Children's home run by Wigan Council in Wigan

Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 1 SC040266 Registered provider: Wigan Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a local authority children‟s home for five 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

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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 inadequate

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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: Declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection

No action taken Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 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

 Young people are making progress in some aspects of their lives. However, there was limited evidence within the home to demonstrate their overall progress and experiences since moving in.  Educational progress of young people is varied. Managers and staff have failed to ensure that there are appropriate support systems, including detailed plans, to enable young people to reach their full potential.  Individual risk assessments for young people lack sufficient information and detailed analysis of the identified risk. As a result, staff do not always clearly understand how to manage these risks.  Medication records are not robust and do not contain all required information. This means that medication is unaccounted for, on occasions.  All staff, including agency workers, who are working on shift with young people need to be fully aware of all the current risk assessments, and any changes and updates that have taken place.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Measures of control, discipline and restraint are not consistently evaluated for their effectiveness. They neither provide sufficient detail of the measure used, nor include the young person‟s view. They are not, therefore, compliant with the Children‟s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.  Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that there is appropriate monitoring at the home to adequately review the quality of care and identify areas for improvements. There is insufficient management review or evaluation of records and the events that occur at the home to understand how staff can better support young people‟s progress and experiences.  There is ineffective management oversight of staff practice to promote good standards of care and to identify areas of weakness. The children‟s home‟s strengths

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people report that they have good relationships with staff.  Contact for all young people is well supported and monitored by staff.  Young people enjoy a wide range of activities, and their individual hobbies are fully supported. Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 15/11/2016 Full Requires improvement 16/02/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/11/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 4

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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

7: The children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard

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Requirement Due date

The children‟s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children‟s care and welfare and their lives. (Regulation 7(1)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that feedback is provided on any issues or concerns raised by children within their group meetings. 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their education potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment 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; 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 (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(iv)(viii)(ix)) 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the health and well-being standard, the provider must ensure that children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10(1)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that a comprehensive risk assessment is in place with regard to self-harm. 11/07/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 5 12: The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— 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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies; and 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(v)(vii)(b)) 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

13: The leadership and management standard

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home that helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard the registered person must ensure that each child‟s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(2)(c)) 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, 11/07/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 6 recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children‟s home. (Regulation 23(1)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. 35: Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. 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— the name of the child; details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure; the date, time and location of the use of the measure; a description of the measure and its duration; details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and 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

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within five 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(2)(3)(a)(b)(c)) 11/07/2017

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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; and ensure that they are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 11/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

44: Independent person: visits and reports

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person‟s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children‟s well- being. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b)) 11/07/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 7

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has not taken effective action to meet its requirements. Six requirements are repeated, which include requirements concerning safeguarding, education, leadership and management, medication administration, behaviour management and record keeping. The failure to ensure that all requirements are met impacts on young people‟s progress and experiences, and fails to demonstrate that managers and staff are continually identifying, assessing and addressing young people‟s individual care needs.

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improvement to be good

The home has continued to experience a period of uncertainty. Managers and staff report that the local authority‟s plan to close the home for a period of time to change the ethos and purpose has created uncertainty and unrest within the staff team. In addition, vacancies in the team mean that there is not a full, consistent staff team in place. The registered manager reported that she had raised the issue of the impact of insufficient staffing numbers with the provider, but no action had been taken to rectify this. Despite these difficulties, careful planning of shifts has ensured that longstanding members of the team, including managers, have worked alongside agency staff. This ensures that young people have adults on shift whom they have already built trusting relationships with while they build up new relationships.

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improvement to be good

Young people are making progress in some aspects of their lives. However, there was limited evidence within the home to demonstrate their overall progress and experiences since moving in. For example, young people‟s placement plans, education plans and health plans lacked detail about their specific needs. Furthermore, individual daily achievement books, and individual assessment and target plans are not updated consistently to show the progression and development of young people.

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improvement to be good

Educational progress of young people is varied. The registered manager had taken limited action to address the requirement made at the last inspection. While one young person has engaged in education, other young people are not making measureable progress or reaching their full potential. Furthermore, staff are inconsistent in their approach to encouraging and supporting young people who refuse to attend their education provision. For example, some staff continually encourage the young people to get up, while others fail to take appropriate action to motivate young people. Consequently, some young people neither have clear expectations regarding the need to attend education, nor are engaged in suitable structured activities during school times. This failure to instil the importance of education in young people has the potential to negatively impact on some young people‟s future life chances.

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improvement to be good

Care planning is not consistently effective to meet the needs of all young people. Social workers have discussed with managers the expectations around planning for young people, specifically around education and managing self-harmful behaviours. However, Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 8 placement plans, risk assessments and behaviour management plans lack sufficient detail to inform and guide staff practice. Consequently, not all staff are able to show that they are following the local authority‟s plan or effectively assessing the risk of harm to every young person.

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improvement to be good

Staff have arranged regular young people‟s meetings to discuss the running of the home and to the gain the views of young people. However, on the occasions when young people had asked questions or raised issues, including about having access to a company vehicle and requesting changes to the menus, there was no evidence to show that their points had been listened to or that any action had been taken in response.

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improvement to be good

Young people‟s health needs are well met and they are helped to access additional resources to support their emotional well-being when needed. This includes direct contact with therapeutic services. Staff provide regular updates to health professionals, including the local authority‟s children looked after nurse. This helps to ensure that all professionals are working together to achieve good outcomes for young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to re-establish and maintain contact with their families. One parent said, „Without the commitment of (name of staff member) arranging, supporting and promoting contact, I am not sure that we would ever have seen (name of young person) again. She contacted us and organised a time for us to visit the home and then stayed with us throughout the visit. We really cannot thank her enough.‟ They went on to say, „All the staff are very welcoming when we visit, and I feel that they all really care and want only the best for all young people.‟ Young people were also positive about the support they had received around contact with important people in their lives. This ensures that young people maintain contact with family, friends and carers.

