Children's home run by Hillcrest Children’s Services Ltd in Havant

Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 1 SC482298 Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home is registered to care for up to 21 children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home offers an on-site college educational facility, which is registered with the Department for Education. The majority of the young people attend the college. The home currently offers care for children and young people aged 12 to 19 years.

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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

Date of last inspection: 12 September 2016

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Requires improvement

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 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

 The shared rooms in the home are poorly furnished.  Young people receive different messages from staff on rules and boundaries, which confuses young people.  Some young people do not have clear plans about how they are to move towards independence.  Young people say that they feel anxious and uncertain about the number of staff who have left. Managers have not reassured them that the home will become settled.  Poor communication between staff at handovers leads to important information about young people not being passed on.  Incidents when young people go missing have increased significantly since the last inspection.  When young people go missing, staff do not always proactively search for them or follow the ‘missing policy’.  Some fire doors have been blocked.  Some physical intervention records lack clarity regarding the type of restraint used and the justification for using it.  The manager has not regularly updated and reviewed all risk assessments,

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Key findings from this inspection

some of which do not identify strategies for reducing risk.  There has been no registered manager for over 26 weeks.  Staff have not received regular and consistent supervision.  A lack of managerial oversight has led to staff feeling unsupported and anxious.  Management monitoring has been poor.  Staff do not always follow the recording policy, leading to information about young people being unavailable when needed.  Staff have not effectively communicated with other agencies, including the local authority and police.  An independent person does not visit the children’s home or monitor the effectiveness of the service.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people make close friendships with peers and have fun with each other and with enthusiastic staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 3  Young people have access to a wide range of stimulating activities and facilities.  Young people make significant progress in some areas.  Care staff spend time in the school and education staff spend time in the home in order to enhance their understanding of (and relationships with) young people.  Specialist services are utilised to help young people address child sexual exploitation.  The newly appointed manager is child focused, proactive and has begun to enable staff to feel increasingly supported. Staff speak highly of her.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2016 Full Requires improvement 21/06/2016 Full Inadequate 31/03/2016 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/01/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff, seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation (5)(d)) In particular, ensure effective sharing of information with the police and local authority child sexual exploitation lead when young people are admitted to the home or go missing. 28/07/2017

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff have the skills to identify and act on signs that a child is at risk of harm; that staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; that staff take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and that staff are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii) In particular, ensure an effective response when young people go missing, or are at risk of harm. 28/07/2017

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 28/07/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 5 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. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(d)) In particular, ensure that fire doors are appropriately accessible and evacuation routes are clear. 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out

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Requirement Due date

in the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1) and (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)(h)) 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14(1)(a) and (2)(c)) In particular, ensure that young people have adequate independence plans. 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

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 28/07/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 6 includes a description of the measure and its duration. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iv)) The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint, at the registered provider’s expense, a person ("the independent person") to visit and report on the children’s home carried on by the registered provider. (Regulation 43(1)) 28/07/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at least once every 6 months. (Regulation 45(1)) 28/07/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff seek to meet the child’s basic needs in a way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met. Doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) In particular, improve the decoration and furnishing of the home.  Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policy on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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improvement to be good

Young people form warm and trusting relationships with staff with whom they can enjoy humour and a range of fun and stimulating activities. Young people feel listened to by staff and say that their complaints are responded to appropriately. Young people like their rooms, which they personalise. However, the shared living rooms are not very homely and welcoming. Some young people say that they feel anxious about the large number of staff who have left the home in the past year. They worry about how many more will leave and whether they will have sufficient staff to care for them. Staff work a seven-day shift pattern. This means that young people are regularly faced with changing rules and Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 7 boundaries each time the shift changes. This causes young people to feel confused about what is expected of them. Young people express dissatisfaction about the lack of consistent care.

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improvement to be good

Young people make significant progress in attending and achieving in education, which several have previously struggled to do. Young people form close friendships with other young people in the home, which supports their social and emotional development. Young people also enjoy a range of stimulating and fun activities including horse riding and using the gym, which help them to keep physically fit and learn new skills. Some young people also make progress in understanding and managing their own behaviour, self-confidence and independence. However, due to a lack of clear planning and sharing of plans with young people, some young people do not know how staff are helping them to make progress towards independence. This results in them feeling unsupported in relation to their future plans. Young people receive inconsistent care. Feedback from professionals indicates that some young people receive care that meets their needs and provides them with very

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improvement to be good

positive experiences and outcomes, while other young people do not. The social worker for one young person said, ‘I couldn’t be any happier about the care that she is receiving.’ A social worker for another young person said, ‘She has not been happy with the care she has been receiving and this has contributed to her going missing.’ This lack of consistency and the resulting anxiety for young people is a significant shortfall.

