Children's home run by Merryvale Children’s Home Limited in Merton

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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This children’s home provision requires improvement because:

 The home has been without a registered manager since October 2014. The lack of experienced leadership and management has resulted in shortfalls in all outcome areas.  Areas of accountability and responsibility in the senior management team are blurred. This results in inconsistent messages to young people and the staff team.  The monitoring arrangements in the home do not sufficiently identify and drive forward improvements.  The home does not have a workforce development plan. New staff do not benefit from an induction programme to their new role.  Care plans are not sufficiently personalised and do not contain targets specific to individual young people.  Risk assessments are not comprehensive, do not contain up-to-date information and are not sufficiently personalised.  Young people are not provided with good enough information about the home complaints procedures.  Staff lack experience and skills to keep young people safe.

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The children’s home strengths

 A recently appointed interim manager has brought about change in a short time. She has helped to raise staff morale. Staff now want to work in the home.  The new manager is beginning to have some impact on the service. She is an experienced individual who is determined to improve service delivery.  An independent consultant, in conjunction with the manager, has developed a comprehensive development plan to drive forward improvements.  Young people enjoy living in this home and have positive relationships with the staff team.  Staff are committed to improvement in their learning. They care about the young people and wish to make a positive difference to their lives.

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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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the quality and purpose of care standard, the registered person must ensure that— staff (6) (2) (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans taking account of the child’s background. 5/12/ 2016

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Requirement Due date

7: The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the children’s views, wishes and feeling standard, the registered person must ensure that— (2) (b) (ii) each child has access to the home’s children’s guide, and the home’s complaints procedure, when the child’s placement in the home is agreed and throughout the child’s stay in the home; and is given appropriate advocacy support. 5/12/ 2016

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the registered person must ensure that— (2) (a) (1) staff assess whether each child is at risk of harm taking into account information in the child’s relevant plan, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child. 5/12 2016

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, the registered person must— ensure (2) (c) that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and (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 his understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. 5/12/ 2016 16: Statement of purpose

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— (a) keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate revise it; and (b) notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a) and (b)) 5/12/ 2016

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Requirement Due date

44: Independent person: visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relations to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether to take those actions. (Regulation 44(5)) 5/12/ 2016

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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

 The behaviour management strategy should be understand and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  Continue with the development of a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  Ensure that placements are only accepted for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plan. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  The registered person should review the home’s premises location risk assessment and include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented in relation

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Recommendations

to radicalisation and child sexual exploitation and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home for up to five children and young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. It is the only home provided by this company.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 17/05/2016 Full Inadequate 14/01/2016 Interim Declined effectiveness 11/08/2015 Full Requires improvement 06/01/2015 Full Adequate

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Requires improvement

Young people say they are reasonably happy living in the home. They comment that with the new manager coming in, the environment is more settled and their views and wishes for improvements are being heard. One young person commented, ‘l now feel listened [to]. Changes l have been asking for have finally been put in place by X.’ Recently admitted young people appear to settle well.

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Requires improvement

Care plans for young people are not sufficiently individualised. They contain no specific goals and targets, and individual progress is not recorded. Plans do not show that staff understand the individual needs of young people, whether this is identifying areas of strength or areas of concern. As such, it is difficult to measure outcomes and evidence any positive improvements for young people from their individual starting points.

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Requires improvement

Young people’s engagement in education is sporadic, with attendance of a variable quality. Partnership working with education and relevant professionals is not sufficient to ensure that young people have a positive view of learning.

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Requires improvement

Staff lack skills in working proactively with young people. For example, young people who have been missing for extended periods are not engaged sufficiently to prevent further missing episodes. Introduction to the home for newly admitted young people is not robust. Engagement in planned activities is limited, leading to a lack of structured daily routine.

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Requires improvement

Knowledge and maintenance of young people’s health needs are of a good standard. Healthy eating has an increased focus in the home and some young people take pleasure in their healthier lifestyles.

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Requires improvement

While young people are aware of the home’s complaints policy, the procedures and timescales followed once a complaint is made are not understood. Keywork sessions with young people are not sufficiently robust to enable them to understand their rights to an independent visitor or advocacy.

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Requires improvement

Young people are supported to maintain contact with parents and significant people in their lives. Staff understand and support young people through difficult family times. Judgement grade

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Requires improvement

Generally, young people say that they feel safe living in the home and trust adults to keep them safe. However not enough work is done to enable young people to understand the impact of their behaviour on others, and to take responsibility for such behaviour.

