Children's Home run by Laurel Leaf Homes Ltd in Newham

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At this interim inspection Ofsted judges that it has declined in effectiveness .

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

In August 2016, the registered manager left the home and raised concerns with Ofsted about practice within the home. A monitoring visit undertaken at this time identified safeguarding issues, which became subject to an investigation by the host local authority. It also found difficulties in relationships between the registered manager and senior managers and a lack of skilled core staff to run the home effectively. A recommendation from the investigation advised that an independent practitioner undertake a separate review of practice within the home. Various recommendations came from this investigation to support the improvement of practice in the home.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Following the monitoring visit, the responsible individual met with the regulator and co-operated fully with plans to restrict admissions for a period, until a new manager and core staff team could be established. A number of requirements were made to further improve practice.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home has not had a manager, core staff team or any young people on roll between August and December. The responsible individual wrote an action plan to address the requirements and recommendations made; however, despite a period without young people in placement, there is limited progress to this plan. This is in part because there has been no manager, no young people and no core staff team in place. It has not been possible to test the leaders and managers progress against the action plan while the home has not been operational. It is however disappointing that despite a lengthy period with no young people in the home, there is still only a limited staff team and the essential updates to policy and procedure are underway but not yet completed.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Eight young people admitted to the home since the full inspection in April have all subsequently left the home. Four of these placements ended in disruption before the end of July 2016. This is directly attributable to the poor practice surrounding admissions, planning and matching. Leaders and managers did not assess the impact of new admissions to the home on existing residents, despite the home’s own admissions policy stating this should take place. Young people stated they did not feel safe within the home and staff increasingly resorted to calling the police to help manage challenging behaviours. The home had insufficient core staff to cover shifts and agency staff employed lacked sufficient knowledge of the home to manage the behaviour of the young people. This did not provide consistency or security of care for young people.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Some progress against the action plan has occurred, for example, the statement of purpose has been updated. A new manager has recently been appointed and is in the process of submitting her application to become registered with the regulator. She has good ideas and plans to establish a stable staff team. Her focus at present is establishing a core staff team, prior to accepting further new referrals.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The proposed manager supports careful admissions. Detailed information sought and shared prior to admission allows staff to understand how to support young people. The manager supports positive transitions into the home and ensures essential services are established for health, education and well-being. Although it is too early to comment on progress for recent admissions, one placing social workers says, ‘So far they have communicated well and helped to sort health and education issues and seem very pro-active.’

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

Most of the requirements and recommendations made in the monitoring report are repeated. Progress has occurred in the update of case recordings and ensuring young people have access to all parts of the home. The remainder of the requirements are repeated with additional time to comply in order to test out the leaders and managers’ capacity to improve, now the home is functional again. A further recommendation is made to ensure that placing authorities give consent for monitoring or surveillance by closed circuit television systems.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The responsible individual has agreed a plan to support the new manager to develop in her role by establishing independent supervision. It is proposed that the responsible individual and new manager will also regularly meet to ensure that there is open and transparent practice where they are both aware of the day to day running of the home.

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Information about this children's home

This privately run children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to eight young people aged from 10 to 17 years. They accept referrals for young people who have a range of emotional and/or behavioural problems or young people with learning disabilities. The home accepts emergency placements as well as offering long-term care.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 06/04/2016 Full Good 04/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/05/2015 Full Requires improvement 11/02/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness

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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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— (a) ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33(1)(a)) 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

6. The quality and purpose of care standard. In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(b) (i) understand and apply the home's statement of purpose. 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

13. The leadership and management standard In order to meet the leadership and management standard in respect of lone working: (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe:

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff—

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Requirement Due date

(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 31/03/2017 harm to the child; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are

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Requirement Due date

designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— (b) an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; (c) there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; (e) there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard the registered provider must ensure that children:

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Requirement Due date

(b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 31/03/2017 (1) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

(a) That children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

(b) that arrangements are in place to— (iii) plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. The registered person must— (a) maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; (b) ensure that the records are kept up to date; and (c) retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37(2)(a)(b)(c)) 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

A responsible individual must— (b) have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated.

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Recommendations

To improve the quality and standards of care further the service should take account of the following recommendation(s):

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Recommendations

 Ensure that contingency plans are prepared in the event of a shortfall in staffing levels. (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 54, paragraph 10.18)

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Recommendations

 Ensure any home using CCTV or other monitoring equipment should have a written policy describing how this will support the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working in the home in accordance with regulation 24. Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing at the time of placement. The CCTV is regulated by the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 and the Surveillance Camera Code of Conduct (Home office 2013) (The Guide to the Quality Standards, page 16, paragraph 3.16)

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What the inspection judgements mean

At the interim inspection we make a judgement on whether the home has improved in effectiveness, sustained effectiveness, or declined in effectiveness since the previous full inspection. This is in line with the Inspection of children's homes: framework for inspection.

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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 focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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Information about this inspection

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 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

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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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