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improvement to be good

Young people say that they feel safe at the home, mainly due to the rural location. Although staff have received safeguarding training and the locality risk assessment is up to date and useful, some staff lack the necessary skills and understanding of safeguarding required to keep young people safe. Young people have access to specialist services, which help them tackle the risks and experiences of child sexual exploitation. Staff do not consistently undertake key-work with all young people to address how to keep themselves safe. Key-work that is undertaken covers topics such as internet safety and online bullying, child sexual exploitation and the risks of going missing. Some young people have responded very positively to this work and have become better at managing their behaviour and becoming safer. However, there has been a significant increase in young people going missing since the last inspection. The response to these incidents is variable. Some social workers

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improvement to be good

say that staff respond appropriately when young people go missing, by being highly proactive in searching for them and following safeguarding procedures. Other social workers and the police have expressed concerns that staff have failed to work sufficiently closely with them in order to safeguard young people. Some senior staff lack an understanding of safeguarding procedures and fail to be sufficiently proactive when young people go missing. When one highly vulnerable young person went missing, staff contacted the police and local authority emergency duty team, but did Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 8 not immediately contact the social worker or family members. As a result, they were unable to gather vital information that could have helped to locate the young person. In addition, serious incidents are not always notified to HMCI, Ofsted as required by regulation. This considerable inconsistency in the responses from staff to safeguarding

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improvement to be good

issues results in some young people being offered less help and protection than others. Some risk assessments lack detail about how to manage young people’s behaviour and risks. Managers do not regularly and consistently review and update risk assessments, and there is a lack of managerial overview of staff safeguarding practice. Poor communication between shifts at handover has resulted in important safeguarding information being lost between shifts. Physical intervention records sometimes lack clarity. They do not adequately detail the holds that are used or the justification for using them. Some fire doors were found to be blocked due to internal doors being kept locked. The new manager responded immediately to resolve the matter, but she and the staff had been unaware of the risks. Young people do not receive consistent safeguarding practice from staff, and managerial oversight and safeguarding training are areas for improvement.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager for over 26 weeks. The new manager has only been in post for eight weeks. The new manager has not submitted her application to become the registered manager. She has a significant amount of managerial experience in children and young people’s residential settings. Since the last inspection, the requirements under the leadership and management standard and the requirement that staff receive regular supervision have not been met. During the period without a registered manager, the home has been overseen by a number of registered managers from other homes in the company. The managers have not provided sufficient consistency or oversight to ensure that young people received a good standard of care and protection. Managers have not provided staff with regular supervision, and staff say that they are only beginning to feel supported now that the new manager is in post.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack or order and inadequate progress has been made since the last inspection. Staff present as having low morale and high levels of anxiety, along with a lack of focus and direction. Written records and files are incomplete and are not always accessible. Practice is inconsistent, as is collaboration with other professionals and agencies. The new manager has begun to create a culture which is in keeping with the aims of the home’s statement of purpose. In order to enhance the care staff’s understanding of young people’s experiences of education, they now spend some time in the school. In addition, education staff spend time in the home to better understand young Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 9 people’s experiences of care. The manager has advocated on behalf of young people and is not afraid to challenge senior management in the company, or other professionals, in order to ensure that the needs of young people are met. However,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

these improvements are yet to be embedded. The new manager accepts that a number of failures have occurred since she came into post. The manager is committed to improving the shortfalls in the home and has begun to address these, including improving record-keeping and reviewing risk assessments. However, she has yet to make the significant improvements in managerial review required in order for risk assessments and staff safeguarding practice to be consistent and effective. The manager has analysed the strengths and weaknesses in the staff team and has begun to provide staff with regular supervision, as well as the support that they need in order to effectively fulfil their roles. However, the manager has not undertaken and submitted a managerial review of the service to Ofsted. The home has not appointed an independent visitor to provide regular feedback to the manager in order to help drive up standards in the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inadequate management has prevented the home from making many of the improvements that were identified in previous inspections. The lack of consistency in all areas of practice must be the focus for the managers if this home is to become good.

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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: SC482298 10

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Hillcrest Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Turnpike Gate House, Alcester Heath, Alcester B49 5JG

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Inspectors

Louise Whittle, social care inspector Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC482298 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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