Children's Home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 1 SC033326 Registered provider: Kirklees Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run and owned by a local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account good

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Overall experiences and progress of

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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Overall experiences and progress of

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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Overall experiences and progress of

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

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Overall experiences and progress of

Overall judgement at last inspection: Declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

Two compliance notices were issued following the last inspection.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people make progress in their educational attendance. This supports positive future outcomes and their developing aspirations. Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 2  Over time, young people begin to trust staff and engage with the advice and support that they offer.  Staff work hard to establish routines for young people to support their educational and health needs.  Staff promote independence skills to ensure that young people are better prepared for adulthood.  Young people’s individual interests are supported by staff, and young people become more integrated into the communities in which they live.  Young people’s individual backgrounds and identities are respected by staff. Staff work hard to meet young people’s cultural needs.  Young people say that they feel safe at the home and that staff actively protect their welfare.

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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

 Firm managerial oversight of administrative tasks and record keeping is not yet fully embedded.  The management team do not ensure that the home’s policy is followed with regard to the timely supervision of staff.  The assessment of risk does not consistently include other agencies involved in the planning for young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/12/2016 Full Requires improvement 14/01/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 23/06/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 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

12. (1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In order to meet the protection of children standard, with particular reference to the involvement of the police and other agencies in the formulation of these assessments, (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure- (a) that staff- (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 harm to the child. 31/05/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so ("the authorised person"), has spoken to the user about the measure and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(b)(c) 31/05/2017

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Requirement Due date

13. In order to meet the leadership and management standard, with particular reference to ensuring that the managerial systems providing oversight of the operation of the home are thoroughly embedded, requires the registered person to- (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 in the home. 30/06/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 4 page 54, paragraph 10.20) With particular reference to ‘missing from home’ incidents being recorded in a consistent manner.  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) With particular reference to supervision being delivered within the timescales described in the home’s policies on the frequency of supervision.

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  As the home will have a day-to-day understanding of young people’s capabilities and needs, children’s home staff will have a valuable contribution to make to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working together with other relevant agencies. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 18, paragraph 3.28) With particular reference to securing an up-to-date and comprehensive pathway

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Recommendations

plan for young people who are eligible for such.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make progress across a spectrum of measures in their lives. Through the consistent care that staff offer, some young people have re-engaged in education and are now attending every day, whereas previously their attendance was minimal. Most young people have educational settings identified and those that do not are new to the home. For these young people, managers are working with other professionals to identify the most appropriate provision to meet their emotional and communication needs. When young people’s attendance in education falters, staff work hard at re- establishing their commitment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people grow in confidence through living at the home. As a result, they become engaged in community-based activities that support their sense of belonging and achievements. Over time, young people learn to trust staff and invest in the home. As a result, some young people have experienced a reduction in incidents of anger and disengagement, and an increase in the amount of time spent with other young people and in group activities. In addition, young people have been actively engaged in decorating their own rooms. Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 5 Staff work hard and persistently to establish healthy routines for young people. For some young people for whom sleeping was problematic, they now settle easily for bed and benefit from appropriate amounts of sleep. This ensures that they have the rest they need for full participation in education. Some young people have experienced a significant reduction in night-time enuresis, and this supports their growing sense of self-

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are fully supported to maintain contact with family and friends. This also ensures that their cultural and religious needs are met. Young people with specific needs associated with the trauma of war and seeking asylum are supported to engage in culturally-specific community-based groups. In addition, they are referred to specialist support services. One social worker described the actions of the staff in this respect as: ‘Going above and beyond.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from the advice and support that staff receive from psychologists. As a result of applying their advice, staff are creative and spontaneous in the methods by which they reward young people. This ensures that young people who may struggle to respond to incentive-setting still benefit from being rewarded for their achievements.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is active consultation with young people both at an individual and group level. Young people participate in their reviews and care planning, and they know how to make complaint. Staff spend individual time with young people, who are helped to understand why decisions are made that may not be in accordance with their views.

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

Staff and the management team understand well the individual vulnerabilities of young people. They motivate and offer support that young people are receptive towards. As a result, most young people do not go missing from home, and for those that do, incidents are low in number. When these incidents occur staff are active in seeking the return of young people to the home and liaising appropriately with other agencies.

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

Staff do not routinely record the return-home interviews that take place following ‘missing from home’ incidents. This reduces both staff and management insight into issues that may emerge from those interviews. The assessment of risks relevant to young people do not include contributions from agencies, such as the police and child sexual exploitation workers. As a result, opportunities to enhance the quality of risk assessments are missed.

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

Young people do not misuse drugs or alcohol. They say they feel safe at the home and can identify staff whom they can speak to and seek support from.

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

Staff establish firm and consistent expectations and boundaries with young people. Sanctions are rarely implemented, and when they are used, young people are consulted and have an input into possible consequences. A restorative and educative approach is taken by staff with young people when addressing negative or undesirable behaviour. Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 6 Physical intervention is not often used, and young people are not unnecessarily criminalised for their behaviour. However, the recording of physical intervention does not meet the stipulations of the regulation. A ‘designated person’ has not been identified to sign off these documents, speak to the young person or debrief staff when the manager has been involved. This administrative omission does not affect young people’s welfare or safety.

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

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He has been registered to manage the home since 2013.

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

At the last inspection two compliance notices were issued. These concerned the review of young people’s risks assessments and ensuring that young people were appropriately placed at the home. These are now met. In addition, a requirement made with regard to young people accessing suitable therapeutic support has been met. Since the last inspection, the majority of young people have had their rooms redecorated to their tastes, and redecoration plans are in place for the remaining rooms. As a result, the recommendation made has been met.

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

All young people make progress at an individual level from their starting points. The staff and managers know the young people well, and for those young people who are new to the home, staff work hard at forging relationships that are reliable and provide consistency of care.

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

Although there are auditing systems in place, management oversight of these systems requires strengthening. Some documents are not fully completed, such as the missing- from-home documentation, and for some young people pathway plans that should inform their future care are yet to be completed. The manager has recently developed a monthly monitoring system that will assist in identifying these gaps; however, this has yet to be put into practice and the effects to be realised.

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

Staff supervision does not currently meet the organisation’s expectations on timescales. There are gaps in the frequency of supervision, and for some staff there is no allocated supervisor. This reduces management oversight regarding staff development and the tracking of objectives and outcomes for young people.

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

The presenting needs and impact of young people referred to the home are suitably considered against the needs of existing young people at the home. Since the last inspection, some young people have appropriately moved on from the home to alternative provisions where their needs can be better met.

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

Staff and managers have good working relationships with other professionals, who report communication to be timely and appropriate. Young people are referred for specialist support when required, and ongoing support is offered to young people to ensure their attendance at appointments. Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 7

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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: SC033326 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Kirklees Council, 30 Market Street, HUDDERSFIELD HD1 2HG

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Inspector(s)

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033326 9 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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