Esther House

Inspection report children's home: SC474150 1 SC474150 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 children’s 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. The organisation is also registered to provide education to the young people it cares for.

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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: 1 December 2016

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection

None Inspection report children's home: SC474150 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 turnover of staff has contributed to an unsettled atmosphere in the home. This in turn has led to an increase in incidents of extremely challenging behaviour, including bullying.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Managers do not sufficiently analyse or evaluate the compatibility or incompatibility of young people when planning and accepting admissions to the home. Nor do they identify strategies that would support the placement.

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Key findings from this inspection

 New staff have not received a suitable induction to the role. Staff have not received the regular formal supervision and support necessary to enable them to consistently fulfil their roles.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff have not completed records well. These do not provide all the information required nor do they contribute to a young person’s history. This does not support effective information sharing with external professionals.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The home does not have a registered manager.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff are child focused and mindful of young people’s experiences and how these impact on their emotions and behaviour.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff provide practical help and support to young people to enable them to engage meaningfully in education, employment and leisure activities.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Staff work effectively in partnership with professionals and young people’s families.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

01/12/2016 Full Good 03/08/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 03/11/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/06/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children's home: SC474150 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

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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)) In particular ensure that supporting records are accurate and up to date.

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(iv)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction;

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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 (1)(a) and (3)(b)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4 and ensure that the records are kept up to date. In particular, a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked. (Regulation 37 (2)(a) Schedule (4)(3)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (case records) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1) (a)(b)(c) Schedule 3 (4)(16)(23)) 30/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any 30/10/2017 Inspection report children's home: SC474150 4 investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. In particular ensure full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(3)(d) Schedule 2 (6)) 30/10/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person should actively seek independent scrutiny of the home and make best use of information from independent and internal monitoring (including under regulations 44 and 45) to ensure continuous improvement. They should be skilled in anticipating difficulties and reviewing incidents, such as learning from disruptions and placement breakdowns. They are responsible for proactively implementing lessons learned and sustaining good practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24) With particular reference to ensuring that plans for continuous improvement are specific.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. The Statement of Purpose is an important document in the process of care planning as it sets out the needs of children the home is set up and equipped to care for. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 The home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. Children and their parents should be supported to understand the nature of records kept by the home and how to access them. Staff should understand their important role in encouraging the child to reflect on and understand their history, according to their age and understanding. Staff should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)

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Recommendations

 Any home using CCTV or other monitoring equipment should have a written policy describing how this will support the safeguarding and well-being of those living and working in the home in accordance with regulation 24. Homes must gain consent to any monitoring or surveillance by the placing authority in writing Inspection report children's home: SC474150 5 at the time of placement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.16) In particular, ensure consistency between the use of surveillance as outlined in the statement of purpose and the consents sought.

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improvement to be good

Young people who have lived in the home for a significant length of time have made progress in a number of areas. This progress has not always been sustained and appears to have been affected by transitions in the home, both of staff and young people. Recent moves into the home have been characterised by limited pre-admission visits and assessments that do not fully consider the compatibility of young people, and the potential risks arising. Managers have had to end some placements prematurely in the best interests of young people. Other young people have moved out in accordance with their plan.

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improvement to be good

Staff focus on the well-being of young people and are able to see challenging behaviour in the context of the trauma young people have experienced. Agency staff and newer staff to the home have struggled to manage the challenges. Young people respond well to confident and experienced staff. Staff members have formed positive relationships, and use these relationships as the basis for effective engagement with young people. A professional described staff as ‘nurturing’ and appreciates ‘staff understanding of the importance of building relationships’. These staff are able to reduce tension and limit some exceptionally challenging behaviour. A young person said, ‘Staff know how to connect with us; they are people we can talk to. I trust them.’ Professionals and relatives report a young person to be calmer in presentation in a short time, and this enabled her participation in her review meeting. A relative said, ‘They do a brilliant job with her.’

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improvement to be good

Staff actively support and encourage young people to achieve in education in accordance with their plans. Some young people are awaiting their GCSE results. Young people benefit from staff’s care in providing them with all they need to sustain employment. This includes practical help such as repairs to uniform, lifts to and from work and lots of praise for the achievement of each day worked.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s health concerns and appointments are not well recorded by staff. This does not provide a full picture of progress in meeting young people’s identified health needs. For example, in one report it was noted that a young person ‘attended a few appointments’. Other records show a similar lack of attention to detail. For example, needs relating to identity do not always feature in placement plans. Also, staff are asked to support contact in the home’s placement plan, but the local authority plan asks staff to monitor and record the outcome of family contact.

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improvement to be good

Young people are vocal and express their wants and wishes loudly, and staff respond positively. Young people are reluctant to engage in planned meetings with staff. Inspection report children's home: SC474150 6 Managers are considering other ways of gaining young people’s views on the day-to-day running of the home.

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improvement to be good

Young people and most staff understand the therapeutic basis of the provision of care. Therapists visit the home every week to support young people and staff. At the time of this visit, during the summer holidays, young people’s engagement in the programme was limited. Staff enable and encourage young people to participate in a wide range of leisure activities. Young people were disappointed that the planned holiday was not able to take place due to staffing issues.

