Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 1 SC442778 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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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 local authority home provides care and accommodation for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Improved effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people continue to make progress in all areas of their development due to the exceptionally well-planned care they receive from staff.  A key strength of the home is the staff’s ability to develop positive relationships with young people.  Staff are skill at building up a rapport with young people, which means young people settle quickly into the home.  Staff are meticulous in planning young people’s care. This means that young people consistently receive high-quality individualised care, which contributes to their progress in all areas of their development.  Staff excel at managing transitions and work hard to ensure that young people are well supported and prepared when they leave the home.  Young people become increasingly safe living in this home as a result of effective risk management and multi-agency working.  A new manager who is child centred, reflective and highly effective at motivating staff in their practice manages the home.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staff team is stable and enthusiastic and is motivated to achieve the best possible outcomes for the young people.

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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

 The shortfalls identified in relation to lone-working risk assessments, self-harm training and recording of missing from home incidents. Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/12/2016 Full Good 10/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/09/2015 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) This is with particular reference to missing from home recording.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that skills in safeguarding are gained, refreshed and recorded. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standard’, page 43, paragraph 9.12) This is with particular reference to ensuring that all staff receive training in addressing self-harm.

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Recommendations

 The registered person should plan staffing levels to ensure that they meet the needs of children and the staff can respond flexibly to unexpected events or opportunities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15) This is with regard to lone working and ensuring that there are enough staff on shift to respond to identified actions in young people’s risk assessments.

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Recommendations

 If it is likely that there may be only one member of staff on duty at one time, the manager should make a formal assessment of the implications for children’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.18) This is with particular reference to ensuring that lone- working risk assessments are updated.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive high-quality, individualised and very well-planned care from a stable and experienced staff team. This has resulted in excellent progress for young people. Staff know the young people well and form positive relationships with them. This Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 5 ensures that young people settle well into the home and like living there. A social worker said: ‘Staff are willing to participate in activities that [name of young person] enjoys such as running and she seems to have settled in straight away.’ A local community support officer from the police said: ‘Staff are very good at making young people feel at home.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s physical and emotional health is promoted. Each young person has a comprehensive health plan. The plan details each young person’s individual health needs and all actions required to be taken by staff to promote the young people’s good health. Staff encourage young people to engage in exercise and spend time talking to young people about making the right choices in their health. Discussions have included why attending medical appointments is important. There is evidence of staff undertaking an excellent piece of work with one young person on the management of a long-term illness. This involved staff working with specialist health services to ensure that he could become independent in administering his own medication. Furthermore, meticulous planning around his health enabled him to go on a family holiday abroad.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff give high priority to ensuring that young people attend education. As a result, young people have made good progress in education, for example achieving national qualifications and a place at college. Staff attend educational meetings and have effective relationships with educational professionals to ensure that young people receive support to reach their full educational potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The day-to-day experiences of young people living in the home are positive. Young people like living in the home and feel valued by staff. One young person said, ‘Staff are really accepting of me. It’s amazing here.’ Staff spend time getting to know young people and find out what is important to them. As a result, they engage young people in activities they enjoy, such as running, roller skating or baking. This approach ensures that young people are involved in activities they enjoy, which increases their confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff plan meticulously for transitions. As a result, staff prepare young people well as they move on from the home. Staff remain in touch with young people who have left the home to provide ongoing support. One social worker said: ‘Staff were supportive towards [Name of young person’s] transition back home. Staff worked with him to prepare him for going home.’ Staff spend time with young people in key-work sessions and support all young people to develop the skills they need to keep themselves safe and increase their resilience. This provides them with an opportunity to gain the skills they will need to live independently.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff regularly consulted with young people about their day-to-day care. This empowers young people and improves their confidence and self-esteem. One young person expressed the view that he wanted to live with his family. As a result, staff have worked exceptionally hard with the young person, his family, social workers and specialist professionals to ensure a successful and safe rehabilitation home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are proactive at ensuring that young people maintain contact with people who are Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 6 important to them, in line with their care plans. Staff supervise contact and complete welfare checks when required. A social worker said: ‘The staff worked well with the young person’s parents and supervised contact.’ As a result, young people maintain relationships with their families in safe way.

