Children's Home run by Action for Children Services Ltd in Buckinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 1 SC424089 Registered provider: Action for Children 04764232 1097940

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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 is a short-break service for children and young people with learning disabilities, sensory impairment and physical disabilities. It can accommodate up to 14 young people at a time, although the needs of children means that occupancy rarely reaches this level.

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Information about this children’s home

A national children’s charity runs the home. It comprises two units: one specifically for children and young people who may have challenging behaviours associated with their disability and one for children and young people that require some degree of nursing input.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 21 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 As one professional commented, ‘staff are aware of the nuances of each child’. Their knowledge of the individual needs and preferences of and aims for each child leads to the provision of well-tailored care.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home works well with other parts of the network to promote and meet the needs of children. Improvements, such as increased school attendance, have resulted from this work. Managers and staff work hard at building collaborative relationships with external professionals.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The manager has been unstinting in her endeavour to follow safer recruitment protocols and in doing so has avoided potentially unsuitable candidates from being employed to work with children.

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are not always aware of the legal status of a child, or whether they are on child in need or child protection plans. They have not ensured that these plans are readily available to all those working with the child concerned or include relevant information in placement plans.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff have not always undertaken written risk assessments on all known safety issues so that those working with the child concerned know what action to take to avoid them.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Although targets are set for children, the recording of work undertaken to help achieve them and evidence of improvement are unclear. There is no formal mechanism to chart their progress since children started accessing the service.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/08/2016 Full Good 15/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 28/07/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 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

If a home has a website, the registered person must ensure that a copy of the statement of purpose is published on that website unless the registered person considers that such publication would prejudice the welfare of children in the home. (Regulation 16 (4)) 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) or equivalent by the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working. (Regulation 32 (4)(5)) This includes agency staff. 08/09/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 48 hours (of the use of a measure of control or restraint) that the user has been spoken to about the measure; and signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days an addition is made to the record that the child has been spoken to about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a-c)) 08/09/2017

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Recommendations

 Children who cannot or choose not to verbalise, have the right to have their views, wishes and feelings heard and respected in the same way as other children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.24) This includes making a complaint that is dealt with in accordance with regulation 39.

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Recommendations

 Homes should ensure that outcomes identified and progress made by children in building relationships and achieving socially acceptable behaviours can be recorded and measured. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.4) In particular, ensure that the recording of progress towards targets is clear and demonstrates that progress from entry to the service.

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 4 assessed risks on a day-to-day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all staff consistently follow the home’s policies and procedures for the benefit of the children in the home’s care. Everyone working at the home must understand their roles and responsibilities and what they are authorised to decide on their own initiative. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20) This includes consistently applying placement plans.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) The impact risk assessment should be adequately recorded.

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Recommendations

 All involved professionals should work together to safeguard the child from harm in the future, taking timely, effective action according to the plan agreed. (Working together to safeguard children, pages 44 and 46) This requires that staff have ready access to the plan and understand any actions they should be taking to implement it.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The service is working to its statement of purpose and achieving the aims for children set out in it. There is a strong ethos of understanding, as far as possible, children’s wishes and feelings with staff, including the cook actively seeking feedback on such things as whether meals or activities were enjoyed. Children are offered choices and staff establish, as far as possible, that they are meaningful by offering options in different ways.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to communicate in their preferred way and extend it as far as is possible, including the use of suitable aids. This means that children understand that their opinions are valued and have an influence on their environment. Toys have been purchased as a result of wishes expressed by children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff set out targets for each child or young person, often after consulting with parents and other professionals involved. This collaborative effort leads to promoting skills that have a beneficial impact on the child’s life in different settings. Staff, families and workers from other agencies were able to give examples of progress made by particular children, including a huge decrease in the number of physical attacks, increasing engagement in activities, use of public transport and willingness to interact with more people in social situations.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The targets are broken into small manageable steps, but daily logs do not always record whether they have been worked on and it is hard to track progress in other records. Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 5 Although information is contained in reports, the service has no method of straightforwardly demonstrating progress from a child’s point of entry.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Admission to the service is sensitively handled, so that children and their parents build up confidence in staff with tea visits and staff developing their knowledge and understanding of new users through visits to the family home and to classrooms.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children thoroughly enjoy their stays, demonstrated in smiles, greeting of familiar staff, eagerness to start a favourite activity and, sometimes, mischievous behaviour. Parents said their children showed that they were happy at the home in various ways, including one who often brings his suitcase to his mother to say he wants to go.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The range of activities staff provide is wide and often provides experiences that children would not otherwise get to try. For example, some children went to play laser quest during the inspection. There are large displays on the walls of children and young people going on outings and having other services coming to them, such as ‘wild training’ (suitable physical activities involving specialist equipment) and pet therapy. A newly acquired minibus has increased the options available and managers have plans to improve the grounds that include a vegetable plot and to introduce different foods (using money from corporate sponsorship).

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All the parents spoken to would like their children to have more frequent short breaks but understand that the places are not available or the mix of children would not be right. Some are unhappy that the service is to close for the Christmas holidays, believing it will have a detrimental impact on their families.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staffing levels were raised as a concern by a number of staff and managers. There is a long-term reliance on employing agency staff, but the great majority of these are employed on a regular basis and a sample of rosters worked showed that permanent staff are in the majority on shifts and the ratio of staff to children is always at a safe level.

