Children's home run by Newrays Care Services Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 1 Registered provider: Newrays Care Service Ltd

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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 privately owned children’s home provides care for up to four children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people , taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

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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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are not consistent in ensuring that young people’s feedback contributes to the development of the care that young people receive.  Staff miss opportunities to reflect and learn from safeguarding incidents and ensure that this informs future care planning.  Staff are too slow in ensuring that young people develop the skills and knowledge to keep themselves safe online and in the community.  Staff have not taken advantage of all opportunities to ensure that young people live in a homely, pleasant and welcoming environment.  Staff efforts have not been successful in ensuring that all young people are able to access suitable education provision in a timely manner.  Staff do not always ensure that young people receive personalised support to develop the skills they need to return home or prepare them for adulthood.  Staff do not ensure that young people are able to access their own case records.

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Key findings from this inspection

 When geographical barriers restrict contact between young people and their families, staff do not explore all options to ensure that important relationships are maintained.  The registered manager’s monitoring and review systems have not enabled her to understand the areas of development required to ensure that all young people consistently receive care, which is in line with the home’s statement of purpose.  On occasion, the registered manager’s decision-making for new admissions has not been sufficiently robust.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people say that they are happy, they like staff and they feel safe.  Enthusiastic and motivated staff develop relationships with young people, which are based on mutual trust and respect.  Links between staff and the clinical therapist are effective, and help to ensure that there is a collaborative approach to understanding and addressing young people’s emotional health needs.  Staff are proactive in supporting young people to overcome the barriers to receiving the services that they need to be healthy.  Staff investigate young people’s complaints diligently, ensuring that young people understand that their views are valued. Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 3

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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

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, with specific reference to supporting young people to develop the skills they need to either return home or prepare for adulthood, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

(2) (b) (iv) ensure that staff provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; and

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Requirement Due date

(vi) help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. 11/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard, with specific reference to ensuring that all children are accessing full-time education, the registered person must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

(2) (a) (i) help each child to achieve the education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

(iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

(vi) maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; and

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Requirement Due date

(ix) help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment. 11/06/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 4 13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard, with specific reference to understanding the home’s areas of development, reviewing the quality of care provided to young people and utilising feedback from young people, the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

(1) (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential;

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Requirement Due date

(2) (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

(2) (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

(2) (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;

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Requirement Due date

(2) (g) (ii) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

(2) (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 11/06/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, with specific reference to ensuring that admissions are well considered and planned, and also enabling young people to access and understand their records, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

(2) (a) children are admitted to the home only if there 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 homes statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

(3) (f) staff help each child to access and contribute to the records kept by the registered person in relation to the child. 11/06/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that when a relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child needs during their time in the home or in preparation for Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 5 leaving the home, the home must challenge them to meet the child’s needs. Staff should act as champions for their children, expecting nothing less than a good parent would. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the home is a nurturing and supportive environment that meets the needs of the children. Homes will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations; however, in doing so homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Recommendations

 Ensure that appropriate forms of contact should be promoted and facilitated for each child, including where appropriate visits to the child in the home; visits by the child to relatives and/or friends; letters, emails and text; use of social forms of contact via the internet including video calls. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.18) Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 6

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improvement to be good

Since being registered, the home has admitted four young people. The registered manager’s planning for new admissions has not always been sufficiently robust. For example, a lack of detailed planning and assessment meant that one young person’s placement broke down on the same day that they were admitted.

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improvement to be good

Staff have had mixed success in supporting young people to access suitable education. Staff encouragement and use of an incentives chart has resulted in two young people successfully accessing full-time education, and they are making steady progress. This is a fantastic achievement when considering their historical engagement with education. However, for another young person, staff have been unsuccessful in motivating the young person to access the education provision offered. While staff have worked collaboratively with the relevant stakeholders to identify alternative provision, this process has been slow, and there have been missed opportunities for the registered manager to champion the needs of the young person in a more proactive manner. As a result, the young person has had limited access to formal education during their time at the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not provide young people with tailored support to help their transitions back home or to prepare them for adulthood. Staff do not fully understand the individual needs of young people or plan how to support the young people to develop the skills, confidence and knowledge that they will require for adulthood. This absence of forward thinking of young people’s transitions to adulthood means that young people are not encouraged to begin to develop essential life skills.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote and encourage young people to maintain regular contact with loved ones so that they do not feel isolated, especially when they live a long way from home. However, staff do not use all means of communication, such as video calls, to ensure that contact is as positive and natural as it can be. This has meant that staff have missed out diverse ways of strengthening family links.

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improvement to be good

Young people take advantage of weekly house meetings to express their views and make requests to staff. However, staff are inconsistent in feeding back to young people what steps have been taken in response to their participation. Similarly, staff miss opportunities to involve young people in the development of the care that they receive. Specifically, staff do not encourage young people to access their case records or ensure that they are written in a way that would support their understanding of the care being provided.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understand young people’s health needs and are proactive in overcoming barriers that can affect young people’s in-access services such as the dentist and general practitioner. For example, staff have made referrals to an anxiety clinic for a Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 7 young person who has a fear of needles, so that they are able to access the treatments and health care that they require. This positive intervention has promoted a young person’s health.