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improvement to be good

Young people report that they feel happy and safe living at the home. However, not all staff have ensured that they are fully aware of each young person‟s current level of risk. Individual risk assessments are not robust. They identify risk areas, but lack in-depth analysis and fail to gather full information to inform strategies to minimise the risks. Staff members have limited understanding of risk issues affecting the young people in their day-to-day care. Moreover, they have not received training in key areas such as self- harmful behaviours, radicalisation and child sexual exploitation. This does not ensure that they have the skills to equip them in their role. In addition, incident records are not completed after every serious incident. This fails to follow the home‟s own policies, which clearly state: „Following incidents of concern, records should be compiled with detailed information including how the situation was managed and the outcome.‟

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improvement to be good

Because of these shortfalls, young people have increased vulnerability.

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improvement to be good

There continues to be shortfalls in both the administration and recording of medication. This issue was a requirement at the last inspection. Despite the introduction of a simplified recording system, there remain occasions when staff fail to complete the required information, including the date, the time that the medication was given and the Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 9 signatures of staff who administered it. Consequently, staff have failed both to follow the organisation‟s own medication procedures and to ensure that young people‟s medication is given in line with their prescription. The registered manager acknowledged that audits that are more thorough are required, and identified this as an area that requires further improvement.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff have developed an approach to behaviour management that includes providing rewards for good behaviour while ensuring that there are consequences for negative behaviour. Staff report inconsistencies in the way that the system is implemented across the staff team. For example, some staff will take televisions from young people who do not attend school. However, this is not consistent across the staff team. This has resulted in staff members becoming frustrated with colleagues, resulting in negative feelings. Young people also are confused by this approach, as they receive different messages from staff as to how they are expected to behave. Young people have developed positive relationships with each other. There are no concerns about bullying and, overall, young people enjoy good relationships that are marked by fun and the ability to relate well to each other. This has created a calm and

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improvement to be good

pleasant environment to live in. Furthermore, young people who have moved on from the home continue to stay in contact with staff and young people.

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improvement to be good

The home environment is now clean, homely and suitably furnished. Personalisation by the young people is evident throughout. The young people‟s bedrooms reflect their interests and hobbies, and they are comfortable and well maintained. Young people are proud of their home and enjoy living here.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced to manage a children‟s home. An experienced deputy manager supports her in the role. Together they have continued to work in partnership with a wide range of external services. There are good working relationships with placing social workers and independent reviewing officers, and this helps to support good communication and coordination of services for the benefit of young people. The registered manager identified that since the last inspection there continues to be uncertainty about the long-term plan for home, but feels that the staff team is committed to making and sustaining improvements. Following the last inspection, she reported that other managers within the organisation were spending time at the home to look at the improvements required. However, this had caused a degree of confusion among the staff regarding implementing some of the new processes. Furthermore, the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

registered manager did not feel that she has received adequate and regular support to enable her to effectively manage or make the required changes at the home. Although young people and staff acknowledged that key-working sessions take place, the records do not always provide an insight into the young people‟s lives or their journeys through care. Therefore, there is limited information by which to measure young people‟s progress or to identify the effectiveness of the support provided. Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 10 Moreover, this prevents a complete record being made of young people‟s time at the home, although it has not affected their welfare. Independent scrutiny of the home has continued to take place on a regular basis. Reports have been compiled with clear action plans to enable the registered manager to understand areas in need of attention or improvement. The registered manager has

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

responded to the action plan with information to indicate that actions have been considered and met, for example, „Sanction and room search documents require the registered manager‟s overview and signature.‟ The outcome indicates that the registered manager has actioned these with a completion date. However, the records clearly show that the registered manager has not completed the required actions. This fails to demonstrate that the registered manager is responding appropriately to areas identified as requiring action in an appropriate manner. The provider requested an action plan from the home following the last inspection to ensure that all actions had been completed and addressed. However, the action plan lacks detail and does not address key issues such as the review of risk assessments, daily care plans, medication records and sanctions. This fails to demonstrate that the registered manager has taken effective action to improve practices in the home or to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

monitor the daily care provided to young people efficiently. The current staff team are either qualified to national vocational qualification level 3 or are undertaking this essential training. However, staff have not received training in self- harmful behaviours, radicalisation or e-safety. Furthermore, there was no evidence that staff have attended the organisation‟s own mandatory training or refresher courses. When discussed with the registered manager, she reported that this was a recording issue, yet was unable to provide any further evidence to demonstrate that the training had taken place. Overall, this means that staff may not have the necessary up-to-date knowledge on key issues affecting the young people who are in their care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not taken sufficient action to ensure that all of the requirements raised at the last inspection have been addressed. Gaps remain in the monitoring and review systems, and these detract from the analysis and evaluation of the care provided and its impact on outcomes for young people. This highlights weaknesses in the manager‟s monitoring and overview of the service and raises concerns regarding her capacity to recognise its strengths and weaknesses. On a positive note, team meetings and supervision now take place on a regular basis, and detailed records evidence the discussions held. Staff report that the managers are „supportive‟ and „committed in their roles‟. In particular, they all recognise the support, commitment and enthusiasm of the deputy manager. Staff members report that the deputy manager is willing to listen and support the team and to make sure that the young people are receiving the best care available. They also say that they are gradually

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

working better together as a team, and it was clear through discussions with the inspector that staff were motivated and child centred in their approach. Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 11

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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 whom 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: SC040266 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN

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Inspector(s)

Michelle Edge, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC040266 13 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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