Children's home run by Care 4 Children Holdco Limited in Stockport

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 enjoy positive relationships with staff.  The staff team is largely consistent and provides clear and consistent boundaries for young people.  There is a warm and welcoming atmosphere in the home.  Young people know that staff care about them and want them to make the most of the opportunities on offer to them.  All young people are engaging well with the organisation’s education provision.  Young people are beginning to engage with the organisation’s therapeutic support.  Young people engage in a wide variety of activities with staff.  Staff have positive working relationships with local authorities and other partner agencies.  Staff support young people to remain in contact with their families and friends.

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The children's home provision is good because:

Areas for improvement include:  Ensure that records, including risk assessments, incident records, fire drill procedures, staff recruitment documentation and staff training are up to date.

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions which must be taken so that the registered person(s) meet(s) 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

12: The protection of children standard (2) In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure: (a) that staff (i) assess whether the child is at risk of harm, taking account information in the child's relevant plan, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; and (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. This specifically refers to risk assessments that should be updated following any incident and records that should give a clear and unambiguous account of any incidents that occur. 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

25: Fire precautions The registered person must ensure, by means of fire drills and practices at suitable intervals, that persons working at the home and, so far as reasonably practicable, children are aware of the procedure to be followed in case of fire. This specifically refers to staff and young people new to the home who should experience a fire drill as soon as reasonably practicable. (Regulation 25(1)(d)) 16/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

32: Fitness of workers The registered person should ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to individuals working in the home, in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. This specifically refers to documentary evidence of any qualifications. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 16/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child's day-to-day health and well-being needs are met, and specifically that staff follow up dental appointments for young people and provide guidance on the effects of smoking. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs, and should understand the key role that they play in the training and development of staff in the home, and specifically the identification of training for staff on drug awareness and self- harming behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home

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Recommendations

and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

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Information about this children's home

This children’s home is one of a number operated by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

This the first inspection of the service following re-registration.

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Good

Living in the home has a positive impact on the progress and outcomes of the young people who live here. They benefit from a consistency of care, as the staff team is largely stable. This helps young people to stabilise and feel safe, as they learn to trust staff and become confident in the responses that they will receive from them. Positive relationships exist between staff and young people. One young person commented, ‘I think this is a good place to live. It is much better than I thought it would be. The staff do really care about us.’ Young people enjoy spending time with staff and they engage in a range of activities together. Currently, they enjoy fishing, playing football, the skate park and the trampoline park. They also enjoyed a holiday to Scarborough over the summer. Young people’s placements in the home are generally planned. Staff visit the young person initially to tell them about the home. They then have the opportunity to visit

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Good

and meet staff and other young people, prior to moving in. This helps to reduce the inevitable anxiety of a placement move. Young people know that staff want them to make the most of the opportunities that are available to them while they live here. They engage in regular key-worker sessions that encourage young people to think about their actions and make the right choices. Staff are skilled at judging the right time to have these conversations, so that they have the best effect. All the current residents attend the organisation’s in-house education provision. This offers a vocationally based alternative curriculum. Young people have the opportunity to take part in a range of practical activities, such as motor sports. Young people, who have become disaffected with education, are now attending daily and making educational progress. They are now motivated to learn and are achieving nationally recognised qualifications, which will help them to find

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Good

employment in the future. Staff help young people to learn the skills that they will need when they move on from the home. However, overall, young people are not engaging constructively in any formal plan for independence, although they are learning to manage their own money and help staff do the shopping and cooking. Young people often present challenging behaviour. Staff help them to learn how to regulate their responses more effectively. They are cared for in accordance with their individualised placement plans, receiving incentive rewards for positive behaviour. Young people understand this system and respond well to it. The manner in which young people have moved on from the home since the last inspection has been variable. One young person moved without preparation following a serious incident, but another made a planned move to his area of origin. This was carefully managed and successful. He has kept in touch with staff,

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Good

and the inspector spoke with this young person during the inspection. He was very positive about his experiences in the home saying, ‘Staff really supported me during my time at [X - Name of the home]. They were really great in helping me move. [X] was the first home that I actually felt settled in. I had lived in six places before this. I talk about the home all the time. I also ring staff up to chat to them. I will never forget them. I’m doing well now. I’m going to college and have a part- time job. This is thanks to the staff at [X].’ This demonstrates the significance of the relationships established here and the positive impact that this had on the young person and his future. Staff register young people with appropriate healthcare practitioners on their admission to the home. Each young person has a healthcare plan containing the specifics of their care. However, when one young person was unable to attend a

