Children's Home run by Progressive Care Limited in Sheffield

Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 1 SC002930 Registered provider: Progressive Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home provides short-, medium- and long-term placements for children aged 12 to 17 years old. It can accommodate up to eight young people. It aims to support young people towards independence within a safe and managed environment, offering skills to prepare them for independent living.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

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

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good

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

A compliance notice was issued under section 22A of the Care Standards Act 2000 on 15 February 2017. The notice was issued as we were of the opinion that the provider had failed to comply with the requirements of their registration under regulation 12. Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are regularly involved in meaningful consultation. This is bringing a positive change to their experiences and opportunities.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are benefiting from the impact of stable and consistent care.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are being helped to understand their behaviours and to make positive choices.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are being encouraged to participate in more activities, both in the home and within the community.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are making themselves available for young people and are supporting them to attend important appointments.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff ensure that young people are safe. They take immediate action to address and reduce the risks that expose young people to harm.

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Key findings from this inspection

 After a period of instability, staff are being retained.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are developing their knowledge and experience. This is improves their confidence and provides young people with better standards of care.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development

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Key findings from this inspection

 A registered manager needs to be appointed without delay.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager’s review of the home would benefit from evaluating the information arising from the increased levels of consultation that are taking place with young people, staff and professionals. The review should show how that consultation is used to strengthen the quality of care for young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff should ensure that young people have the relevant knowledge and skills they need to prepare for independence.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Referrals to the home should be assessed to ensure that staff are able to meet the child or young person’s needs. New admissions should not affect the progress and safety of young people already living at the home, or vice versa. Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 30/08/2016 Full Requires improvement 07/07/2016 Full Inadequate 03/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 4

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating:

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care that they receive

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph 2 must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

Any person who carries on or manages an establishment or agency of any description without being registered under this Part in respect of it (as an establishment or, as the case may be, agency of that description) shall be guilty of an offence. (The Care Standards Act 2000, S.11) 31/05/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements 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 plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 Staff must help each child to prepare for any moves from the home. This includes supporting the child to develop emotional and mental resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 5 the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

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Recommendations

This is with particular reference to ensuring that young people are helped to learn how to budget and pay bills. Ensure that this is recorded in young people’s independence plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are experiencing improved stability within the home. This is because staff are being retained and a voluntary restriction on admissions is in place. This helps young people to manage and focus on their own progress without the distraction of new children, young people or staff. One young person said: ‘It is a lot better now, as staff are not leaving.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to gain positive life opportunities, experiences and activities of their choosing. This includes visiting a wildlife park and trampolining. This helps to improve young people’s emotional as well as physical health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have influence on how the home is run. They are involved in choosing and planning their activities and the development of life journals. Young people are now more receptive to consultation because they can see that their views make a difference. One young person’s wishes brought about change, as he was supported to move bedrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good educational progress from their starting points. For example, one young person has achieved the examinations necessary to support an application and interview for a ‘media beauty’ course. Another young person is actively pursuing an apprenticeship, and staff have supported him to prepare for and attend an interview.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to develop their life skills in preparation for leaving care. However, this work does not always address some of the basic skills that young people need, such as budgeting and paying bills. This does not fully prepare them for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are given the advice and guidance they need to help them improve their health. This includes information about the health implications of smoking and reducing alcohol and drug use.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff recognise when young people are experiencing difficulties with their mental health and encourage them to use the support available. A mental health professional reported that: ‘X is making progress in respect of his emotional health needs. This comes from elements of good parenting from the staff during consistent and stable periods in the Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 6 home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people live in a home that is welcoming and well maintained. The decoration within the home is to a good standard with no visible damage. In addition, the garden has maintained its pleasant presentation with flowers planted.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

At the last monitoring visit, a compliance notice was issued. This required the provider to address and improve practice in relation to risk assessment and taking effective action to keep children safe.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The compliance notice has been met. Young people’s risks are now better understood by the staff team, whose members have increased their vigilance and practice around safeguarding and associated risks.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Members of staff take action to ensure the safety of the young people. For example, staff routinely search for young people when they are missing from the home. In addition, the manager is quick to request strategy meetings with professionals to address safeguarding concerns. This results in regularly updated risk assessments that provide effective support for young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff provide good support and effective behaviour management when young people display impulsive and risk-taking behaviours. This has resulted in a reduction in the frequency and severity of such incidents, and there has been no need to use physical restraint.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff actively engage with young people and put thought into how the relationships within the home can be strengthened. For example, one young person’s request to spend time preparing for an activity with a particular staff member was supported. This had real impact for the young person concerned, as in addition to developing relationships it also meant that the young person was focused on completing a positive activity.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people are benefiting from meaningful discussions with staff. Young people are engaging in key work sessions, which enable communications around pertinent issues, with plans created to ensure that young people’s needs and risks are responded to and progress supported. Examples of sessions completed include missing, keeping themselves safe and sexual health.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Young people have clear transition plans to support a smooth move on from the home. For one young person, she was able to visit the placement before her move, and on the day she was supported by staff to settle in. The staff ensured that all relevant information was shared to enable the receiving home to keep her safe. This sharing of information resulted in appropriate staff support being in place upon her moving in.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The medication procedures have been developed and this ensures that young people are Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 7 safety administered their medication.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

When there are concerns identified within the environment checks, this has led to further room searches to ensure the safety of young people and others. These are appropriate and the recording of such practices contains required details, inclusive of input from the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home has not had a registered manager for several months. However, a suitably qualified and experienced interim manager has been appointed until a new manager is recruited. Her appointment was a well thought-out decision to reduce the impact upon the home and young people. The responsible individual is taking active steps to recruit to this post.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The interim manager has a clear understanding of the care needs and plans for the young people. She routinely invests time with the young people, and has been gaining their views and involving them in the development of plans and processes within the home. One young person said: ‘It was great that X became the manager; she is very approachable.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The interim manager reviews and monitors practice and the quality of care provided for young people. Lessons from previous inspections have been addressed and are being incorporated into practice. Standards of recording are improving, and care records now reflect the work being undertaken with young people. However, the manager’s six- monthly report would benefit from further development. This document is descriptive rather than evaluative, and does not include important consultations that have taken place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff receive regular quality supervision that provides them with the time to discuss and reflect upon the needs of young people. Relevant training helps them to keep their knowledge and skills up to date. One member of staff reported that: ‘I am being developed and my confidence is increasing.’ The majority of staff have now completed their probationary periods and, apart from the previous manager, no other members of staff have left the home. This improves the balance of new and experienced members of staff within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Effective partnership working helps young people to achieve good outcomes. For example, staff work alongside education professionals to help young people to successfully re-engage in education. Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 8

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young people. Inspectors considered the quality of work and the difference made to the lives of children and young people. They watched how professional staff work with children and young people and each other and discussed the effectiveness of help and care provided. Wherever possible, they talked to children and 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.

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Information about this inspection

Using the ‘Social care common inspection framework’, this inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000 to assess the effectiveness of the service, how it meets the core functions of the service as set out in legislation, 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’. Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Progressive Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Progressive Care Ltd, 51 Attercliffe Common, Sheffield, South Yorkshire S9 2AE

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Inspectors

Jennifer Fenlon, social care inspector Cath Sikakana, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC002930 10 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, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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