Children's home run by Woodlands House (Birmingham) Limited in Wolverhampton

inspection

The home was subject to a restriction of accommodation order between 15 July and 25 August 2016. The home complied with that order.

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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:

 Ofsted judged the home to be inadequate at a full inspection three months ago. There have been improvements and the situation at the home is calmer and safer. However, there are continuing inadequacies in leadership and management.  The current manager has not established his fitness to register with Ofsted and is leaving when a replacement is appointed. Managerial arrangements going forward are uncertain. Internal monitoring systems are inconsistent. The registered person has not independently evaluated the quality of the service since the last inspection and has not demonstrated a capacity to prioritise actions to improve.  Information about the home in its statement of purpose does not give sufficient information about staff skills, qualifications and experience. The statement describes a quality and ethos that is not yet in place.  Recruitment checks for agency staff and to demonstrate robust decision

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

making about fitness are still not good enough. Staff records and the rota do not meet regulation.  Behaviour management policy and schemes for physical intervention are still not sufficiently clear. Policy, practice and recording of how and why staff physically intervene to manage children’s behaviour are still vague or unreliable. Restraints are still not adequately monitored by the manager or the responsible individual. Neither is fully trained in the home’s preferred system of physical intervention.  Staff induction, supervision and some aspects of training are still not good enough, for example, in first aid and in behaviour management.  Children’s complaints and concerns about the home are still not well managed. Their in-house care plans are still too complicated, have no aims or goals to ensure that children reach milestones and are rather a record of what staff have done. Direct work is also not well focused on the aims of the

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The children's home provision requires improvement because:

placement.  Systems to manage the administration of prescribed medication are weak. Children do not receive their prescribed medication.

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The children's home strengths

 Staff give good support to help children progress in education and support their contact with family.  Support for Muslim children’s religious identity is good.  A stable, small staff team offers commitment to children.

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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

13. The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children's home that: (2)(a) is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home's statement of purpose; (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous

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Requirement Due date

improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

14. The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, in respect of delivering the aims of the children’s relevant plans through direct or key work by staff, the registered person must ensure that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. The registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent 31/01/2017 with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)(5))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (2)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular, medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(b)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must appoint a person to manage the children’s home. (Regulation 27 (1)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children's safety. (Regulation 32 (1)(4)) 30/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction, that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)(4)(a)(b)) 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children's home. They must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. They 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 which includes a description of the measure and its duration, details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure and the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(2)(3)(a)(iv)(v)(vii)) 31/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4, ensure that the records are kept up to date and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. This relates to staffing records for all staff, agency and bank staff, and the naming of staff in the rota. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)(b)(c)) 31/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children. In particular, the procedure must provide that no person who is the subject of a 31/01/2017 complaint takes any part in its consideration or investigation, except at the informal resolution stage if the registered person considers it appropriate. The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (1)(2)(3))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children, the feedback and opinions of children about the children's home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it, and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. This review must be sent to HMCI within 28 days and must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c)(4)(a)(5)) 31/01/2017

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned children’s home is the only one operated by the registered person, who is also the responsible individual. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children with emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 16/08/2016 Monitoring of restriction N/A 13/07/2016 Full Inadequate 18/02/2016 Interim Declined effectiveness 30/06/2015 Full Requires improvement

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people living in the home

Since the home has cared for only two children, stability and quality of care has been more even. A consistent staff team has given children one-to-one attention. Children broadly get on and staff are alert to incidents of bullying and manipulation. Children say that the care is ‘OK’, if strict. Placing authorities acknowledge that children would rather be somewhere else, preferably at home. Children do have trusting relationships with some staff. Staff are mindful of children’s backgrounds, the progress that they have made and the next step in their lives. Children have been away on a successful summer holiday. They plan their leisure time with staff, including weekend trips to the cinema, shopping centres, amusement centres and playing on bikes in the local park. Hopes for children to join football and athletic clubs have not been successful. Despite staff efforts, children’s social worlds are limited to school and activities with adults.