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Good

dental appointment, a follow-up appointment was not chased in a timely manner. Similarly, all young people living in the home choose to smoke, but staff have yet to engage them in any work that encourages them to look at the long-term effects of this, or to consider incentives for young people to quit smoking. The organisation employs a psychologist. Consequently, young people are beginning to engage with therapy on a regular basis, which is beneficial to their welfare. One social worker commented, ‘My young person is now seeing the home’s therapist. This is a major step forward. This wasn’t done formally. Rather, it happened as a result of the therapist ‘dropping into’ the home, so that the young person became familiar with her. Consequently, young people are learning to cope with historical experiences and are developing their own coping mechanisms. The therapist is also available for staff consultation, offering advice on how to approach

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Requires improvement

Young people reported that they feel safe living in this home. They believe that staff do their best to keep them safe. They have details about agencies that they can contact for support if they need to, and they know how to make a complaint. Young people are confident that staff will take any issues that they raise seriously. The rules of the home, and staff expectations about reasonable behaviour, are clear. Young people also say that any sanctions that are imposed are clear and applied fairly. Staff are trained in the safe use of restraint. There has been an increase in such incidents since the last inspection. Many of these relate to newly admitted young people, as they struggle with the boundaries in the home, and while they learn to live alongside each other. Records are kept of any incidents that occur, which demonstrate the need for the intervention. Staff and young people receive support following any incident.

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Requires improvement

Similarly, incidents of young people going missing from the home have increased since the last inspection. On one occasion, a young person sustained a serious injury after running away from staff while out of the home. On this and other occasions, appropriate action is taken by staff when young people are missing from home, to try to locate them. They work well with the police to achieve this. However, discrepancies were evident between different records kept in the home, regarding the incident above when the young person was injured, which is of concern, and this had not been identified prior to this inspection. Impact risk assessments highlight the presenting needs of any new admission to the home and demonstrate the young person’s compatibility with current residents. Similarly, personalised risk assessments inform staff about the pertinent issues for each young person and ensure that they are alert to their specific behaviours.

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Requires improvement

However, these are not always updated in a timely fashion, and staff are not therefore fully informed of when they may need to increase their vigilance in certain areas. Staff recruitment processes are largely satisfactory. The required pre-employment checks are completed, but documentary evidence of childcare qualifications is not always evident. A range of health and safety checks are regularly completed and updated to ensure the safety of young people. A new door alarm system has been installed to alert staff to young people leaving their bedrooms during the night. Regular fire drills take place. New residents receive information on how to evacuate the home in an emergency. However, they do not always have the opportunity to participate in a full fire drill for a number of weeks. This would ensure that they are confident of the action to take in the event of an emergency.

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Good

The registered manager has managed the home for over three years. She also had responsibility for another home in the organisation for a number of months, but she has relinquished this role and is now solely the manager of this home. She has the necessary skills, qualifications and experience to manage the home. An experienced deputy manager is in place to support her. Together, they provide enthusiastic leadership and have the respect of staff and young people living in the home. They empower staff to make decisions and do not undermine their status with young people. Since the last inspection, a different provider is now responsible for this home, which has continued to be operational throughout the re-registration process with Ofsted. The last inspection resulted in one recommendation relating to consultation with young people: acting on and feeding back to young people’s requests. This has now been addressed and, as a result, young people’s clothing allowance has

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Good

been increased to a level which appears reasonable, although young people continue to request more. The external monitoring of the home takes place regularly, and the provider sends reports to Ofsted, as required. A development plan is in place, which helps to focus on where improvements can be made in the home. Individual staff members take responsibility for leading on specific tasks. This helps to ensure that these matters progress. However, this inspection identified a number of weaknesses in management monitoring. These included incorrect names on documents, gaps in some documentation and delay in sending an update of the statement of purpose to Ofsted. The manager took action to rectify these issues during the inspection. Staff usually receive regular supervision and performance appraisal, and they report that these are beneficial to their practice. However, recently there has been some slippage in terms of timescales. The manager is acutely aware of this and has

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Good

plans in place to address this. The majority of staff have a level 3 childcare qualification, and the remaining three are in the process of obtaining one. Staff speak positively about the support and training that they receive, but training opportunities to meet the specific needs of young people resident at the home have not been sourced in a timely way, for example training in drug awareness and self-harming behaviour. Consequently, staff do not always have the skills necessary to provide young people with the best support. Liaison with other agencies is effective. Other professionals speak positively about staff communication. Comments include: ‘I have a really good working relationship with the home’, ‘Staff are very proactive and make sure that young people are safeguarded’ and ‘There is good communication between the home and me. We work together to try to ensure good outcomes for the young person.’

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Good

There have been two complaints made by third parties since the last inspection. These relate to neighbourhood issues. Managers take these seriously and act upon them. For example, soundproofing to some walls in the property has been carried out, and the manager is in regular contact with community leaders. The home is warm and welcoming and has a homely atmosphere. It is decorated to a good standard and located in a pleasant residential area, close to the beach and within easy access to the town centre. It is indistinguishable from other residential properties.

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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 whom 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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