Children's home run by Social Care Services Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children's home: SC021684 1 SC021684 Registered provider: Social Care Services 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

The home is registered to provide care for six children and young people who have learning disabilities and/or physical disabilities. The home forms part of a social care company.

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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 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: 6 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff develop positive relationships with young people. Staff spend time with young people in key-work sessions, listening to young people and helping them understand and change their behaviour, and there are examples of this work being effective. Inspection report children's home: SC021684 2  Young people enjoy a range of leisure activities, and staff work hard to ensure that young people living in the home have positive experiences, such as holidays, which provide a sense of belonging.  Staff identify and understand individual risks such as self-harm and missing- from-home behaviour, and work effectively with the young people and other professionals to reduce risk and keep young people safe.  Young people benefit from a high staffing ratio, which contributes to keeping them safe from harm.  The home is staffed by a stable staff team who have the skills and experience to meet the needs of the young people they care for.

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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

 Staff need to ensure careful and accurate recording of actions they take when young people are missing from care and/or return to the home under the influence of alcohol.  The manager needs to ensure that the six-monthly monitoring reports are evaluative, and reflect the areas for development for the home.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2016 Full Good 11/10/2016 Full Inadequate 20/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/05/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC021684 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person(s) 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(s) must comply within the given timescales.

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is with particular reference to the recording of the actions staff take when young people go missing and/or return to the home under the influence of alcohol and/or substances.  The review should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weaknesses in the home’s care, and the home should clearly identify any actions required for the next six months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships between young people and staff are a key strength of this home. These are utilised effectively to support young people to make changes to their behaviour, and make progress in all aspects of their development. Young people like living in the home and enjoy spending time with staff. Young people were observed hugging staff on their return to the home, and chatting about their day. These positive relationships contribute to young people feeling valued and secure. One young person commented that, ‘Staff have been amazing. I am very happy here and will be disappointed to leave.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a stable and nurturing home environment where young people receive consistent, well-planned care from an experienced staff team. This provides a secure environment for young people to make progress from their individual starting points. A Inspection report children's home: SC021684 4 child and mental health team worker commented, ‘There is an openness to thinking about things which I have been impressed with. They have provided routine and nurturing for X. They provide a balance of structure and routine and following risk plans and nurturing approach.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that young people attend a wide range of activities based on their individual interests, such as going trampolining and to the gym. Young people have recently been on holiday, where they stayed in a caravan and spent time on the beach. Young people enjoyed this time, which broadened their horizons and strengthened their relationships with staff and each other, due to shared positive experiences.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff spend one-to-one time with young people in key-work sessions, working on individual areas of need. These sessions are well planned and are recorded on child- friendly forms, which clearly reflect young people’s views. This work, alongside the positive relationships young people have with staff, has a direct impact on young people’s behaviour. For example, direct work with one young person who was reluctant to participate in an assessment regarding his mental health team resulted in the young person engaging with this assessment, which will have a positive impact on the support he will receive for his mental health going forward.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people come into the home with complex needs and behaviours, but despite this, most young people make progress from their individual starting points. The majority of young people are engaged in school or further education. When they are not, staff work effectively with educational professionals such as the virtual head to try to obtain educational placements. Staff communicate well with staff from schools and colleges through regular telephone calls and the use of communication books. This ensures consistency, and ensures that young people are supported in their education. As a result, young people have good attendance at school and maintain college places despite personal issues. This ensures that young people are meaningfully engaged during the day and have access to education, which will improve their opportunities in their future lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to maintain good health through regular liaison with health professionals, and encourage young people to attend routine and specialist health appointments. Young people are encouraged to eat healthily and participate in exercise. Staff undertake direct work with young people to try to encourage them to reduce behaviour such as smoking and cannabis use. This resulted in one young person stopping smoking, which is significant progress that will have a positive impact on his physical health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to develop skills they will need for their futures by ensuring that they are encouraged and supported to learn skills such as cooking and budgeting. For example, one young person is given a weekly budget and goes shopping with staff to buy his food for the week, to help him develop budgeting skills. Staff support young people to develop skills on safe social relationships and maintain social networks, which will increase their resilience when they move on to live more independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Transitions into and out of the home are well managed by staff. One young person has Inspection report children's home: SC021684 5 recently moved out of the home, and he and the other young people were prepared in advance for this move by staff in one-to-one sessions. Young people are well prepared when new young people move into the home. For example, for one young person staff have developed a social story to read with him to prepare him for new arrivals. Staff robustly assess new admissions and ensure that the needs of the existing group are considered and prioritized. As a result, the home is currently stable with a group of young people who are able to live together successfully.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive at promoting young people’s contact with family where it has been assessed as safe to do so. They supervise contact for some young people and include family members in events such as birthday parties, which enables young people to maintain positive relationships with family members in a safe way.

