Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children's home: SC064858 1 SC064858 Registered provider: Salford City Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to accommodate four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is maintained by a local authority.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Date of last inspection: 15 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC064858 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

 Engagement in education is limited for most young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work with the police and the missing-from-home team, but despite this young people are frequently missing.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff have been unable to effect positive change in young people’s risk-taking behaviours, such as cannabis use, missing from home and criminality.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Risk assessments fail to identify clear risk management strategies in respect of how to manage young people who are under the influence of illegal substances.

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Key findings from this inspection

 There are significant weaknesses in the quality of the records.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The registered manager has not ensured that notifications of all significant events that relate to the welfare of the young people are reported to HMCI.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people do not have consistently positive relationships with each other.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager and staff work positively with other agencies and professionals.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are doing their best to increase young people’s attendance at school and engagement in their education.

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Key findings from this inspection

 One young person has made measurable progress from their starting point.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Contact between young people and their families is very well supported.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team remains stable. Staff retention is good, providing consistency for the young people.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC064858 3 09/05/2016 Full Good 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 12/10/2015 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC064858 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

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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home should ensure that children are helped to understand the impact of their behaviour upon themselves and on the safety and well-being of others. 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

12.—(1) The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

(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; with specific regard to clearer risk management strategies in relation to substance misuse. 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

13.—(1) The leadership and management standard is that the 28/07/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC064858 5 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.

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilse they remain in the home. Ensure accurate, succinct and evaluative record keeping. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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Recommendations

 Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)- (d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). Examples of incidents that are likely to be considered serious affecting the welfare of a child include: a child being the victim or perpetrator of a serious assault; a serious illness or accident; or serious concerns over a child’s missing behaviour. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraphs 14.9 & 14.11)

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requires improvement to be good

The home is a short-term reception unit, which often admits young people in emergencies and/or in crisis. They have often experienced a lack of clear boundaries, non-attendance at school and emotional and behavioural difficulties. Two of the new admissions have experienced several placement moves due to the significant challenges their behaviours present. There is a mixed picture in terms of progress and experiences for the current group of young people because they are regularly missing, involved in criminal activity and smoking cannabis, which makes it difficult for them to stay safe.

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requires improvement to be good

Only one of the four young people is engaged in education. Staff provide clear messages about the importance of education. From their starting point at the beginning of their placement one young person has re-engaged with their education and has just sat a number of GCSEs. A young person said, ‘When I was at home I was smoking weed and not getting up for school; I came here and the staff made me get up and go… they gave me no rest!’ However, school attendance for the other young people is limited because they either go missing or stay out late, and then are too tired to get up the next day. This impacts on Inspection report children's home: SC064858 6 their future life-chances.

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requires improvement to be good

Staff do their best to promote positive relationships with the young people and increase their engagement. However, they are having limited success due to the young people spending large amounts of time away from the home. There is an ongoing issue with cannabis use, but despite the efforts of the staff to address this, their work there has been little or no impact. There have been occasions when young people have colluded together in bullying another young person. Records show that staff took appropriate action to support the individual young person.

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requires improvement to be good

Young people are encouraged to live healthy lifestyles. For example, there are frequent opportunities for physical exercise, such as cycling. There are effective arrangements in place for young people to access specialist services, including a drug and alcohol service and STARLAC, to improve their psychological and emotional well-being. Every three weeks a member of the clinical team visits the home to talk to the staff about the young people. However, records of these meetings are not available in the home, which is a missed opportunity to share information with those who did not attend the meeting.

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requires improvement to be good

A number of services are available to the young people, in order to help them overcome patterns of negative behaviour. One young person has successfully engaged with this help and support, which has resulted in her moving back to the family home. However, others fail to engage with professionals who can help them reduce their risk-taking behaviours, such as the youth offending service. Consequently, they have breached their youth offending orders, which puts them at risk of being criminalised further.

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requires improvement to be good

All young people have the opportunity to develop their practical skills, such as preparing meals, doing their washing and keeping their bedrooms tidy. One young person told the inspector how proud she was to have got herself a part- time job. She is looking forward to earning her own money and the independence this will bring. She also has ambitions for the future as she wants to be a midwife; she has secured a place with the nursing cadets starting in September. Staff have had some success in getting individual young people involved in activities, such as a trip to Blackpool.

