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

Good

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

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

 The young person benefits from living in a small solo home, and consequently receives a highly individualised care package, with high levels of support daily.  The young person lives in a homely and nurturing environment in which staff provide high-quality support, ensuring that specific support agencies are in place to meet the young person’s individual needs. Consequently, the young person has made some progress from his individual starting point since living in the home.  The staff team benefits from a motivated manager, who is committed to supporting both the young person and staff team members to achieve their potential and to secure continual improvement in the quality of care provided in the home.  The staff say that they are well supported in their role by the manager, and have regular supervision and team meetings. They participate in regular training. This ensures that they are well equipped to meet the individual

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The children’s home’s provision is good because:

needs of any young person placed in the home.  The manager and staff team develop very good relationships with professionals involved with the care and support of the young person. This is because of effective communication.  Shortfalls raised at this inspection have not had a significant impact on the welfare of the young person. Areas for improvement raised at this inspection include ensuring that: — Records are kept up to date, including records of key discussions between young people and individual staff members. — Risk management plans are kept under review and updated as required. — The manager reviews any imposed consequences for effectiveness, and ensures that the young person has had the opportunity to discuss the consequences with a member of staff. — The manager reviews each episode of missing from home, to identify if staff require any further training or support.

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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

The registered person must ensure that staff assess whether the child is at risk of harm, in particular to ensure that risk assessments are kept up to date and that the agreed strategies are followed. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)) 30/12/2016

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that for the use of any measure imposed a record is made which includes the effectiveness and any consequence of the use of the measure and confirmation that a person authorised by the registered person has spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(vii)(c)) 30/12/2016

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further, the service should take account of the following recommendations:  Ensure that records detailing all individual incidents when young people go missing from home include an evaluation to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.31)

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Recommendations

 All children’s case records must be kept up to date and stored securely while they remain in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Information about this children’s home

This service is a privately run children’s home. The home provides care and accommodation for up to two young people with behavioural and/or emotional difficulties.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/05/2016 Interim Not judged 09/03/2016 Interim Not judged 29/04/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/02/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness

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Good

The young person benefits from individualised care. This is because he lives in a solo placement with high levels of staff support to meet his specific needs. The young person is placed at the centre of the home. The manager and staff speak positively about the progress he has made since living in the home. The small staff team provides the young person with consistency and stability. The staff comment: ‘We are good at being consistent and have clear boundaries in place, X gets on well with us.’

p.6

Good

The young person’s views are fundamental to the running of the home and are routinely heard through regular one-to-one sessions and daily conversations. Weekly routines and activities are based on the individual’s preference. However, records are not routinely being kept of key conversations. This is a missed opportunity to record the journey of the young person during the placement and to enable the manager to have an overview of the quality of care in the home.

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Good

At the start of the placement, the young person engaged in a number of activities provided by the staff team and enjoyed a summer holiday. However, linked to his recent behaviour the young person has refused a number of planned and suggested activities. Despite this, the staff team continues to offer activities to re- engage him in the placement and to broaden the young person’s experiences. As a result, the young person has recently enjoyed a quad biking activity with a member of staff.

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Good

The young person has a full-time education placement, and he benefits from a bespoke timetable, which encourages engagement in both vocational and core subjects. However, despite an initial engagement in education, his attendance has significantly reduced. The manager and staff continue to work tirelessly to encourage and support the young person to re-engage in education. Initially, the young person was successful in negotiating work experience with the internal maintenance person and enjoyed learning and developing skills associated with maintaining a home. However, recently he has refused to continue with this, preferring to spend time away from the home with friends.

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Good

On being admitted to the home, the young person lacked any aspirations for his future. Through staff engagement and the development of relationships, the young person has completed a tree of life exercise, which clearly demonstrates his future aspirations. One professional commented: ‘Initially X made loads of progress. His self-esteem was low and he had no aspiration and made threats to immediately leave the home when he was placed there. But he didn’t, he stayed and really started to focus on his future.’

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Good

The staff team is supporting the young person to develop his independent living skills, particularly around budgeting and cooking, which will prepare him for living independently in the future.

p.7

Good

The manager and staff recognise the importance of family members and people who the young person see as important in his life. The staff team works effectively with the placing authority to manage and support appropriate contact between the young person and those individuals important to him. This means that family networks are maintained, despite living some distance from his family’s community.

p.7

Good

The home is located in a small residential avenue and sits well within the community. The staff team works to maintain good standards in the house, and it presents as a homely environment, which professionals comment that the young person is ‘proud to live in’. Consequently, there is very little damage to the house, something which is a significant improvement given the young person’s previous history of causing damage to previous placements. The young person’s parent commented: ‘The house is lovely. X loves living there and the staff are brilliant with him. They could do no more for him.’

