2014 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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Good

Two young people have lived at the home since the last inspection, one of whom had lived there for over two years before making a planned return to his placing authority. Good support was provided for the young person who was offered many opportunities to build on his past successes, including a reduction in offending and risk-taking behaviour. The manager was accommodating to the placing authority when identified placements fell through, extending the placement on a number of occasions. However, this resulted in the move taking place the day before the next young person moved in, which did not allow sufficient time for staff to prepare the home without impacting negatively on the young person leaving. For example, redecorating his bedroom on the day he was moving only contributed to his anxieties about leaving the home.

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Good

The staff team changed following the admission of a young person from another of the organisation’s homes. Staff from his home moved with him to promote continuity in an effort to break the cycle of absconding and manage his highly risky behaviour. Despite staff’s best efforts and their multi-agency approach, this behaviour continued to be a major concern for staff and all the professionals involved in his care. Managers recognised that they could not keep this young person safe and that an alternative, more specialist provision was needed. This was highlighted to the placing authority prior to notice of discharge being given. Consequently, at the time of the inspection, there were no young people living at the home and managers confirm that there are no plans to admit a new young person in the immediate future.

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Good

Young people have benefited from the care and support of resilient staff who demonstrate a tolerant commitment to keeping them safe. They have been offered a range of well-supported opportunities to address their behaviours and improve their lives. Staff make every effort to create a caring and supportive environment where young people feel safe, valued and respected. They have worked hard to encourage young people to take control of their lives and to make positive decisions about their future. They have persevered and made every effort to overcome the obstacles that young people have presented, including overtly challenging and risk-taking behaviour and variable levels of positive engagement with staff.

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Good

Young people are encouraged and supported to maintain good physical health. Staff talk to young people about the importance of maintaining a safe and healthy lifestyle, which includes good diet and exercise, and opportunities to achieve this are routinely offered. Young people have at times been reluctant to attend routine and specialist appointments but through perseverance their levels of engagement have improved to variable degrees. For example, one young person has been supported to overcome his reluctance to attend dental appointments, which is the start of a process to address the significant amount of dental work he requires. There are opportunities for young people to receive specialist support from the organisation’s therapy team, which leads staff in delivering behaviour management. Furthermore, the services of specialist agencies are sought when necessary. For example, the manager has been proactive in her efforts to get one

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Good

young person a specialist assessment following concerns about sexually harmful behaviour.

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Good

Staff recognise the importance of education and make every effort to promote young people’s attendance. They work closely with the organisation’s school in an effort to provide each young person with an individualised timetable, which is a combination of school-based and home tuition. Despite this flexible approach and the efforts of staff, levels of engagement in education have been poor since the last inspection, in particular for one young person who completely refused to engage in the latter stages of his placement.

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Good

Young people are offered a wide range of recreational activities. Staff source activities based on young people’s interests and hobbies, and they encourage them to pursue these. Young people attend scouts, go to the gym, swim and go to the cinema, for example. Levels of engagement are mixed, with one young person doing lots of fun activities and another choosing not to do much, preferring to spend time on his games console or free time in the community.

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Good

Young people are encouraged to maintain links with their family if it is safe to do so. Staff work closely with social workers to ensure that the parameters for safe and purposeful contact are in place. They give practical support such as providing transport and, where appropriate, direct supervision. This ensures that young people can sustain positive, safe and productive relationships with the key people in their lives.

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Good

The daily routine is planned around young people’s individual needs and preferences. Young people are encouraged and provided with many opportunities to express their opinions about their care. Staff encourage them to attend and participate in meetings, and support them to contribute in making decisions. For example, young people complete a ‘likes and dislikes’ document that is presented and considered at each young person’s statutory review. This is a useful tool when young people struggle to articulate their views in this forum.

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Good

There have been a number of improvements to the home since the last inspection, including redecoration and carpeting of a number of rooms. However, one young person has caused damage in a number of areas and although most of this has been repaired and made safe, a number of improvements are still required before any young person is admitted. For example, damaged doors need either replacing or repairing, and minor damage to paintwork needs repainting. The manager is undertaking a review of the accommodation to consider ways of making some areas safer, for example improving ways to restrict access to the attic.

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Good

Young people are well protected by a range of safeguarding measures, such as systems for dealing with safeguarding concerns and allegations. Staff are trained in safeguarding, including around child sexual exploitation, and are fully aware of their safeguarding responsibilities. Staff practice is reinforced by good links with a range of agencies, including the police and the substance misuse team. The manager, who brings a wealth of safeguarding experience from her past career as a social worker, is proactive in her efforts to involve the right agencies when there are concerns. This includes the management of allegations against staff, of which there have been two. Both were effectively managed in the best interests of each young person, including the referral to and involvement of the local authority designated officer.

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Good

Both young people who have lived at this home came with high-risk behaviours such as involvement in criminal activity, going missing and sexually harmful behaviour. Staff know young people well and demonstrate a good understanding of each young person’s individual behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities. They talk to young people about the consequences of their risk-taking behaviour and encourage them to make better choices about keeping themselves safe. The effectiveness of this approach is notably different for the two young people who have lived in this home, relative to their time in placement. For example, significant improvement can be seen in the reduction of offending behaviour, incidents of aggression and missing from home for one, while the other continued to escalate his risk-taking behaviour to the point that staff could no longer manage this safely.

