Children's home run by Beacon Childcare Ltd in Cheltenham

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:

 The young person is not in education. The registered manager and staff have failed to challenge this effectively.  Staff do not meet some aspects of the young person’s health and well-being needs.  The registered manager does not always take effective action when serious incidents occur.  Managers failed to plan the young person’s admission properly.  Staff do not always manage medication safely.  The registered manager does not always ensure that the same staff are available to support the young person.  Not All staff receive adequate training or support.  Not all staff are properly vetted prior to commencing employment.  Some aspects of record-keeping are poor.

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The children's home strengths

 Most staff have strong relationships with the young person.  The registered manager generally makes sure that there is good communication with other agencies.  Family members, and professionals from a range of agencies, are positive about the work of the staff team.

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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 standard, with particular reference to challenge, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

(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. 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, with particular reference to children's health and well-being, the registered person must ensure that:

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Requirement Due date

(a) the health and well-being needs of children are met. 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationships standard, with particular reference to supervision, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to taking action, the registered person must ensure that staff: 18/11/2016 (2)(a)(vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare. 13. The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, with particular reference to staffing, 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

(e) ensure that the home's workforce provides continuity of care to each child. 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, with particular reference to admissions, the registered person must:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b)(i) ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. 18/11/2016

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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. (Regulation 16(1)) 18/11/2016

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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. (Regulation 23(1)) 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children's home if full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

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 which includes a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iv)) 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(b)) 18/11/2016

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Requirement Due date

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(3)) 18/11/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that restraint records also include interventions that restrict a child's liberty of movement. Restrictions such as these, and all other restrictions of liberty of movement, should be recorded as restraint. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 47, paragraph 9.42)  Ensure that the recruitment of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Ensure that all children's case records are stored securely whilst they remain in the home. ('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.3)  Ensure that staff understand the importance of careful, and clear recording.

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Recommendations

('Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards', page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Information about this children's home

The home may only provide care and accommodation for up to four children with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private provider operates the home.

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Recent inspection history

The home was registered in September 2016. This is the first inspection.

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Requires improvement

Most staff have good relationships with the current young person and offer her individually tailored support. The young person talks positively about staff and the care that she receives. Family members, social care staff, youth offending workers, and mental health professionals also hold positive views in this regard. As a result, the young person feels safer. Overall, she is more settled since coming to the home. This is a significant achievement for her. One professional summarised that the young person is ‘iInsightful, polite and engaging.’ However, in other areas her progress is slow. For example, the young person is not currently in formal education. This is hindering her academic progress and her opportunities to socialise with friends. The registered manager and staff have not taken sufficient action to challenge the local authority about this delay.

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Requires improvement

The young person has developed a range of skills that help her to become more independent. This includes shopping, cooking and other household chores. Conversely, staff do not consistently offer adequate support in other areas. This includes support to make sure that basic personal care tasks are satisfactorily undertaken. Nor are staff aware of simple medical information, such as whether the young person’s immunisations are up to date. Staff are not fully meeting the young person’s health and well-being needs because of these shortfalls.

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Requires improvement

Staff generally seek the young person’s views well, taking account of her feedback and using opportunities to discuss issues openly. This helps the young person to feel valued and empowers her to take ownership of aspects of her care. However, on a small number of occasions the registered manager has not adequately recorded complaints made by the young person. This particularly relates to the action he has taken and the outcome. This includes complaints relating to staff practice. This does not allow effective oversight, tracking and monitoring of these issues.

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Requires improvement

The registered manager and staff have developed good relationships with the young person’s family. They are local to the placement. This means that the young person can stay in touch with the people most important to her, in a safe way. The registered manager has also developed good links with a wide range of agencies including mental health services, social care and youth offending. This helps to ensure the effective sharing of information. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

The young person does not go missing. She does not drink, smoke, or take illegal drugs. This helps to reduce other associated risks, including the danger of exploitation. Despite this, staff understand these potential risks and the actions to take should these concerns arise. The young person is safer because of this.