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Requires improvement

The young person benefits from living in a solo placement, which means that he is supported by a dedicated team member daily. Behaviour is generally well managed by the staff team, with the young person adhering to the boundaries and routines in place. However, on the rare occasions consequences have been imposed, the records do not show that the young person has been spoken to regarding the measure, and show that the manager has not reviewed the consequence for effectiveness in a timely manner. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that the consequence is effective and enables the young person to learn from individual incidents and develop the skills to manage his own behaviour.

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Requires improvement

The manager and staff acknowledge that there has been an increase in the young person’s risk-taking behaviour, particularly in relation to the numbers of missing from home episodes and concerns that the young person is using illegal substances. One professional commented: ‘The team is doing everything possible to safeguard X. Despite this, the pull of his associates is too strong at this time.’ The manager has shared the emerging concerns with the appropriate agencies and has participated in all strategy meetings. However, the risk management plans in place to support the staff to manage and reduce the risk-taking behaviour are not being kept up to date or being reviewed regularly. The plans do not reflect the strategies in place to support and manage the presenting risks. Consequently, there is potential that staff members are each managing risk-taking behaviour differently, which may put the young person at risk. In addition, records are not

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Requires improvement

being completed in full when the young person returns home from each episode of missing. This means that the manager is unable to monitor and evaluate each incident effectively to ensure that there are no identified shortfalls in staff practice and review. The manager is not reviewing the actions taken by the staff team to help and protect the young person during and after each episode of missing. Despite this recording shortfall, the practice of the staff team when the young person is missing is extremely proactive. They complete regular searches of the local area and make numerous attempts to contact the young person in order to locate and safely return the young person to the home. The local police officer commented: ‘The manager is very confident in voicing her concerns about X’s welfare, she shares intelligence and supports the staff team to try to locate X.’

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Requires improvement

Staff are clear about what action they would take in response to any arising concerns. This means that they understand their safeguarding responsibilities and prioritise the safety and well-being of the young person at all times. The home has robust safeguarding procedures for staff to follow in the event of allegations, suspicion of abuse or unsafe practice.

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Requires improvement

New staff have been recruited since the last inspection. The principles of safer recruitment have been followed to ensure that staff are appropriately checked and vetted and to confirm that they are safe to work with vulnerable young people.

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Requires improvement

The manager ensures that regular health and safety checks are carried out in the home. The staff team and young person regularly undertake emergency evacuation of the home. This means that they are well prepared in the event of an emergency.

p.8

Good

The registered manager is experienced and has been registered since 2014. She is also the registered manager for one other home. The manager manages her time effectively across the two homes she manages, which provides the opportunity for her to monitor staff practice and identify any further areas for development. The manager has completed the appropriate leadership qualification since being registered. The manager is extremely committed to the home and has built a good understanding of the young person’s needs. A member of staff commented: ‘The manager is always available, she’s very supportive and she knows X really well.’ The manager is effective and proactive in monitoring the progress the young person makes living in the home. She has recently raised a number of concerns relating to the increase in the young person’s risk-taking behaviour to the relevant agencies, to ensure that planning is effective. As a result, the young person’s

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Good

placement has been reviewed and agreement has been sought to identify a more suitable placement.

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Good

The manager has established a small but consistent staff team, which provides highly individualised care to the young person placed at the home. Staff report that they are well supported by the manager through regular team meetings, appraisals and supervisions. The induction and training programme supports staff to be ready and prepared for the role. The staff team members either hold the relevant qualification or are enrolled on the course to ensure that they are qualified for the role within the appropriate timescales.

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Good

The home is adequately resourced and delivers the services and support outlined in the statement of purpose. The manager ensures that there are sufficient numbers of staff on duty to meet the young person’s individual needs. Shortfalls on the rota are covered by internal staff, whom the young person knows, or by the manager herself, who is committed to providing consistency for the young person.

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Good

External monitoring of the home is well established, and identifies areas for improvement. The visitor also gives their view as to whether young people are being safeguarded effectively. This helps the manager to have an overview of the identified areas for improvement. The manager makes good use of regular internal monitoring and has a development plan in place, which supports her to identify areas of weaknesses and improvements that have been secured across the home.

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Good

Good-quality relationships are established with parents, family members and external agencies. This means that young people benefit from a holistic support package, the purpose of which is to ensure that they are safe, make progress and have access to the right levels of support. The manager has, when required, actively challenged agencies when the young person has not received an appropriate level of service. This is because she is committed to ensuring that the young person’s individual needs are prioritised by all agencies and his welfare is promoted.

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Good

No shortfalls were identified at the last inspection.

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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 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, work- based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It inspects services for children looked after 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

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ofsted

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