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

Young people come into the home with high-risk behaviours such as self-harm or missing-from-home behaviour. Staff work effectively with young people and professionals to understand these behaviours, and take action to reduce individual risk and keep young people safe.

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

There are clearly written risk management plans in place, which identify how staff will support, manage and monitor young people with individual risk factors such as self-harm or missing-from-home behaviour. Staff understand what actions to take to manage risk- taking behaviour and work effectively with other professionals to ensure that young people are kept safe. This was evident when one young person went missing during the inspection. One professional commented that staff are, ‘on the ball with risk management. They go above and beyond and followed the risk management plan to a T.’ Another commented that, ‘Staff are very much keeping X safe as much as possible.’

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

Staff are proactive when young people go missing. They search extensively for young people to try to locate them, and work effectively with the police and missing-from-home services by sharing information, which may help to locate the young person. Return interviews are consistently carried out, which provides the opportunity to identify information which may help to protect young people from going missing again. Staff undertake a high level of direct work with young people to support their progress and to help them understand the risks associated with going missing.

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

However, case records do not always reflect how staff carry out the actions detailed in young people’s plans regarding individual risk, particularly in respect of reporting of missing episodes, and what actions staff take when young people return to the home under the influence of alcohol and/or substances. This means that there is a lack of clarity about how staff have followed actions set out in risk assessments, or plans to keep young people safe.

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

Staff demonstrate a commitment to helping young people to overcome difficult behaviour. They work hard to understand the cause of young people’s behaviour, and when young people do display challenging behaviour staff have the skills to de-escalate situations effectively. There have been no incidents of restraint since the last inspection, Inspection report children's home: SC021684 6 which reflects staff’s skill in de-escalation. For some young people there has been a reduction in challenging behaviour since the last inspection, and overall the home is much more settled.

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

Staff promote positive behaviour with rewards and incentives, such as a lucky dip box with items young people have picked, or rewards charts, which staff understand and regularly review for effectiveness. When staff impose sanctions due to negative behaviour, these are proportionate and have a clear review date. This ensures that young people link the consequences to their actions, which will help them to learn behaviour that is more positive.

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

Staff are trained in safeguarding and understand what actions to take if, for example, a young person makes an allegation. This ensures that young people are effectively safeguarded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is effectively and efficiently managed by a very child-focused and experienced manager who has been in post since 2013. The manager is currently completing her level 5 diploma in leadership for health and social care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is supported by a very well established team who are committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for the young people they look after. Staff feel well supported in their role by the management team. There has been some movement of staff within the organisation, which has resulted in new staff members joining the team. The manager ensures that more experienced members of staff on shift support new staff members while they become familiar with the role, and there is a robust induction process in place, which ensures that new staff are supported in their role and develop the necessary skills and experience to care for the young people and keep them safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When necessary, the manager robustly challenges the local authority in respect of young people’s plans. An independent reviewing officer confirmed this, stating that, ‘Staff have presented their concerns about the effectiveness of the placement,’ and that staff are, ‘Dogged about trying to chase things up.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff consult young people on their views regularly through teen meetings and individual direct work sessions. Young people are regularly consulted on their plans, views and the home. For example, young people have recently had their rooms redecorated and are being involved in plans to redecorate the home. Staff have made a referral for an independent advocate for one young person who does not feel he is being listened to by the local authority. A youth offending service worker commented that staff are, ‘clearly trying to advocate for him and try to negotiate better terms for X with his social worker so that he might find it easier to engage with education, activities etc’ . This shows that young people feel listened to, and their views are central to all aspects of their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is meeting its aims and objectives as set out in the statement of purpose, and staff have a clear understanding of the aims and ethos of the home. The manager has a good understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses; she is quick to address Inspection report children's home: SC021684 7 any shortfalls identified and utilizes feedback from the independent visitor to improve practice. The manager ensures that a six-monthly review is undertaken; however, the report does not contain any evaluation of feedback she has obtained from parents and professionals, or any actions for development of the service, which may limit opportunity for continuous improvement of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff work effectively with professionals such as the police, or specialist agencies such as the child and adolescent mental health service, to ensure that young people receive the correct support and are protected from harm. Professionals are consistently positive about how well staff communicate with them. A youth offending service worker commented, ‘Staff are very good at communicating updates via email and telephone to myself and the other professionals working with X. Their updates are detailed and relevant and sent in a timely manner .’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager promotes tolerance, equality and diversity through teen meetings and direct work, which address the importance of young people treating each other with respect. There is a programme in place to involve the young people in learning about different cultures, which involves different days being identified throughout the year; this informs the activities and menu planning for that day. However, the manager acknowledges that this is an area for further development.

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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, 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: SC021684 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Social Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 31 Shaw Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK4 4AG

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Inspector(s)

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC021684 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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