Children's home SC363228

Inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean that children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. Their care and experiences are poor and they are not making progress.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Young people do not benefit from robust safeguarding practice. Staff do not rigorously assess all risks or take suitable action to prevent potential harm.  The registered manager and staff lack an in-depth understanding of some serious safeguarding matters, such as child sexual exploitation and the potential risks to young people when they go missing. Consequently, staff do not consistently follow safeguarding procedures when young people are at risk of potential child sexual exploitation. Furthermore, the home has not informed Ofsted of all potential child sexual exploitation concerns as required.  Poor care planning hinders young people‟s progress and development, particularly in relation to their education, training opportunities and health.  The home does not sufficiently challenge other relevant professionals when they fail to carry out their statutory duties to meet young people‟s needs and protect them from harm.

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The children's home provision is inadequate because:

 Leadership and management are not effective, which has resulted in insufficiencies in staffing levels and staff qualifications and training.  Quality assurance within the home is not robust. This is preventing continued improvement and development of the home and young people‟s progress.  The home‟s statement of purpose does not provide an accurate account of the terms and conditions for whom the service is registered. It omits details of the staffing structure and clarity on staff qualifications.

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The children's home strengths

 Young people feel happy, cared for and safe. They have respect for the staff.  The registered manager genuinely cares for the young people in his care and has their best interests at heart.

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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

5. Engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the engaging with the wider system to ensure children's needs are met standard, the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(a) seek to involve each child‟s placing authority effectively in the child‟s care, in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans; (c) if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority's or a relevant person's performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child's needs are met in accordance with the child's relevant plans. 18 November

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, the registered person must ensure that-

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Requirement Due date

(1)(b) children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. 18 November

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Requirement Due date

* 12. The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff-

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Requirement Due date

(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. 18 November

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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 the registered person must: 18 November (2)(c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (d) ensure the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 14. The care planning standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered persons must ensure-

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Requirement Due date

(1)(a) that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children's home. 18 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile, in relation to the children‟s home, a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. In particular, details of the experience and qualifications of all staff. (Regulation 16 (1)) 18 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; and, ensure that the records are kept up to date, with particular reference to proof of staff's qualifications; and, whether the person works at the home full-time or part-time (whether paid or not), and if part-time, the average number of hours worked per week. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)(b), Schedule 4 points (2)(e)(f)) 18 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)) 18 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months; supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(4)(a)) 18 November

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children's home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in Regulation 12 (2)(c) (the protection of children standard). When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2)) 18 November

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to statutory requirement notice.

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Information about this children's home

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 01 February 2016 Interim Declined effectiveness 29 September 2015 Full Good 14 January 2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21 July 2014 Full Adequate

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Inadequate

Ineffective care planning impacts on young people‟s progress and development. Neither of the young people living in the home have a current statutory care plan on their individual files. One young person did not have a placement-planning meeting within the required timescale. As a result, the home does not have a placement plan agreed with the placing authority. This does not ensure that staff have a good understanding of young people‟s individual needs, risks and vulnerabilities. Furthermore, staff have no clear guidance on the type of care and support that they should provide. While responsibility for care planning rests primarily with the placing authority, the home has not fulfilled its legal requirement to successfully engage with other professionals and services, including challenging others when necessary to maximise young people‟s progress and outcomes.

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Inadequate

Poor care planning has impeded young people‟s training opportunities. For example, staff worked hard to obtain a training placement for a young person on a mechanics course. However, following his first week induction to the course, the placement ended due to funding issues. This may have been avoided if the home had been more proactive in ensuring that they understood the initial funding arrangements and then challenging the local authority if they were not in place. Delays in completing another young person‟s education, health and care plan (EHCP) led to the college not receiving essential information on the young person‟s specific educational and behavioural needs. This young person‟s college placement quickly broke down due to the college not having suitable strategies in place to support his behaviour. Despite staff members‟ good efforts to engage young people in suitable training programmes, shortfalls in both the home‟s and the local

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Inadequate

authority‟s care planning has prevented young people from maintaining their training programmes.

