Children's home in Westminster

children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged as requires improvement at the full inspection. At this interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has declined effectiveness. Improvement was required after Ofsted identified significant safeguarding concerns and restricted admissions of children at the home between April 2016 and May 2016. It has been seven months since the last inspection, and progress to meet some of the previous eight regulatory requirements has been too slow. Five are met, but this inspection finds further shortfalls. The manager, who had just been appointed at the time of the last inspection in June 2016, has achieved registration this month. The registered person’s monitoring and review of the quality of care have not delivered improvement. This home has not achieved a good judgment since September 2014. The registered person has driven ambitious plans for full occupancy, alongside recruitment, training and building a new staff team under a new manager and trying to

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

implement improvements in difficult circumstances. There are, consequently, recurrent areas of weakness in leadership and management and placement success and stability, where improvement has still not been achieved. Placement success is not consistently improved. Nine children have lived at the home since the last inspection. Seven new children have moved into the home and four moved out sooner than planned. Endings have been due to placement breakdown, or because plans were not working out at the home. Two moved out after police decisions or advice. One of the current five residents is now in young adulthood, after delay to her plans to move out. Some children have not been compatible in the group, or have not coped in their first experience of living in a children’s home. Some have had increasing involvement with the police, some go missing from care and some have been bullied. Police have recently had to use

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

their powers of police protection to safeguard one child who has a worrying pattern of going missing. Children have displayed very challenging behaviour. A high level of damage to the house by some children means that there is no visible improvement in the living conditions at the house, despite significant investment. The volume and pace of admissions are of concern in a home that has not previously secured positive outcomes or safe care for all children within the last twelve months. A new referrals and admission procession begins with the new referral manager and ends with the registered person’s decision. The pace of admissions has not always taken account of children’s need to settle, for staff to get to know them or for staff to reflect on placement endings. Placement aims are not realistic or meaningfully defined at planning meetings and in children’s plans. This lack of purpose is not good enough and does not help children to progress or

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

allow staff to do their best to help them. The registered person has made positive attempts to review and improve the quality of care and arrangements for care planning, with a view to reducing placement breakdown. They have analysed two of the four placement endings and identified learning about the necessity of good-quality pre-admission information and educational engagement to placement success. This learning was not applied to the most recent decision to admit a child in an emergency, without robust information or a plan to secure full-time education. The registered person has struggled to secure health and care planning documentation and to obtain accurate prescription advice for missing controlled medication. The lack of adequate information on which to base even an emergency admission risks disruption and instability for the child in future and for other children in the home. The registered person currently has concerns about the feasibility of this placement. The police

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

continue to have concerns about how the home obtains and shares information about children’s risks and makes plans prior to admissions. Ofsted asked the provider to investigate two concerns about care practice and staff conduct. The registered person has identified recommendations for improvement, where staff practice was not good enough or could be better. Some staff have not acted safely, professionally or in accordance with the organisation’s behavioural approach. The organisation plans to make an appropriate referral to the Disclosure and Barring Service. Staff supervision and appraisal were not previously happening systematically. This is still the case. There is no evident follow up in professional supervision to ensure improvement in care practice or consistent safeguarding coverage and conclusion after allegations. Some staff have gaps of several months between supervision, in contradiction to the organisation’s preferred monthly frequency. There is not a

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

formal in-house residential induction, to supplement three weeks of intensive, pre- employment training. New staff do not have enough supervision to maintain close monitoring of their practice, particularly when there have been concerns. Consequently, they do not assuredly have the skills and knowledge to work with vulnerable children.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

This inspection identified fresh regulatory issues. The registered person has not made sufficient challenge to a placing authority, with which they have an agreement to provide placements, when their decision-making or support to children have not been good enough. For example, one child was brought to the home by the local authority in ‘secure’ transport and in handcuffs that were then removed by the manager. Insufficient challenge was made to the local authority responsible for arranging the transport. There has been drift and delay in local authority planning for young people’s transition to adulthood, there is insufficient information to inform rigorous, child-focused admission decisions, and there is lack of support for educational placements and delays in psychological assessments. This approach does not reflect the organisation’s ethos in the statement of purpose.

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

The registered person has met five previous requirements. Some young people are now making some progress in areas that were previously of concern, particularly in their education, friendships and community involvement. Three young people have sustained full-time college placements. This is a real achievement. One is determined to stay at the home until he is 18 and to settle afterwards locally. Generally, medication systems are now safer and better organised, although not all medication is correctly labelled. The statement of purpose is now up to date, although further detail is needed on the experience of the staff team and how the staff will manage young adults over the age of 18 alongside younger children. Training now better reflects children’s needs. Staff are very positive about their support. A successful programme has ensured that, by February 2017, a significant proportion of the staff team will have achieved the nationally approved

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

qualification. There are other positives. Children have been better protected at the home. They have challenged staff but have been safe. Significant incidents have generally been managed better. For example, staff took immediate action this time when a child was found in possession of a knife. The host area designated officer for safeguarding has no concerns about the service. Children know that they will be brought home when they go missing. The new manager prefers well-planned admissions and, when possible, visits and brings children for their first visit. Staffing levels have improved as the team has grown in size to match the growing number of children. The number of staff on duty, three, now allows them to follow and search for missing children and go out with children on activities. Positive community involvement is more evident, and children said that they like the range of activities they can try. One child said that he liked the area, has made friends

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children and young people since the most recent full inspection

and thinks that the staff have helped him to manage his anger better.

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Information about this children’s home

This privately operated children’s home is registered to provide care for five children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. The home currently accommodates one young adult to support their transition to adulthood.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

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Recent inspection history

03/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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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

5 Engaging with the wider system In order to meet the engaging with the wider system standard, the registered person must seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs, and, 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. (Regulation 5(b)(c)) 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, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that (1) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on—

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Requirement Due date

(i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; 31/03/2017 (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

14 The care planning standard In order to meet the care planning standard, in relation to admission decisions and placement success, the registered provider must ensure that children— (1)(a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. 31/03/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction, receives practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience and has their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. Regulation 33(1)(a)(4)(b)(c)) 31/03/2017

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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 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 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

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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