Children's Home run by The Partnership of Care Today in Staffordshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 1 SC454838 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children‟s Services Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered for six children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A large private provider of children‟s services operates the home, which is located in a rural area.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 3 to 5 July and 25 to 26 July 2017

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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Inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected Inadequate

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Inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers Inadequate

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Inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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Inadequate

Date of last inspection: 28 February 2017

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Inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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Inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 2

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Key findings from this inspection

This children‟s home is inadequate because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers have failed to ensure that the accommodation is a safe environment for young people to live in.  Young people‟s bedrooms lack basic fittings and furniture; they are dirty and uncared for.  Managers do not work in partnership with the local community to resolve tensions which are caused by young people‟s anti-social behaviour.  Staff do not promote the safety and well-being of young people in their care.  Young people continue to engage in some risk-taking and offending behaviour.  Managers do not monitor and evaluate measures of discipline and control effectively.  When serious events occur, managers do not always share information with Ofsted.  Managers and staff do not review and update placement plans and risk assessments to reflect the needs of the young people.  Managers do not ensure that all staff are sufficiently trained to meet the individual needs of young people.  Managers do not acknowledge complaints raised by young people.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff show little appreciation of the value of education for young people.  Staff do not ensure that all young people‟s contact with their families is safe and a positive experience.  Managers do not ensure that the home operates in line with the statement of purpose.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people enjoy a wide range of activities.  Staff ensure that young people‟s health needs are met.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 18/07/2016 Full Good 24/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 23/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 3

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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 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)) This is with specific reference to the issues relating to young people displaying anti-social behaviour. 05/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. 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; and help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 8 (2)(iv)(x)) 05/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff— encourage each child to take responsibility for the child‟s behaviour, in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding; and communicate to each child expectations about the child‟s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding. (Regulation 11 (2)(a)(iii)(v)) 05/09/2017

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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 05/09/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 4 registered person to ensure— 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; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; and 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 (2)(b)(c)(d)) The leadership and management standard 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 in the home‟s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (2)(a)(c)(h)) 05/09/2017

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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. (Regulation 14 (2)(a)) In particular, ensure that contact arrangements between children and their families are made clear to staff. When there are concerns around contact, arrangements are risk assessed to ensure that these are safe. Managers must ensure that the staff know the care plan for each child. Managers and staff must ensure that children‟s placement plans clearly set out their day- to-day care needs. 05/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (2)(b)) 05/09/2017

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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; is necessary and proportionate; and is kept under review and, if necessary, revised. 05/09/2017 Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 5 (Regulation 21 (b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)) The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out the measures of control, discipline and restraint, which may be used in relation to children in the home. 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— a description of the measure and its duration; and the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and

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Requirement Due date

of any other person present when the measure was used. (Regulation 35 (1)(b)(2)(vi)) In particular, that all those involved in the restraint and who are witness to it have the opportunity to receive a debrief from somebody independent of the incident. 05/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

Ensure the registered person notifies HMCI and each other relevant person without delay of all events outlined within this regulation. (Regulation 40 (4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 05/09/2017

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not receive good care and protection. For example, staff do not provide young people with sufficient help to reduce risk-taking behaviour. As a result, young people go missing and engage in drug misuse and anti-social behaviour. A lack of staff support compromises young people‟s health, safety, well-being and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Placement plans do not contain enough information about young people‟s care arrangements. Consequently, staff do not fully understand all aspects of young people‟s care needs. For example, staff do not have access to written plans that outline the contact arrangements for young people. This leaves staff without sufficient understanding of the risks relating to contact arrangements. As a result, it is not clear that family contact is positive and safe.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Parts of the accommodation are poorly decorated, maintained and furnished. In particular, young people‟s bedrooms are in an exceptionally poor state. Staff do not encourage and support young people to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. For example, young people‟s bedding is dirty and floors contain debris. Rubbish has accumulated outside bedroom windows. Some young people‟s bedrooms contain insufficient furniture. One young person has to store his clothes in baskets because he does not have a wardrobe or a sufficient number of drawers. Other young people‟s bedrooms do have wardrobes. However, young people are unable to hang up their clothes inside the wardrobe. Consequently, clothes are in piles on the floor. The quality Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 6 of the accommodation is so poor that young people show little interest in their bedrooms and the overall condition of the home. A lack of good basic care does not make young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The independent visitor has highlighted concerns about the state of the bedrooms in a recent report. However, managers and staff have failed to act on these concerns. This shows that managers fail to prioritise young people‟s care. Additionally, managers are failing to really understand what this poor standard of care must mean to young people. Staff seek the views and opinions of young people on some aspects of the day-to-day running of the home through regular meetings. These include menu planning and activities. However, staff disregard or take no action when young people raise concerns. For example, the inspectors identified that at least one young person wanted to make a complaint. The young person‟s wish to complain was noted by staff in the daily logbook. However, managers and staff took no action to follow this up. This leaves young people‟s worries inadequately addressed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people have access to full-time education at the on-site school. For some young people, this has helped them to be more confident in their ability to learn and they have moved successfully to college. However, other young people‟s school attendance is poor. Individual education plans highlight attendance as a concern. However, written plans do not include strategies about how staff can help young people to improve their attendance. Furthermore, when young people are not in school, it is not clear what staff do to engage young people in structured activities. As a result, staff do not help young people to overcome barriers to learning and they do not support young people to reach their potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The quality of relationships between staff and young people is generally positive. Young people identify members of staff that they like and enjoy spending time with.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are offered a wide range of activities. These include fishing, swimming, walking and trips out to places of interest. These varied activities enable young people to have some positive experiences and to have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff seek out the services required to meet individual young people‟s health needs. For example, when needed, staff will secure the involvement of specialist health workers. This means that young people receive the appropriate advice and treatment to stay healthy.