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Inadequate

Staff do not fully promote or address young people‟s health needs. There have been significant delays in referring some young people to specialist health services to address their specific needs. Consequently, young people are not benefiting from specialist medical assessments, support and guidance as required.

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Inadequate

Young people report feeling happy, safe, and they said they feel listened to. A young person reflected this in his comments: „This home is well better than the home I lived in before. This house looks like it has been looked after. It‟s like my own house, it‟s like my home. They care for me here.‟ This demonstrates that young people are developing positive relationships with staff and feel cared for and valued. Additionally, young people said that they are prepared for independence and that staff teach them how to cook, clean and attend to their own laundry. However, young people‟s individual placement plans do not reflect this work. Furthermore, young people who are soon to move on to independence do not have statutory pathway plans in place. Despite young people feeling supported to develop basic life skills, the planning for their transition to independence is weak.

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Inadequate

Young people‟s risk assessments are out of date and do not address all potential risks, such as child sexual exploitation. Furthermore, when incidents of potential child sexual exploitation arise, staff do not consistently follow safeguarding procedures. For example, there was no evidence of the home reporting to the relevant professionals, including Ofsted, an incident involving young people distributing illegal sexual images to others through their mobile phones. The registered manager‟s and staff members‟ lack of understanding of such serious matters is hindering a robust response to child sexual exploitation.

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Inadequate

The home lacks clear boundaries on what is acceptable behaviour. Young people have brought inappropriate computer games into the home, including adult-rated games that are extremely violent and promote sexual assaults on females. The registered manager failed to recognise the potential impact this could have on vulnerable young people when the inspector brought this to his attention. Furthermore, some sanctions imposed to help young people to improve behaviour and safety within the home are not followed through and are, therefore, ineffective. Inconsistencies in behaviour management practice are preventing young people from developing a better understanding of what is acceptable and safe behaviour.

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Inadequate

Incidents of missing from care are a concern. Both young people are regularly reported missing, and for one young person the numbers of incidents have significantly increased over the past year. The registered manager and staff do not fully understand the associated risks when young people go missing, such as child exploitation, offending and drug misuse. This was evident in the home‟s missing records, which consistently stated „no risk‟ to the young person when missing. Additionally, young people do not benefit from independent return interviews following each missing episode. Therefore, there are missed opportunities to obtain crucial information to help devise suitable strategies to prevent reoccurrence. The home is not addressing this by means of effectively challenging placing authorities to ensure that they are routinely undertaking their statutory duties when young people go missing. Joint working between the home and other safeguarding professionals who have a

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Inadequate

duty to safeguard young people, such as the police and specialist safeguarding teams, is poor. Staff overlook the escalation of serious missing-from-home incidents and potential child exploitation concerns to multi-disciplinary safeguarding teams. Insufficient collaborative working with all relevant safeguarding professionals is compromising young people‟s welfare and safety.

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Inadequate

The home lacks a daily routine that alerts staff when young people have potentially dangerous items in their bedrooms. During the inspection, a young person with a history of fire-setting had a can of lighter fuel in his bedroom; staff were unaware of this until the inspector pointed it out. His risk assessment clearly stated that he was at a high risk of fire-setting. Shortfalls in staff awareness of potential risks is compromising young people‟s safety within the home.

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Inadequate

Young people do not benefit from clear and consistent boundaries and behaviour management strategies. As a result, some young people continue to place themselves and staff at risk and cause extensive damage to their own and others‟ property. Young people‟s aggressive behaviour towards staff and property has resulted in police attending the home, arrests being made and young people being criminalised. On one occasion, the registered manager refused to accept a young person back into the home after the young person was released from police custody, as he feared for his own safety. On this occasion, the young person had to stay at a hostel for the evening, arranged by his placing authority. This does not support placement stability or enhance the positive relationships between young people and their carers.