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improvement to be good

Links between the staff team and the clinical therapist are strong with clear evidence of joined-up working. Input from the clinical therapist at staff team meetings means that staff have a good insight into the individual emotional health needs of young people. Consequently, staff are able to identify how best to support young people to become more emotionally resilient. Signs of progress for all young people is evident. The collaborative working has helped one young person to reduce their self-harming behaviour. This full recognition of a young person’s vulnerability has meant that successful joined-up practice has enabled the young person to make safer decisions about their emotional and physical health.

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improvement to be good

Enthusiastic and motivated staff work hard to get to know young people and understand how best to support them. Young people acknowledge the sincerity of staff and feel well cared for because they believe that staff have a genuine interest in spending time with them. One professional told the inspector, ‘The staff take the time to get to know young people and make an effort, I am really impressed. Staff have a real energy and passion for the job.’

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improvement to be good

Staff demonstrate a good understanding of the individual vulnerabilities of each young person and use this knowledge to put in place the necessary strategies to manage this risk. However, staff’s focus on managing risk is not always matched by efforts to reduce the risk. For example, while staff have imposed restrictions on the use of the internet and access to mobile phones for some young people, work to help those young people to understand what the risk is or how to keep safe is not undertaken.

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improvement to be good

Staff recognise the dangers for some young people of child sexual exploitation. To manage this risk the staff restrict young people’s free time and make sure that the appropriate levels of supervision are in place when young people access the community. However, while referrals to specialist child sexual exploitation services have been made, there have been missed opportunities to help one young person to understand why they are vulnerable and how to keep themselves safe.

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improvement to be good

Young people rarely go missing. When missing incidents have occurred, staff have taken the necessary steps. This has included working in partnership with the police and placing authorities to ensure that there is a co-ordinated response to locating the young people. However, staff have not always used the learning from such incidents to ensure that future risk management planning is tailored to the individual needs of the young person.

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improvement to be good

Staff take the time to ask young people how best to support them when they are feeling anxious, frustrated or upset so that staff understand what works for them. For one young person this means giving him some time out on his own so that he can calm Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 8 down. Staff demonstrate a level of intuition. They are able to recognise the early signs of young people struggling to cope and take swift action to try to prevent this from escalating. This has enabled some young people to make significant progress compared with behaviours displayed in previous placements.

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improvement to be good

Young people say that they feel safe, they trust staff and they are able to talk to staff about any concerns that they may have. Young people’s relationships with staff help them to be able to manage their emotions better. As a result, young people typically choose to speak to staff rather than acting their frustration out in less constructive ways such as causing damage or becoming aggressive to others.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager’s recruitment and vetting processes reduce the likelihood that unsuitable individuals are employed to work with young people. This means that only staff who are appropriate and able to keep young people safe work in the home.

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

The registered manager has been in post since October 2016 and is currently working towards her level 5 diploma in leadership for health and social care, and children and young people’s residential management. The child-focused registered manager ensures that staff understand the ethos of the home and that they prioritise young people’s needs at all times. The manager engages with young people well, developing good relationships with them. She leads by example, creating a positive culture in which staff focus on the needs of young people.

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

Despite this, the existing monitoring systems have not enabled the registered manager, to review the quality of care that young people receive and identify those areas of development. This means that young people do not consistently receive care in line with the statement of purpose.

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

For the majority of staff, this is the first time that they have worked in a children’s home, and they have limited previous experience in a relevant setting. This does mean that only a minority of staff have completed the level 3 diploma in residential childcare. The remaining staff are expected to have completed the qualification by October 2018. There are currently four staff vacancies. However, the impact of this for young people has been mitigated by the use of bank staff, which are made up of staff who have previously worked at the home. Reassuringly, the training provided to staff is comprehensive and helps them to develop the skills and knowledge that they need to work with young people. Staff complete a range of mandatory training, which addresses key areas such as safeguarding, behaviour management, health and safety and child sexual exploitation. Staff consistently speak of how good the training is and that they feel confident within

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

their role. Similarly, staff feel well supported by a management team that is approachable, accessible and helpful.

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

Staff have worked hard to establish relationships with key stakeholders including the police, placing authorities and virtual education headteachers. The need for staff to challenge partner agencies has been limited. Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 9 Staff have made good efforts to decorate and furnish the property to be representative of a family home. However, some unnecessary institutional signage and wear and tear to the walls in the kitchen, lounge and one of the young people’s bedrooms detract from this. Staff have purchased a number of photo frames for pictures of young people. However, they are currently all empty and therefore do not provide young people with the sense of belonging, which they are intended to promote.

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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 who 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: 1240269 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Newrays Care Service Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Newrays Care Services Limited, Sinckot House, 211 Station House, Harrow HA1 2TP

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1240269 11 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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