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Requires improvement

Staff do not manage incidents in any consistent manner. They state that they approach incidents in different ways, explaining that it is based on decision-making at the time of the incident as opposed to following set strategies; –for example, using the police for behavioural management issues. Physical intervention training is in place for all staff members. However, they are reluctant to intervene to promote positive behaviour.

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Requires improvement

Behavioural support plans and risk assessments are not live documents that reflect changing behaviours and escalating risk taking. Staff fail to advocate on behalf of young people and to work in partnership with placing authorities to ensure that robust strategies are in place to keep young people safe, – for example when young people have been missing for extensive periods or when there has been out- of-character behaviour. Young people do not contribute to or agree the content of their behaviour support plans.

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Requires improvement

Impact risk assessments do not appropriately reflect the risk of young people going missing. A young person recently placed at the home on a short-term basis was identified as being at significant risk of going missing and child sexual exploitation. Staff agreed to the placement despite this information. She left the home and on returning spoke with staff of staying in hotels. This does not demonstrate that placements are only accepted for young people when staff are satisfied that the service can respond effectively to their needs. Nor does it demonstrate a robust response to managing and reducing the likelihood of young people going missing from care.

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Requires improvement

The home is situated in a safe residential area. A location risk assessment is in place covering the locality. However, there is an absence of knowledge of the wider community and the risks to young people from child sexual exploitation, radicalisation and gangs. As a result, staff are not fully aware of the potential risks to young people when out in the community.

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Requires improvement

The home is well maintained and provides a comfortable and homely environment. However, it would benefit from providing relevant and child-friendly equipment.

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Inadequate

The impact and effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as inadequate. The home has been without a registered manager since October 2014. Three interim managers submitted their applications to register with Ofsted but subsequently withdrew them. As result of this, there is a lack of consistency in leadership. The recent appointment of an interim manager with relevant and qualified experience has given service delivery a positive start. However, there is much for leaders and managers to put in place to achieve a good service. The roles of the registered individual and interim manager are blurred, with each making different decisions independent of each other on the same incident. As a result, young people have no clear boundaries and often experience different approaches in managing behaviour.

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Inadequate

The interim manager acknowledges the current situation and is gaining awareness of weaknesses in practice and service delivery. Working with an independent consultant, she has instigated a development plan, which prioritises improving the quality of care provided for young people. The development plan is realistic and achievable. Development is on a short- and medium-term basis, and clearly identifies what needs to change to improve the service.

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Inadequate

Monitoring of the service is not robust. An independent person visits on a monthly basis and prepares a report on findings. However, these reports do not fully contribute to improving the service, and staff have stated that they have little impact in helping them to make positive improvements. Reports are not shared with Ofsted in a timely manner. This results in the regulator not being kept informed about what is happening in the home. Management monitoring systems in the home are poor and are not used to review the quality of care. The views of young people, parents and professionals have not been integral in reviewing systems. This has limited the home’s capacity to improve, and has allowed unsafe practice.

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Inadequate

During the inspection, the interim manager was open and honest about the need to improve record-keeping, and recognises in particular that support plans and risk assessments require improvement. The home’s statement of purpose and children’s guide lack full information on the service provided to young people.

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Inadequate

Staff supervision has begun to take place on a regular basis with the development of a supervision matrix. Supervision is now enabling staff to reflect and feel supported to identify areas of improvements focused on young people’s experiences. This benefits young people because it places them at the forefront of improvements. Staff have commented on the raising of morale in the team with the arrival of the manager. A member of staff commented, ‘It is now a pleasure to come to work. The new manager is supportive of both young people and staff and is making positive decisions.’ Another staff member commented, ‘Supervision now empowers me to challenge poor practice.’

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Inadequate

The majority of staff are suitably qualified to vocational standard. Ongoing training is of a good standard. However, staff have lacked the guidance and support to put their learning into practice. There is no sufficiently comprehensive package of induction for new staff to enable good understanding of their roles and responsibilities.

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Inadequate

A workforce development plan is not in place. At present, there is a lack of clarity among the staff on roles and responsibilities in the home.

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Inadequate

Because of a lack of experienced leadership, some recommendations from the last inspection have been reinstated at this inspection. It remains a concern that the home has continued to accept new referrals prior to ensuring that appropriate systems are in place to meet their needs.

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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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