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

Staff are aware of how to respond to safeguarding concerns, including ensuring that a child is immediately kept safe, and what to report and record. They are clear about the need to escalate the concerns to higher managers if they do not think they are being dealt with appropriately.

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

Placement plans do not accurately reflect other relevant plans when applicable, such as those for child protection. For example, in one case there was no indication of possible signs for workers to be aware of that might suggest a deteriorating situation. Staff were not clear whether particular children were on a child in need or child protection plan; incorrectly headed or filed documents exacerbate this situation. There is potential, therefore, for staff not to understand the nature of safeguarding concerns and not to act promptly or appropriately to new information.

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

The manager dealt with a complaint thoroughly, with clear records of the action taken, Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 6 the outcome and that the complainant was satisfied. Staff took care to communicate with the young person who was the subject of the complaint to reassure him that the mistake made was not his fault and how they would prevent a repeat.

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

Staff respond well to children showing signs of being unhappy, and resolve difficulties as soon as possible. In discussion, the manager raised a situation in which a young person’s behaviour could have been regarded as a complaint. However, as was noted at the last inspection, the provider’s complaints policy does not address those made by children who are not verbal, how staff might distinguish these from ordinary frustrations and annoyance, nor how to advance the complaint on the child’s behalf.

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

The manager rigorously follows safer recruitment protocols, including ensuring that gaps in employment are investigated and appropriate references are pursued. In doing so, unsuitable candidates have been prevented from working in the service and children protected from potential harm. As part of the selection process, candidates spend time with the children and observations of interactions and children’s responses are included in decision-making.

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

Staff have developed workshops as creative ways to help children understand safety issues. The most recent was on fire safety, involving colouring, creating a scrapbook and trying on a firefighter’s helmet.

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

During the inspection, children were observed to interact in ways that demonstrate a trust of those caring for them, creating an environment in which they are both safeguarded and have their well-being promoted. Professionals and parents commented on the positive relationships staff have with children, one social worker praising a link worker as ‘absolutely superb – the best person I could imagine to work with the young person’.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is in a permanent post and has recently completed her level 5 qualification. All other permanent childcare staff have obtained a level 3, or equivalent, if they have worked for two years of more in the setting. However, this is not the case with agency workers. Although those who have worked long-term in the home may have started the course, there is no planned date for completion. This means that regulatory timescales have not been kept to, and the intention that a factor in assuring the quality of support to children is by all staff having a minimum qualification has not been attained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers have addressed the requirements set at the last inspection. This has included revising the recording format for significant incidents so that the dates that staff and children involved were spoken to are now prompted for. Perusal of the records revealed that such discussions are infrequently undertaken and no explanation is provided when managers have not spoken to staff of children. There is a section of the form for staff to write a reflection on what happened, which is sometimes completed, but the opportunity for managers to gain the views of those involved, learn lessons and support staff has Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 7 been missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Incidents that have resulted in staff being injured have left a few workers feeling vulnerable and discouraged, and the lack of debriefing has contributed to this. Nevertheless, the majority of staff feel well supported by supervisors and managers, and report that formal and informal supervision is meeting their needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Other than the need to reference other relevant plans, care planning is generally sound, with children being involved as far as is practicable, given their individual abilities. One placement plan relates how a young person contributed, for example, the things she likes to do and chose a photograph; another included observations gleaned from working with a non-verbal child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff take account of the needs of children when deciding whether to accept new referrals and which nights to allocate, resisting pressure to offer more stays when this would entail unsuitable matching. This process has not been well documented. Though impact risk assessments do identify pertinent issues and how they may be addressed, they do not evidence the thinking behind decisions made about which night is to be offered. This is despite there being a specific section of the form to detail the rationale.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Senior staff and managers audit case files regularly to ensure that required documents are up to date; however, the quality of records has not been universally well monitored. Managers have, for example, signed off logs containing gaps in required information and not noticed when a young woman was frequently referred to as ‘he’ in paperwork.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have made concerted efforts to work with other agencies to support children, and have been successful, for example, at increasing school attendance and reducing challenging behaviour through ensuring that there is a consistent response across settings. Staff have prompted local authorities to send required documentation and challenged placing authorities when children who stay for more than 75 nights of short breaks in a year are not afforded ‘looked after’ status or when inadequate preparation is given to transition planning. Leaders and managers continue to press for appropriate outcomes, even when responses have been inadequate to meet statutory obligations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Parents spoken to were complimentary about how staff involve them; one described staff as, ‘lovely, cooperative and helpful’. Historically, the service has found it hard to obtain feedback from families but has been creative in keeping communication open, such as a question put on a flipchart at the entrance for parents and others to comment on and videos posted on YouTube.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager regularly updates the service’s statement of purpose, but it is not yet on the provider’s website, as is required by regulation.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 8 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: SC424089 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Action for Children 04764232 1097940

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Action for Children, 3 The Boulevard, Ascot Road, Watford WD18 8AG

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Yolanda Hampshire

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Inspector

Chris Peel, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC424089 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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