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Good

Missing from home has been a major challenge for staff over recent months. Despite their best efforts, one young person has continued to go missing regularly, travelling significant distances on a number of occasions. When the young person has gone missing, staff have made every effort to maintain supervision, informing the police when they have lost sight of them. Multi-agency strategy meetings have been held regularly to ensure that a coordinated response is made based on the young person’s individual behaviours, risks and vulnerabilities. Strategies are recorded in the young person’s individual safety plan, which provides comprehensive guidance for staff to follow. This includes preventative strategies such as involving the young person in positive activities and maintaining high levels of supervision, and the action that staff should take if they cannot account for the young person’s whereabouts. An officer from the police specialist child exploitation

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Good

team said, ‘(Name) is a big concern due to his behaviour and the risk he poses to the community. The manager and staff have worked well with the police. They have attended and been fully involved in strategy meetings and have made every effort to put plans in place. They could do no more than they did.’

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Good

There is a necessary focus on the use of compromise, discussion and de-escalation as a means of managing negative behaviour and avoiding the need for physical intervention. This is because it would be difficult for most staff to physically restrain young people safely because of young people’s stature and the risk of staff doing this on their own. At times, staff have demonstrated a great deal of resilience in managing some extremely challenging behaviour which has posed a risk to them. Support from within the organisation has been available when necessary. A combination of sanctions and restorative responses to negative behaviour have been used when necessary. However, records of these consequences are not being maintained.

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Good

Staff are trained in behaviour management, including the use of physical restraint. The manager confirmed that on one occasion it had been necessary for a member of staff to use an unapproved ‘nose pinch technique’ to prevent a young person from choking and to remove a lighter from him, which he was using to set fires in the house. The manager took action to address the use of the inappropriate technique with the member of staff but did not ensure that this incident is recorded as a physical restraint.

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Good

The registered manager was appointed in April 2016 and brings a wealth of social care experience and expertise with her. She is social work trained and is currently enrolled to complete the level 5 diploma, which will give her the relevant qualifications for her management role. She also manages another home within the company, dividing her time between the two.

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Good

There have been no young people living at this home since 23 August 2016. Staff have been redeployed to other homes in the organisation and there is currently no dedicated staff team. When the home was occupied, young people were cared for by a small team of individuals who provided one-to-one support. Lone working risk assessments are in place and there is an expectation that staff working at this home have completed their probationary period and have been successfully signed off as competent to work on their own. Every effort is made to match the team to the young person. For example, the young person who was previously at the home and had moved from another home within the organisation brought his core team of three staff with him. This means that he was cared for by staff who knew him and had a relationship with him, but, more importantly, knew what action to take to minimise the impact of his risk-taking behaviours.

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Good

All staff who have worked in the home are either qualified or are in the process of completing a relevant care qualification. They receive regular purposeful supervision from the manager and have their performance appraised at least annually. Each member of staff has a personal development plan, which clearly identifies how they can acquire the core competencies relative to their role. They are provided with a range of mandatory and needs-led training opportunities. A number of these are online training, which staff are expected to take responsibility for completing. However, records confirm that one member of staff has not completed refresher courses in safeguarding or medication management. Furthermore, the manager has failed to pick up that this member of staff’s first aid qualification expired in July 2016. This means that the requirement to have at least one first aid qualified person on duty has not been achieved for over a month,

p.11

Good

although it is acknowledged that this shortfall has not compromised the safety of young people.

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Good

This is the manager’s first post as a children’s home manager. Despite her lack of experience in this role, she demonstrates an enormous amount of potential and has made a positive impact on the way the home is run. Improved monitoring and oversight means that the manager has developed a good understanding of the home’s strengths and has taken steps to make improvements when necessary. Areas for development are recorded in the form of development and action plans, which are monitored and regularly reviewed by the manager. The manager confirms that these plans will be reviewed prior to reopening the home. This will ensure that they fit the overall aims and objectives of the home; these are currently being reviewed by senior managers in the organisation.

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Good

Good progress has been made in addressing the requirements and recommendations from the previous inspection. Concerns relating to the unauthorised use of the telephone have been fully investigated and procedures for the management of medication have improved. There is good evidence of the manager using monitoring systems to make continuous improvement, including the home’s records, which are now well organised, of a better quality and mostly up to date. Fire risk assessments make clear what action staff should take should a young person refuse to evacuate the building in the event of a fire. Procedures are now in place to ensure that young people are provided with independent return interviews following their being missing from home, and there is good evidence of the manager challenging shortfalls in staff practice. Further work is required to raise staff awareness about recognising and removing potential hazards. For

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Good

example, action has been taken to remove the portable heater from a young person’s bedroom but staff have failed to recognise and remove the inherent risk posed by nine plugs running off one socket in the lounge.

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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 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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