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Inadequate

The home‟s updated locality assessment does not demonstrate recent consultation with other relevant professionals nor provide an accurate appraisal of risks within the local area. For example, there have been three recent instances whereby a young person from the home has had their bike stolen while out in the community. No preventative strategies were evident, and young people, therefore, remain vulnerable when out on their bikes in the community.

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Inadequate

Staff have not always been successful at ensuring that young people comply with their youth offending referral orders. This has placed young people at further risk of criminalisation and the prolonging of their orders. In addition, young people are not developing a full understanding of the impact of their offending behaviour.

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Inadequate

The registered manager is also the director and responsible individual for this home. Furthermore, he assumes the role of a residential support worker and undertakes regular shifts at the home. Without a doubt, he genuinely cares for the young people and wants them to achieve their very best. However, ineffective leadership and management is impeding young people‟s progress, welfare and safety.

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Inadequate

The registered manager‟s capacity to manage and lead is extremely limited due to the active role that he plays in providing the hands-on care in the home. This is further jeopardised by weaknesses in the arrangements for his own professional supervision and development. Although he has commissioned an external person to provide him with six-weekly professional supervision, this has not happened. Consequently, leadership lacks continued support, challenge, guidance and regular review of the manager‟s professional development.

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Inadequate

The home does not employ a sufficient number of staff to provide adequate care for each child. Most of the team are either casual workers or part-time. At times, this has resulted in insufficient numbers of staff on shift at the home.

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Inadequate

The registered manager does not have a clear overview of each staff member‟s qualifications, training or professional development needs. Not all staff hold a relevant qualification, neither are they enrolled onto the required course despite having worked at the home for several years. Some qualification certificates were missing from staff‟s employment files, and this further obstructs the manager‟s ability to evaluate staff members‟ learning and suitability for employment.

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Inadequate

Some staff members‟ mandatory training is out of date, including first aid. The manager has no procedure in place for evaluating and testing staff members‟ learning from online training courses. Staff training in restraint is inconsistent and does not adhere to the home‟s aims and objectives as set out in the home‟s statement of purpose. For example, staff have received different types of restraint training from different providers, not the specific training identified in the statement of purpose. Furthermore, annual restraint refresher training has not proceeded as indicated in the home‟s statement of purpose. The registered manager is not ensuring that young people benefit from having their needs and safety attended to by a suitably qualified and well-trained team.

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Inadequate

The home‟s statement of purpose does not reflect an accurate picture of the service. It states that they can accommodate and support children and young people who have a learning disability. However, the home‟s registration does not include this specialist area of work. Staff members‟ qualifications and the home‟s staffing structure is unclear. For example, it does not differentiate between permanent and casual workers or specify if staff members‟ qualifications are relevant to children‟s or adult care.

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Inadequate

Internal service monitoring is insufficient. The registered manager‟s monthly auditing of the service fails to identify shortfalls in the care and protection provided within the home. His six-monthly monitoring reports are not completed and sent to Ofsted within the required timescales, in particular notifications relating to potential child sexual exploitation. Additionally, the home is still not informing Ofsted of all serious safeguarding concerns. Oversights and delays in communication with the regulator obstruct external scrutiny of the home and weaken continued service development.

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Inadequate

Service development is further compromised by the registered manager‟s lack of consideration to external professional feedback. For example, an external professional was commissioned to investigate an allegation made against a member of staff. It was recommended that the registered manager‟s family members, who work at the home, should receive professional supervision from an independent person and not the registered manager. This has not happened.

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Inadequate

The registered manager has addressed only one of the six requirements raised at the last inspection. He has implemented changes to the reporting and recording of complaints. There have not been any complaints since the last inspection, so these changes are yet to be tested. The unmet requirements have been repeated, which further supports inadequacies in the leadership and management of this home.

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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

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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