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requires improvement to be good

Two young people spoken to during the inspection said they liked living in the home and that they got on with most of the staff. One young person said, ‘I love X and X [names of staff]… they are firm but fair I do appreciate them… they are actually very sweet.’ Young people’s views are sought through young people’s meetings and key-work sessions. However, the latter depend on individual young people and their willingness to engage. Staff encourage young people to get involved with their statutory reviews, so they can voice their opinions on their future care plans.

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requires improvement to be good

Staff work hard to promote young people’s contact with their families. When the Inspection report children's home: SC064858 7 plan is for a young person to return to back to their family, the staff actively work with the parents and young people to ensure a successful outcome.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff strive to work in partnership with other safeguarding agencies to promote the welfare and safety of the young people. However, despite the best efforts of the manager and staff, young people continue to engage in criminal, anti-social and risk-taking behaviours. A social worker commented, ‘They [staff] work hard to keep him safe… they have a good understanding of the risks and concerns… it’s just that he is not engaging.’ Young people frequently go missing or stay out until the early hours. Boundaries are inconsistent; for example, on one occasion, a young person left the home unsupervised at 10.15pm, telling the staff he was going to the shop. He was returned at 1.00am by the police, who said he was with a gang causing trouble. Staff does not always know where young people are or who they are associating with.

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improvement to be good

Missing-from-home records are not well maintained. They do not demonstrate that staff consistently follow young people to try and persuade them to return home. Other information, such as the time that a young person leaves or returns, is not accurately recorded. This demonstrates a lack of effective oversight by the manager.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are not sufficiently robust. There are no clear strategies in place detailing how staff will support, manage and monitor young people who are under the influence of cannabis. This has the potential to compromise the welfare and safety of young people. The manager accepted this shortfall and took steps to rectify this during the inspection by changing the risk assessments to ensure that young people are checked on throughout the night.However, there are still gaps in the risk assessments because it is not clear how often the checks should take place or what action staff should take when they have concerns about a young person’s welfare.

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improvement to be good

Physical interventions are rarely used and negative consequences are kept to a minimum. There have been occasions when the police have been called to support staff, but every effort is made not to criminalise young people further.

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improvement to be good

The local authority operates careful vetting of any new staff to protect young people. No new staff have been employed at the home since the last inspection. Safeguarding training ensures that staff have a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities with regard to keeping young people safe.

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be good

Inspection report children's home: SC064858 8 The registered manager has been in position for over 10 years and is suitably qualified and experienced for the role. She has a social work qualification and an NVQ level 4 in management. The statement of purpose clearly sets out the ethos and objectives of the home, which is to provide accommodation for young people following a family or placement breakdown or at the request of the police. Due to the nature of the service the manager said she does not complete impact assessments in respect of the young people admitted to the home. This means that young people’s compatibility to live together, albeit for a short period of time, is not fully assessed.

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be good

The manager and staff are committed to providing good-quality care and support. That said, some aspects of the record-keeping make it difficult to assess progress and the impact of the care and support. Key documents, including placement plans and healthcare plans, are incomplete or not up to date. For example, one young person’s placement plan contained information relating to their previous placement. This shows a lack of effective monitoring and oversight by the manager.

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be good

All the staff have worked at the home for a number of years and are experienced and qualified. They are supervised regularly and confirm that they are well supported. Regular team meetings are an opportunity for staff to reflect on their practice. Daily handovers ensure that key information relating to the young people is handed over to the staff who are working the next shift. Staff continue to access training so that their skills and knowledge are refreshed and updated.

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be good

The manager does not ensure that HMCI is notified of serious incidents and this prevents the regulator from having the necessary information to check that young people are being effectively safeguarded.

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be good

The manager has established strong professional relationships with partner agencies and families. One professional commented, ‘The manager is proactive in raising concerns with us… [name of the home] is a good enough place, but it does depend on the mix of young people.’ Another professional said, ‘Communication with me is good.’

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be good

There were no requirements or recommendations made at the last inspection. The manager understands the strengths and weaknesses of the home and has a development plan in place. External monitoring of the home ensures that the quality of care is satisfactorily monitored.

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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 Inspection report children's home: SC064858 9 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: SC064858 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon: social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children's home: SC064858 11 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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