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people living in the home

Children have not built up local or school friendships that extend into the life of the children’s home. Their primary relationships are with staff and they have not developed independent social lives appropriate to their age. Staff support the family visiting arrangements planned by the local authority, and children can have their brothers to visit and play in the large well-equipped, child- friendly garden. Staff share one Muslim young person’s faith and take him to the local mosque. They pray together and make sure that he has what he needs. He is helped to understand familial relationships within a positive Islamic context. However, there is little evidence of any direct work with other children regarding their identity and sense of self. Support for education is good and young people go to school, do home study with tutors and complete homework. Staff link well with schools and have a daily awareness of what is happening for them. They are currently monitoring a difficult

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people living in the home

transition to senior school and link well with partners about education, health and care plan assessments. The single placing authority reports constructive contact between staff and other professionals in children’s lives, such as with school. They say that staff ‘Communicated well and attended personal education plan and school transition meetings.’ Improvement is required. Medication arrangements are poor. Staff make the decision to cease prescription medication without consultation with the prescribing medical practitioner. Records about children’s meetings with the doctor lack crucial detail about medical advice, so children do not get the treatment that they need. Internal care plans are not meaningful for children, nor do they drive the work of staff. They are excessively complicated at over 70 pages and are a rolling record of updates to information. Records of direct work do not link to the goals identified in

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people living in the home

some children’s local authority review reports. For example, there has been no direct work about sexual relationships, relationships or identity for one child. There is no life story work and no plan for preparation for transition to children’s next placements, though in practice staff do talk to children, where appropriate, about this. Despite this, placing authorities are positive. They say that ‘Staff were very supportive and aware of the young person’s needs’. One social worker said, ‘This is the most secure placement (the child) has experienced. He has been offered stability and consistency. He is encouraged in all areas of his development.’

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people are helped and protected

Adequate health and safety arrangements now keep children safe from the risk of fire. Hazardous chemicals are now safely stored. Fire safety systems have been approved by the local fire service, following improvements to the fire risk assessment, fire doors and alarm. Risks in daily life are minimised as children are never alone in, or outside, the home. Current one-to-one staffing ratios mean that staff give children close attention. The environment is much safer. Written policy and procedure for safeguarding are also improved, as is staff training in child protection. The procedure has not been tested as there have been no safeguarding concerns. Children here have not gone missing and are not at active risk of exploitation. The placing authority has expressed no concerns about the safety and welfare of their children at the home. Despite this, significant improvements are still required in how the service helps

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people are helped and protected

and protects children. The help that children get to manage their behaviour is still not consistent. Children get a varying response when they become anxious, for example at bedtime. All three of the physical interventions since July have taken place then. There is no learning about this over the last three months and no sense of a strategic approach to defusing tension to avoid restraint in what have been low level challenges by children to staff. The new behaviour management policy is now up to date with current legislation, but does not detail strategies for staff to de-escalate anxious behaviour. It is not connected to the home’s preferred training in physical intervention. The manager and new staff have not had full training in the home’s physical intervention scheme, which is not a named scheme. They do not restrain children. There is no guidance for staff about the physical intervention scheme or how it is used on a

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people are helped and protected

continuum of positive behaviour management techniques. Managerial review of the new ‘tamper proof’ hard copy records of physical intervention is also very variable, from satisfactory to non-existent. Where the manager notes that restraint could have been avoided, he does not follow up swiftly with staff to improve practice. Staff involved in restraint make the decision themselves that they do not require a debrief and there is no record that a senior staff member has spoken to them about the incident. Records still do not meet the regulatory minimum and the manager confirms that what staff write does not match what they later tell him has happened. Recruitment procedures for permanent and agency staff are not improved and do not evidence a rigorous process. The registered person has no documented system for decision making about which staff are suitable to work with children. For example, there is no record of his assessment or decision when information is

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people are helped and protected

raised through vetting checks. Staff records for agency staff do not show that they have been safely recruited. This information is incomplete. The manager is still not trained in how to recruit staff safely and does not do so. Risks in children’s plans are not well defined. For example, the current restrictions described by the manager about children’s freedom outside the home are not documented in any plan. Children do not have opportunities to play alone in the community without constant adult supervision. Internet use is supervised, but there are no parental controls on the home’s Wi-Fi system and this aspect of risk is not included in the safeguarding policy.

