Children's home run by Pathway Care Solutions Group Limited

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 1 SC482275

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is part of a large national organisation. It is registered to care for up to four children who may have behavioural and/or emotional difficulties. There is currently a restriction in place preventing any other children to be placed in this home due to shortfalls and practice issues identified at the last interim inspection.

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This monitoring visit

This was the second monitoring visit following an interim inspection which raised concerns. The purpose of this visit was to consider any progress made, review compliance notices that were not met at the last inspection, and review the requirements made at the last inspection.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 22/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 15/11/2016 Full Good 08/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 2 nnn

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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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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard (1) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— (a) understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; (b) ensure that staff— (i) understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; (ii) protect and promote each child’s welfare; (iii) treat each child with dignity and respect; (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; (v) help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect; (vi) help each child to develop resilience and skills that

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Requirement Due date

prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult; (vii) provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; (viii) provide to children personal items that are appropriate for their age and understanding; and (ix) make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice; 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 3 (c) ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— (i) meet the needs of each child; and (ii) enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home; and (d) ensure that any care that is arranged or provided for a child that— (i) relates to the child’s development (within the meaning of

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Requirement Due date

section 17(11) of the Children Act 1989) or health; and (ii) is not arranged or provided as part of the health service continued under section 1(1) of the National Health Service Act 2006(a), satisfies the conditions in paragraph (3). (3) The conditions are— (a) that the care is approved, and kept under review throughout its duration, by the placing authority; (b) that the care meets the child’s needs; (c) that the care is delivered by a person who— (i) has the experience, knowledge and skills to deliver that care; and (ii) is under the supervision of a person who is appropriately skilled and qualified to supervise that care; and (d) that the registered person keeps the child’s general medical practitioner informed, as necessary, about the progress of the care throughout its duration. (1) The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; (iii) understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 4 overcome any such barriers; (iv) help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; (v) promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; (vi) maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and

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Requirement Due date

the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; (vii) raise any need for further assessment or specialist provision in relation to a child with the child’s education or training provider and the child’s placing authority; (viii) help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; (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; (x) help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans; and (b) that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning.

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard (1) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; (iii) encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 5 (iv) help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; (v) communicate to each child expectations about the child’s

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Requirement Due date

behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; (vi) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; (vii) help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship; (viii) strive to gain each child’s respect and trust; (ix) understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children; (x) are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help

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Requirement Due date

children to do the same; (xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children; (xii) understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and (xiii) have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them; and (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. 12: The protection of children standard (1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (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; 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 6

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Requirement Due date

(ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iii) have the skills to identify and act on signs that a child is at risk of harm; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and (vii) are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies; (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; (c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; (d) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health; and

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Requirement Due date

(e) that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. 13: The leadership and management standard (1) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (c) ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (e) ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 7 (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; (g) demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— (i) research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; (ii) feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. 33: Employment of staff In order to meet this requirement, the registered person must— (1)(a) ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction; (b) ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of

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Requirement Due date

probation; and (c) provide each employee with a job description outlining the employee’s responsibilities. (2) The registered person must operate a disciplinary procedure which, in particular— (a) provides for the suspension from work of an employee, if necessary, in the interests of the safety or welfare of children; and (b) provides that the failure on the part of an employee to report an incident of abuse, or suspected abuse, whether past or present, in relation to a child to the appropriate person is a ground on which disciplinary proceedings may be instituted. (3) For the purposes of this regulation, "the appropriate person" is the registered person, an officer of HMCI, an officer of the local authority in whose area the home is located, or a police officer.

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Requirement Due date

(4) The registered person must ensure that all employees— (a) undertake appropriate continuing professional 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 8 development; (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and (c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. 35: Behaviour management policies and records In order to meet this requirement, the registered person must prepare and implement a policy ("the behaviour management policy") which sets out— (1)(a) how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and (b) the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home. (2) The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (3) The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

(a) within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— (i) the name of the child; (ii) details of the child’s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; (iii) the date, time and location of the use of the measure; (iv) a description of the measure and its duration; (v) details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; (vi) the name of the person who used the measure ("the user"), and of any other person present when the measure was used; (vii) the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and (viii) a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; (b) 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")—

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Requirement Due date

(i) has spoken to the user about the measure; and 01/06/2017 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 9 (ii) has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and (c) 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. (4) Paragraph (3) does not apply in relation to restraint that is planned or provided for as a matter of routine in the child’s EHC plan or statement of special educational needs.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject of a compliance notice.

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. At the last monitoring visit, the organisation failed to ensure that compliance notices and regulations had been fully met. These findings remained at this visit. While some changes have been made at leadership and management level, the impact of these changes is yet to be evidenced in practice. One of the key areas highlighted as a shortfall was leadership and management. On arrival at the home, there was no manager on site. The newly appointed manager was on holiday and no robust arrangements had been made to ensure that a suitably skilled and experienced manager was in day-to-day control of the home. Both deputy managers had two days planned time away from the home. This meant that direct face-to-face support and advice was unavailable to care staff should they require it. There have been two incidents of children going missing from home since the last

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Information about this inspection

monitoring visit. One of these incidents was not managed in line with the arrangements set out in the young person’s care planning documentation. This meant that the police were not alerted and there was a delay in organising a coordinated approach to actively search for them. Young people have not been afforded a meeting with an independent person in line with policy following a missing from home incident. The staff failed to actively ensure that this support was in place for young people. This means that young people were not afforded someone to talk to outside of their home should they have any particular worries, or concerns about the care they receive at home. Consequences for young people are used as a means of managing behaviour on a regular basis. Leaders and managers fail to have an oversight of this area of practice. Consequences given are not always appropriate, and they are not always implemented. One consequence for a young person was draconian. There is no

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 10 evidence that the effectiveness of this area of practice is reviewed. Consequences were given in respect of both missing from home incidents, highlighting a lack of understanding in respect of risks for children who go missing and exploitation. Young people living in this home are not being provided with education. Neither attends any formal schooling. Progress in education has deteriorated for both young people since coming to live at this home. One young person has started a part-time job and staff are working with education services in an attempt to incorporate this into their formal education. Current staff vacancies are impacting on the amount of additional hours staff are working. The current top-heavy approach to management in the home does not take any pressure off the care staff who are dealing with challenging behaviours on a

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Information about this inspection

day-to-day basis. The organisation was undertaking interviews for additional care staff during this monitoring visit to elevate some of the pressures placed on care staff due to the current vacancy rate. It is evident that the shortfalls identified at the last monitoring visit in respect of contact with the designated officer have been addressed and learning points identified for the organisation. There have been no further incidents requiring contact with the designated officer since the last monitoring visit. The organisation has employed a permanent manager and they have made alternative arrangements in respect of the registered individual. The change in registered individual has resulted in a greater senior leadership presence in the home and clarity of expectation for the staff. Staff spoke positively and with confidence in respect of the newly appointed manager. These changes appear to be lifting staff morale.

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Information about this inspection

Staff reported to the inspector that they felt listened to. They reported that, at a recent staff meeting, they were able to voice worries they had and felt that action was being taken to address their worries. For example, staff were feeling tired due to current demands on them and the long shifts they were working. As a result of them raising this, changes have been made to the rota to alleviate their concerns. Staff stated that they felt that they were at the beginning of a process. They know that things need to change to ensure that children receive better care. Staff demonstrated that they are committed to the children and want them to do well in all aspects of their lives. They feel the new management arrangements will support them to reach these aspirations. Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchants Place, Bolton BL2 1BX

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Inspector

Tracey Ledder, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC482275 12 to 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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