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

Young people are at risk due to health and safety shortfalls. On a number of occasions, young people have climbed on to the roof of the main house and on to the roofs of other outbuildings. This has placed them at considerable risk. Managers have not taken sufficient precautions to prevent this from happening again. Risk assessments for the house and grounds are inadequate. Furthermore, managers have neither reviewed the risk assessments nor acted on recommendations made in previous assessments. For example, the site risk assessment states that signs should be placed at specific points to Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 7 warn people of the dangers of fragile roofs and the risks of climbing on to these roofs. This has not been done.

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

Managers and staff do not manage risk well. They are aware of risks but do not act to reduce them. For example, risk assessments refer to the need to have high staffing levels to manage young people‟s risky behaviours. Although there are sufficient staff, the staff do not supervise young people appropriately. This has led to young people going missing from home without staff knowing. On one occasion, a young person hid, undetected, in the boot of the home‟s vehicle while another young person was being taken to contact with his family. This only became known when another young person alerted staff. The young person had been missing for over two hours before staff realised that he was not in the home. When managers became aware of this incident, they took no action. As a result, managers do not review serious incidents to learn lessons and reduce the risk of reoccurrence. Poor supervision and a lack of monitoring

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

leave young people at risk of significant harm.

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

Young people engage in anti-social behaviour such as throwing stones and being verbally aggressive towards others. This behaviour causes distress to local residents. Managers and staff have not developed effective strategies to help young people to reduce this behaviour. As a result, staff do not enable young people to recognise the impact that their behaviour has on themselves and others.

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

Restraint occurs rarely. However, staff do not include all relevant information in the records. For example, records do not clearly describe the technique used. All staff involved in an incident of restraint and those who are witness to it are not debriefed. This means that staff and young people do not have the opportunity to talk about what happened and raise any concerns that they may have. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the manager‟s evaluation is limited by not capturing all the relevant information.

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

Young people receive rewards and incentives when they do well. This means that negative behaviour is not the sole focus of attention. However, when young people misbehave, the sanctions that they receive are not always proportionate and linked to the behaviour. For example, two young people who were on the roof of the building received supervised spends. When young people misbehave, staff switch off the power supply to the plug sockets in young people‟s bedrooms. On one occasion, this was because a young person had been abusive to staff. This was not a proportionate response. These types of consequences do not support young people to modify their behaviour.

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

The manager ensures that young people are protected by thorough recruitment practices. He vets staff and assesses a candidate‟s suitability before any appointment is confirmed. These measures promote the safety of the young people by preventing unsuitable adults from working with them. Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 8

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to keep young people safe. Management oversight and monitoring are poor. Consequently, managers do not identify areas of weakness and they do not take action to resolve areas of risk and concern. These failings compromise young people‟s progress and safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have poor oversight of staff training needs. Training records show that staff are not fully trained to meet young people‟s needs. For example, some staff have not received training in understanding the indicators of child sexual exploitation. One casual member of staff who works at the home has some training requirements that are over six years old. The manager was unaware that he had responsibility for this member of staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External monitoring visits provide some independent oversight. The independent visitor makes recommendations to improve practice. However, managers do not act on these consistently. As a result, they do not use external quality assurance mechanisms to improve the quality of care provided for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not keep staff up to date with information about young people‟s care plans. On two occasions, staff were confused as to whether a young person had left the service or not. As a result, staff did not actively pursue his whereabouts when he was missing. Furthermore, when the young person was found, staff were not prepared for his return. Not keeping staff informed means that staff do not provide young people with continuity of care. Furthermore, they do not take action to keep young people and others safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and staff do not operate the home in line with the ethos and objectives as set out in the statement of purpose. For example, the document states that the aim is to provide a „warm, friendly, safe and supportive environment‟. The manager has not ensured that the staff understand and deliver this ethos. The document also fails to state that it restricts young people‟s liberty in the home each evening by locking internal doors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Because of anti-social behaviour, relationships between young people and some members of the immediate community are strained. Strained relationships affect young people‟s experiences. In turn, young people‟s challenging behaviour causes other people distress. Young people have been throwing stones on and off the site and they have allegedly been rude to members of the public. Managers have not put in place any restorative processes to try to repair these relationships. The local council issued the manager with a community protection warning, such is the level of concern about young people‟s behaviour. The warning letter requires the manager to take steps to manage young people‟s behaviour effectively. This is an ongoing matter which requires urgent attention.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not inform Ofsted of all significant events that occur in the home. This includes not notifying Ofsted of the community protection warning issued by the local council. Consequently, managers are not being open with Ofsted about serious events. Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 9 This lack of openness prevents Ofsted from being able to monitor activity between inspections.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has been in post since March 2016 and is suitably qualified. Most staff are qualified to level 3 in caring for young people. Those who are unqualified are within regulatory timescales to obtain their qualification.

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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 differences 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: SC454838 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children‟s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspectors

David Morgan: social care inspector Dave Carrigan: social care inspector Jackie Line: regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children‟s home: SC454838 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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