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leaders and managers

Management of the home continues to be, despite some improvements, ineffective overall. There is still not a permanent registered manager. The previous registered manager has now cancelled her registration with Ofsted. The current manager, appointed in December 2015, and qualified, has not been able to demonstrate ‘fitness’ with Ofsted and has withdrawn his application to register. A replacement manager has not yet been recruited. The responsible individual hopes that the current manager will stay to handover to the next manager. Significant improvements required at the last inspection have not been fully delivered. For example, the core function of helping children with emotional and behavioural difficulties is still not good enough. The new statement of purpose, which has not been sent to Ofsted, is improved but still lacks detail about staff, their skills, experience and qualifications. It states that the home ‘Employs a

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leaders and managers

certified programme for managing challenging behaviours which is approved by our local authority.’ This is not the case. It also advertises a quality, including social pedagogy and about how children’s complaints will be managed, which does not happen in practice. Ofsted has received another complaint about ‘malpractice and manipulation of documentation’ at the service. This inspection found no evidence that records had been falsified or of any intent to mislead. There has been no improvement in internal systems to monitor the quality of care. The registered person had not completed a satisfactory review of the quality of care that includes consultation with stakeholders or improvement. The registered person has never demonstrated, through successive Ofsted inspections, that he has the capacity to exercise managerial oversight to independently identify, or achieve, the improvement required to be good.

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leaders and managers

Huge internal care plans for children do not identify any plan, goals or aims. Without a plan, it is consequently difficult for the registered person to gauge or demonstrate children’s progress, other than anecdotally. There is no evidence that the registered person learns from children’s expressed views in complaints or concerns raised by them. Children’s experience of the manager taking their concerns seriously is still not good enough. They do not have confidence in the home’s complaints procedure and information about how staff will manage complaints is not consistent across the policy, statement of purpose or children’s guide. Where a complaint names the manager, he still does not pass that to the responsible individual. Children lose confidence in things being sorted out at the home. Induction of new staff is still not robust. Staff care for children alone and after only a briefing about fire safety. They are not supervised at the rate described by the

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leaders and managers

registered person in the statement of purpose. Some staff have had no supervision at all since they started work. Not enough staff hold the qualification in first aid. The rota shows that there is not always a member of staff with a first aid qualification on shift overnight. No staff have had training in what to do if a child goes missing from care. They are untrained in keeping children safe online. The manager and two new staff have done only one day of what is supposed to be a two day course in physical intervention. The registered person has taken action to meet 12 of the previous 21 requirements. This inspection raises two more, to improve medication administration systems and to appoint a manager with appropriate experience, qualifications and skills. There have been no serious incidents that have required notification. The manager has begun, but not completed, consultation about the location of the children’s home. The registered person has told Ofsted about the

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leaders and managers

change in the registered company’s address and has removed misleading information about additional trustees in the organisation. The registered person has appointed an independent visitor who has begun to report, but does not yet have permission to look at children’s records. Work has begun to improve some policies. The small core team is better able to respond to the needs of the two children living at the home because Ofsted restricted the admission of any further children for a six-week period. Staffing arrangements do now deliver consistency of care for children and the registered person has provided face-to-face training for staff in safeguarding and fire safety, as well as other online training. More staff are achieving and enrolling on the level 3 qualification in working with children. Few agency staff are now used. The appearance in children’s areas of the home is improving. The level of cleanliness and repair in children’s bedrooms and

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leaders and managers

bathrooms is now adequate. However, the decor in children’s bedrooms and bathrooms is not yet good enough. It is still not of a high standard. There is now independent scrutiny of the safety and welfare of children through monthly visits and reports. There is an expressed commitment among staff and from the registered person to children. Staff say that they want better consistency among the team about children’s rules and routines, for example, at bedtime. They talk about this at their staff meetings. Professionals in the placing authority and in education are positive about their experience of the staff and manager. They say that children have experienced stability and that staff are supportive. They say that ‘Staff attend meetings, produce reports and liaise well with the social worker.’ Staff and the registered person certainly have ‘stickability’ with children. They offer a commitment to maintain placements. It remains for the registered person to

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leaders and managers

demonstrate that they can do more, and independently and effectively deliver good care overall.

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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

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

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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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