Children's Home run by Compass Children’s Homes Ltd in Walsall

Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 1 Registered provider: Compass Children‟s Homes 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

The home provides care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private company owns and operates the home.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Children are safe and feel safe in the home. They have good relationships with staff and each other.  Staff provide children with a wide and varied range of activities. These stimulate their learning and enhance their social and emotional development.  Managers and staff use bespoke one-to-one sessions to help children to take responsibility for their actions and reflect on their behaviours.  Internal care planning processes consistently include and reflect children‟s views, wishes, thoughts and feelings.  Staff and mangers make sure that contact between children and their significant family members is encouraged, supported and facilitated.  The registered manager monitors and reviews the quality of care provided by the service.

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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

 The registered manager does not consistently challenge other professionals or agencies to make sure that they meet children‟s needs.  The registered manager does not make sure that any restrictions on children‟s movements or privacy are risk assessed and reviewed.  The majority of staff do not hold relevant qualifications and their formal supervision meetings are not practice related.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

N/A Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must—

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority‟s or a relevant person‟s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child‟s needs are met in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child‟s placing authority. (Regulation 14(1) and (2)(b)(iii)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that children can access all appropriate areas of the children‟s home‟s premises; and any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; and is necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 21(1)(b)(c)(i)(ii)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children. (Regulation 24(1)(a)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).The requirements are that the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification 28/07/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 4 and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32(2)(a)(3)(b)) The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that 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 details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(ii)(v)(vii)(viii)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36(1)(a)) 28/07/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children make good progress because their day-to-day experiences are positive. They receive personalised care and support from a committed and motivated staff team. Managers and staff continually promote and encourage children‟s achievements, and celebrate their triumphs and successes. This constant praise boosts children‟s self- esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Internal care planning processes reflect children‟s individual care and support needs. Managers work with children, their families and other professionals to establish realistic developmental targets. Staff are able to monitor and review children‟s progress because these plans introduce clear and distinct aims and objectives. This personalised approach to internal care planning helps children to recognise their own achievements. Children‟s views, opinions and wishes are intrinsic to these plans and children say that they are involved in decisions about their care. Nevertheless, children‟s care files do not include all necessary information and documentation as required. This means that for some children, staff are unable to confirm that the content of internal care plans reflect accurately the placing authority‟s statutory plans or take account of all known information.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy positive relationships with staff and with each other. The family atmosphere in the home helps children to feel safe and secure. One child said, „We all feel like a happy family.‟ Staff use these relationships to help and support children to reflect on their experiences, both good and bad, and to start to move forward with their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Promoting education is central to the daily routines in the home. For some children, this means that they attend suitable schools that meet their individual learning needs. However, some children do not receive full time education and do not have an appropriate school placement. Staff make sure that these children continue to follow a structured routine that reflects a usual school day, and they devise balanced learning and enrichment programmes. These provide children with community learning activities, such as trips to local places of interests, and stimulates their desire to learn. Although the registered manager continues to raise this shortfall with other agencies and professionals, she has not escalated her concerns to senior managers within the placing authorities in order to effect change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to live a healthy lifestyle. Children enjoy physical and sporting activities, and staff encourage them to eat a healthy diet. When necessary, and for older children, staff work with eternal agencies to make sure that they have access to up-to-date and relevant information relating to the risks associated with alcohol or substance misuse. This helps older children to make informed choices. Staff work in partnership with specialist health practitioners such as counsellors and therapists, when children require this additional help and support. The registered manager Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 6 prioritises children‟s health and well-being. This means that children make good progress in this area of their development. However, staff do not prepare older children to move on from the home or strive to gain greater independence. For example, when older children are due to leave the home, staff do not develop

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

independent living programmes or support them to take more responsibility for everyday tasks such as cleaning, cooking or budgeting. This shortfall means that older children are not equipped with the skills they need to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff make sure that if children are far away from their families that they are able to maintain these relationships. Staff provide children with practical and emotional support, encourage them to make regular phone calls and facilitate regular visits when this is appropriate. This means that children are not isolated from their families.