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improvement to be good

Experienced staff have a sound understanding of risk management and have some success in reducing risks for young people. The supporting records are weak. Some risk assessments contain incorrect risks or do not include known risks; some are not updated in the light of significant events; some are not personalised and are simply duplicated from one young person to another, sometimes including the wrong name. These documents do not provide effective guidance for staff in their care of young people.

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improvement to be good

After a reduction, since the last inspection, in episodes of young people going missing, there has been a recent increase in the frequency of these episodes. Staff work well in partnership with the police. They actively engage in searching for and contacting young people during these times and respond quickly to their requests to be picked up, in accordance with the updated policy and guidance for staff. Staff are alert to the risks to individual young people during these episodes of missing, particularly in relation to exploitation and substance misuse. Staff strive to explore these concerns with young people on their return, with varying degrees of success. Young people are reluctant to engage in independent return home interviews. This does not support staff work with young people to prevent recurrence. Staff do not pay sufficient attention to detail in completing missing reports; for example, reports contain inconsistent details about the

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improvement to be good

height of a young person and not all have a photo available.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection there have been ongoing changes in the staff team. This has caused a level of uncertainty for young people and is a contributory factor in their testing of boundaries with some extreme behaviour. This has included bullying episodes, which have increased since the last inspection. Staff actions to manage bullying have kept the victim safe but have led to unplanned moves for young people. One young person said, ‘I feel safe here. Staff interrupt if there’s an argument and this reassurance makes me feel safe, but I would like staff to deal with fights better.’

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improvement to be good

Staff keep young people in mind and see their behaviour in the context of the young people’s lived experiences. Staff and young people understand the behaviour management ethos and framework, with the emphasis on rewards for positive behaviour. At the time of this visit young people are struggling to sustain the changes in behaviour, and so lose motivation to achieve the rewards. Staff are also aware that young people need to understand the consequences of behaviour and to accept the Inspection report children's home: SC474150 7 agreed sanctions. Staff use physical intervention when necessary to safeguard young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff follow the room search policy when this is necessary. Information on the use of bedroom door alarms is not consistent between the statement of purpose and the parental consents sought.

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improvement to be good

Staff in post for some time have had training and know the action to take in the light of any safeguarding allegations or disclosures. New staff have not had the necessary training quickly enough.

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improvement to be good

Generally recruitment practice is sound, although in one case minor historical gaps in employment had not been identified.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager in post since the resignation of the previous post holder in December 2016. This has subsequently left the home without a registered manager for more than 26 weeks, leading to the judgement of inadequate. During this time the provider nominated an acting manager, and an application was submitted and then withdrawn. The organisation has transferred a registered manager from another home to this one. It is planned that this person will apply to register for this home and resign from the other.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The records of staff working in the home do not provide easily accessible information about who has worked on each shift. There have been significant changes in the composition of the staff team in the past six months. Managers have covered shortfalls by using staff from other homes in the organisation, and agency staff. Managers recognise the negative impact of a transient staff group on young people and are making progress towards the employment of a full staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are appreciative of the informal support for each other. This has not been underpinned by regular formal supervision or team meetings. In addition, new staff have not benefited from an induction. Managers are taking steps to address this shortfall, with fortnightly supervision and team meetings planned. Managers have also arranged that new staff will meet with the home’s therapist monthly for the first six months to provide an additional layer of support. Managers are working towards a level 5 qualification. Established team members hold a level 3 qualification or are working towards this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection the provider has made new arrangements for the independent visits. The reports of these visits now include the visitor’s view about the quality of safeguarding practice and about how well young people’s well-being is promoted. The previous acting manager did quarterly monitoring reports, and from these has written a development plan. This sets out the aims for improvement, but these are not specific nor are they underpinned by objectives and timescales. Inspection report children's home: SC474150 8 Management decision-making about new admissions to the home is not informed by thorough, well-considered and evaluated impact risk assessments. These are weak. They do not consider all the known issues, for example bullying. Identified risks are listed, but there is no analysis of the potential impact of these and what needs to be put in place to enable a placement to work. Managers have not challenged local authorities to provide

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

structured transition plans to support young people’s moves out of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been two complaints made to the home. One is appropriately being managed centrally. The records for the other are not maintained in accordance with regulations, therefore an evaluation of the action in response is not possible.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most of the requirements and recommendations of the last report have been met. An updated statement of purpose has been submitted to the regulator as required in the last report. However, there is an inaccurate reference and there are incomplete sentences. The staff maintenance of young people’s case records is variable. The records do not consistently provide an accurate and coherent contribution to young people’s life histories. Young people are not aware that staff should help them to see and contribute to their records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The house provides a comfortable environment for young people. The maintenance team responds quickly and prioritises damage repair. In doing so it takes into account the views and wishes of the young people, which can mean that plans for repair are delayed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External professionals are pleased with the quality of the working relationships with staff in the home.

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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: SC474150 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 32 Woodstock Grove, London W12 8LE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Deysel

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Inspector(s)

Maire Atherton, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC474150 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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