Children's home run by Benjamin UK Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 1 Registered provider: Benjamin UK Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is registered to take up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is one of a group of homes owned and operated by a private organisation.

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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/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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Enforcement action since last inspection

Not applicable Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 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

 Moving young people into the home in quick succession has been disruptive for the young people and the staff.  Half of the young people have experienced unplanned endings to placements.  Staff are not provided with the guidance that they need to effectively tackle and support the young people’s risky behaviours.  Poor information sharing fails to keep external professionals up to date about the young people they are involved with.  Insufficiently probing monitoring processes fail to identify weaknesses or to set clear improvement plans.  Poor administrative, storage and retrieval practice compromised the inspector’s ability to view necessary records.

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Key findings from this inspection

 More experienced staff display an understanding of the young people’s needs and the group dynamics.

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Recent inspection history

This was the first inspection of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 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 with the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the education standard, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(viii) 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. 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the positive relationships standard, the registered person must ensure that staff:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(v) help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(ix) understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(xi) de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children.

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Requirement Due date

This is with specific reference to ensuring that staff have a clear understanding of each child’s emotional difficulties and how these can impact on their behaviour. 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard, the 21/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 4 registered person must ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(2)(a)(i) 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.

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the care planning standard, the registered person should ensure:

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Requirement Due date

(1)(b) that children have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home;

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Requirement Due date

(2)(b)(i) the effective induction of each child into the home. 21/08/2017

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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) 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the following items, which may be kept in electronic form, are kept in an accessible manner:

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Requirement Due date

(a) the statement of purpose; (b) the children’s guide; (j) other records (see regulation 37); (n) quality of care reviews (see regulation 45). (Regulation 38 (a)(b)(j)(n)) 21/08/2017

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating:

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Requirement Due date

(a) the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

(b) the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

(c) any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c) 21/08/2017 Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 5

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Recommendations

 Ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being, to enhance and supplement that provided by their school through personal, social and health education (PSHE). Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change, negative behaviours in key areas of health and well-being, such as, but not limited to, nutrition and healthy diet, exercise, mental health, sexual relationships, sexual health, contraception and use of legal highs, drugs, alcohol and tobacco. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 35, paragraph 7.18) (This is with particular reference to young people smoking.)  Ensure that children are encouraged to develop positive relationships with others both in and outside the home as set out in the positive relationships standard.

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Recommendations

(‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.13) (This is with particular reference to forging positive relationships with neighbours and the local community.) .

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Poor outcomes have occurred for two of the three young people who moved in when the home first opened. Deficient admissions practices failed to mitigate the decision for three young people to join the home in quick succession. Two young people have left in an unplanned way. Managers and staff failed to create a stable and nurturing environment or to make a positive difference to the young people’s lives. Instead, these young people have experienced instability and a lack of permanence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Unsuccessful partnership working resulted in one young person having no education provision for the duration of his placement. Despite the home’s statement of purpose being clear in this regard, the failure by managers to provide a meaningful alternative, led to his spending a lot of time without a structured routine. This inaction wasted valuable time for the young person, already disadvantaged by previous negative experiences of education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some staff are not engaged enough in their work to challenge young people’s inappropriate and unsafe behaviours. An example of this includes young people openly smoking in front of some of the staff. This lack of interest or investment in the young people risks their feeling uncared for. Their future health outcomes remain poor within such a culture.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Other staff remain committed to creating positive changes for the young people. Individual key-working sessions have been used to persevere in encouraging young people to make safer choices. In particular, the deputy manager demonstrates a strong understanding of Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 6 the young people’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people feel able to express their views, but their complaints are not always taken seriously. One young person voiced concerns about the behaviours of others making him want to leave. He received a dismissive response from staff. Following a further incident by the other young people, the young person went missing and did not return.

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

The previous registered manager failed to incorporate the guidance from a placing authority regarding a young person. His subsequent risk assessments and behaviour management plans incorrectly under-reported his likelihood of going missing. Staff were not provided with the guidance they needed to help them to keep this young person safe.

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

Managers have failed to build positive relationships with the police. As a result, visits to the home by the police have been reactive, for example, in response to incidents of challenging behaviour or when the young people go missing. As a result, the young people currently react negatively when the police arrive at the home.

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

Ineffective links with external professionals mean that the young people do not always have access to the support they need. Complaints from social workers and the youth offending service state that they are not always kept informed about incidents. Such shortfalls compromise the ability of associated agencies to effectively plan their interventions in the best interests of the young people.

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

Unsatisfactory arrangements to protect the young people when they go missing put them at risk. Staff do not have reliable individual guidance to follow. One example of this includes the staff having to contact the interim manager for advice on the steps to take when a young person left the home without permission. Specific individual guidance is not in place for the staff to follow, and this may waste time at the critical point in responding to a missing young person.

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

The provider has a positive history in respect of its staff recruitment practice, but such records were not readily forthcoming at this inspection. This omission is judged to be indicative of the current chaotic culture, as opposed to an actual failing in safer recruitment practice. Recruitment records will be scrutinised at the next inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Interrupted management arrangements add to the sense of upheaval and change for the young people and the staff team. The registered manager’s sudden departure has resulted in interim arrangements by an area manager. Despite being in post for the past 10 weeks, the interim manager fails to demonstrate a sufficient understanding or action plan to address the significant shortfalls.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Discussion with the interim manager shows an understanding of some of the improvements needed. However, improvement planning and the monitoring of progress are weak. Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 7 Managers cannot show how they are taking effective action to improve provision so that it is safe and appropriate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Poor timing and compatibility decisions made by the previous registered manager before the young people moved in had a negative impact on their ability to build positive relationships with the staff and each other. Staff had insufficient time to get to know the young people or to understand and plan for their risk-taking behaviours.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Incorrect assumptions by managers about the team having the experience to manage three young people who have different and complex needs placed the young people at risk. For example, the failure by the staff to put consistent boundaries and routines in place during this period resulted in a high number of incidents taking place, including an increase in challenging behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The failure by managers to provide formal supervision, particularly during the difficult recent period, has resulted in staff feeling unsupported. Some staff do not have the skills, experience or support in place to successfully manage the behaviours of the young people. One staff member moved to another home as a result of being targeted by a young person.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the opening of the home, the behaviour of the young people and the inconsistent response from the staff have resulted in a number of external complaints being made, for example by neighbours, to and about the home. When managers are aware of concerns, they fully investigate them and respond. However, the records of complaints do not always indicate whether the issues are resolved to the complainant’s satisfaction. Nor is there a clear strategy in place to strengthen community relationships for the benefit of the young people. Managers’ lack of focus on this issue is impacting negatively on neighbourhood relations and the experiences for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

More recently, managers have responded to recommendations made by the independent visitor. Examples of this include challenging the local authority for not providing independent return interviews when the young people go missing. However, reliance on this alone to identify shortfalls in practice and raise standards is not sufficient. The absence of rigorous internal monitoring leaves lessons left unlearned, and the necessary improvement is both slow and fitful.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 8 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

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Information about this inspection

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: 1242111 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Church Farm Offices, Station Road, Tring HP23 5RS

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Deysel

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Inspector

Amanda Harvey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1242111 10 achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, further education and skills, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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