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

Children are safe in the home and say that they feel safe. There are no incidents of bullying and children say that although they „sometimes fall out big time‟, the staff make sure that they resolve their issues and that they „make up‟.

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

The registered manager and allocated staff create risk assessments that identify children‟s complex and often challenging behaviours. Managers use these documents to demonstrate how these behaviours influence children‟s risk factors, safety and welfare. They produce risk management plans that detail strategies and actions for staff to follow in order to reduce risks and promote children‟s safety. The registered manager makes sure that a varied range of incentives and rewards support these risk management plans. These encourage children to contemplate their behaviour and take responsibility for their actions.

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

Bedroom door alarms are in place to monitor children‟s movements, and staff lock some areas of the home at certain times. The registered manager states that these measures safeguard children. However, the need for these methods of surveillance and restriction are not adequately risk assessed. Current risk assessments do not highlight what risks, if any, children will face in the absence of these constraints. The use of these controls are now custom and practice in the home, and the registered manager does not review their continued use.

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

Incidents of children going missing from the home are rare. Staff work with allocated local police officers and compile missing-from-home risk assessments, detailing actions required if children are missing. These risk assessments take account of children‟s specific vulnerabilities and highlight any increased potential for children to be at risk of sexual exploitation or radicalisation. Internal safeguarding and child protection procedures reflect statutory guidance and support partnership working with other agencies. This comprehensive approach helps to keep children safe.

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

Staff undertake training in the use of physical restraint and de-escalation techniques. Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 7 They only use this measure of control to prevent children from hurting themselves and/or others. Staff record incidents of physical restraint on an electronic data system. However, their reports lack sufficient detail and do not include all necessary information. For example, not all records include details of any medical treatment required. Furthermore, records of sanctions do not provide a clear overview of the event or of the behaviours displayed by the children. As a result, the registered manager is unable to review these documents fully or to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of these measures of control. This potentially compromises children‟s safety in the home.

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

Staff complete regular fire checks and health and safety checks. Any repairs required are quickly completed. The home is well maintained, homely and welcoming. This means that children live in a suitable and safe environment.

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good

Ofsted registered the home in October 2016. This is the first inspection of the service since registration. The registered manager has a number of years of experience of working with children and holds some relevant qualifications for this role. She is currently completing the level 5 diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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good

Children make good progress because the registered manager prioritises their needs. She makes sure that these are central to the routines in the home and continually reiterates this ethos to staff and other professionals. The registered manager retains a good overview of children‟s behaviours and risks, and considers these against their individual progress and achievements. The registered manager listens to children and takes account of their views and opinions. She is currently using these to complete the first formal review and evaluation of the quality of care provided by the home. This means that feedback from children influences the continual development of the service.

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good

Partnership working arrangements between the service, the placing authorities and other external agencies are generally positive. One social worker said, „The home provides a very good service because the manager is clearly very committed and genuinely wants to make a difference.‟ However, when other parties fail to meet children‟s needs or support their development, the registered manager does not sufficiently challenge their inactions. She does not escalate her concerns to higher managers or hold these practitioners accountable for their failures. This means that not all children receive the integrated care and support that they need.

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good

Staff are motivated and enthusiastic. However, the majority of the staff are new to residential care. They have little or no experience of working with children who need bespoke care and support. Although staff have completed a range of online training courses, the majority of staff do not hold a suitable or relevant qualification and lack Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 8 necessary skills. As a result, the registered manager takes responsibility for completing a number of daily tasks usually delegated to care staff, such as directly challenging children‟s behaviour. This means that she does not have sufficient time to undertake some managerial tasks, including an audit of children‟s case files. Furthermore, although staff receive regular supervision, these formal sessions are not practice related. The registered manager does not encourage staff to consider their learning needs or reflect on their performance. Their knowledge base and personal

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good

development is not sufficiently scrutinised to make sure that they are competent in their role.

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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: 1227869 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children‟s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Epinal Way, Loughborough LE11 3GE

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Inspector

Jo Stephenson, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1227869 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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