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Requires improvement

Staff have not received sufficient training about how to support young people who may harm themselves. This affects their ability to identify risks, and their skills and confidence in this area. These impact on the quality of the support the young person receives. In addition, the registered manager does not always take timely action when incidents occur. Specifically, on three separate occasions, the young person was able to pick up a knife from the kitchen during times of distress. The registered manager took little action until the third incident had occurred. This delay could have placed the young person or staff at risk.

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Requires improvement

Staff generally offer adequate support and consistent boundaries to the young person should she become upset, aggressive, or unsettled. A professional working for a youth offending team confirmed this, stating, ‘In my view, staff are doing well with her. They are very calm and professional.’ The use of physical restraint is sometimes required. These interventions are proportionate and are necessary to keep staff and the young person safe. Records of these incidents are variable. Some records are very detailed. Other records lack clarity. In particular, staff do not always record each hold or its duration separately. In addition, interventions that restrict the young person’s liberty of movement (for example, by locking a door to an area of the home that is normally accessible) are not recognised or recorded as restraint. These shortfalls affect the oversight that the registered manager has. They also reduce the detail available to the young person should she

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Requires improvement

wish to view her records. Finally, the registered manager did not take effective action when he learned about a previous injury that the young person had sustained. In particular, he did not assess whether the restraint methods used by staff needed to be adapted. Other safeguards limited the impact of this shortfall; however, it had the potential to place the young person at risk of injury. Judgement grade

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Inadequate

Ofsted registered the home in September 2016. A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager has led the team since then.

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Inadequate

One young person has moved to the home. The registered manager and responsible individual failed to plan this move or the young person’s induction effectively. Consequently, they did not identify the training and skills that the staff required. Some staff have not received any training in safeguarding, mental health or other areas specific to the young person’s needs. This affects their confidence and ability to provide individualised care. In addition, the home’s statement of purpose does not include the details, experience or qualifications of all staff. This reduces the information available to the young person, her family, and the professionals who are involved in her care.

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Inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure that sufficient staff are available to provide adequate continuity of care to the young person. This is particularly the case during the night, when a number of different temporary staff are used. Although the registered manager has taken some action to tackle this, the changes are yet to take effect. This affects the day-to-day experiences of the young person and does not prioritise her need for consistency.

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Inadequate

Staff supervision is ineffective and irregular. It fails to highlight key issues. This does not help staff to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to incidents, or to the behaviour of the young person.

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Inadequate

Staff recruitment and vetting practices are inadequate. The registered manager can provide little evidence of checks for temporary staff. Shortfalls also exist in relation to permanent staff. For example, not all staff files show a full employment history. Reasons for leaving previous employment with children or vulnerable adults are insufficiently explored. In addition, verification processes for references are poor. Specifically, the registered manager does not suitably explore anomalies in the information provided or follow up important issues. These shortfalls do not safeguard the young person from potentially unsafe adults.

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Inadequate

The arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, and oversight of medication are not always robust. During one serious incident, the young person could have overdosed on her prescribed medication. On another occasion, a member of staff did not sign the record to indicate whether they had administered a medication. Neither did the registered manager seek medical advice when a medication was refused. These shortfalls have the potential to affect the young person’s health. The registered manager and staff do not keep all of the young person’s case records up to date, for example in relation to plans for her education. This affects the information available to staff and has the potential to cause confusion. Neither do they ensure that all records are clearly completed. For example, records of some incidents are poor. Furthermore, the ‘log book’ does not always show what time staff start and finish their shift. This makes it difficult to investigate should

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Inadequate

concerns or queries about staff practice arise.

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Inadequate

Records are not always stored securely. A number of records are made on loose, unnumbered pages without an adequate chronology. They are therefore not sufficiently tamper-proof and could be removed, or altered.

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Inadequate

The registered manager has started to implement new monitoring processes. These are yet to fully embed but have started to improve his oversight. This has the potential to help him to better identify the strengths and weaknesses of the service and analyse the young person’s progress.

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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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