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

Young people are safe in this home. This is due to effective multi-agency working and well-planned risk management strategies. Each young person had a detailed risk management plan in place. This provided information for staff on individual risks and the strategies required to keep young people safe. Staff understand each young person’s individual risks and vulnerabilities and spend time with young people, helping them understand how to keep themselves safe. This has resulted in a reduction in missing from home incidents.

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

Young people rarely go missing from this home. When they do, staff know what action to take and follow missing from home protocols. However, it is not always clear from the recording that staff have followed individual missing from home risk assessments or recorded enough detail about the circumstances of the missing behaviour. This means that there is not always sufficient detail to evaluate staff practice or identify patterns or reasons for a young person going missing.

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

Most staff have completed team teach, which is the model that they are expected to use to manage challenging behaviour. There have been no incidents of restraint since the last inspection; this reflects the effective behaviour management in the home. Staff use effective rewards systems to encourage positive behaviour, and young people understand the reward systems in place. One young person informed the inspector that she had a reward box. This contained items she had chosen herself, such as sweets and a hair dye. She felt this approach worked and liked the fact that staff sometimes spontaneously rewarded her for good behaviour. This approach enables young people to link behaviour to consequences and promotes positive behaviour.

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

Staff have good links and work effectively with professionals such as the police and social workers. There is consistently good feedback about the level of communication from the home. When new young people move in to the home, staff ensure that all relevant professionals receive an update. This includes health and educational professionals. The local community support officer from the police said: ‘Staff are very open and honest; we all support each other so kids can be the best they can be.’

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

Staff in the home have completed safeguarding training and are clear about procedures for responding to safeguarding concerns, such as allegations. One shortfall discussed with the manager was training that was required for all staff in dealing with self-harmful behaviour. Despite such behaviour being identified in one young person’s risk assessment, there was no proposed date for completion of the training. Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 7

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A new manager is in post in the home. She has submitted an application to Ofsted within the required timescale. She is currently managing two homes. The manager is very child centred, reflective and committed to the ongoing development of the home. She has ensured that the home is meeting all of its aims and objectives set out in the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A stable and experienced staff who are enthusiastic and committed to achieving the best possible outcomes for young people work in the home. Staff like working in the home and feel motivated by the management team. One staff member said: ‘It’s a wonderful house, I can’t praise it enough. I think we do a top job, we go above and beyond for young people, we love seeing them do well and it’s not just a job.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported in their roles. One staff member felt that they received ‘brilliant support from managers’. Staff receive regular training to ensure their continued professional development and value the supervision they receive. One staff member said that supervision is: ‘very reflective and when I come out I am energised with all sorts of ideas’. However, there has been a lapse in the regularity of supervision for some staff members over recent months. This does not provide an opportunity for all staff to reflect on their practice and identify any training or development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

While the home has a stable staff team in place, there have been some gaps in staffing and the manager is currently trying to recruit sessional workers. Staff do lone work in this home, but lone-working protocols are not clear and do not reflect actions set out in young people’s individual risk assessments. For example, in one young person’s risk assessment, it states that lone working should be avoided whenever possible. However, staff lone work for the majority of the time. There have been occasions when actions such as room searches that are included in young people’s individual risk assessments have not been taken by staff. This is because of the potential risk of taking such actions when working alone. This does not ensure that staff or young people are kept safe. The manager plans to update individual lone working risk assessments and recruit sessional staff to address this issue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A strength of the home is the level of care planning which underpins each young person’s care. Local Authority care plans are on case files, which ensures that staff have a clear basis from which to plan care. Case files reflect young people’s day-to-day lives, and each young person has an individualised pen picture on file, which they contribute to, and which includes any identified cultural needs. This ensures that staff have a comprehensive understanding of the needs of the young people they care for.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have positive relationships with parents and placing social workers to ensure good outcomes for young people. They work well with education staff, independent reviewing officers and specialist healthcare professionals to support young people to develop in all Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 8 aspects of their care. Professional feedback is consistently positive about the quality of care young people receive and the communication by staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager makes use of internal and external monitoring systems to improve the quality of service for young people. She has her own systems in place, such as monthly audits to monitor the quality of care provided, and good systems to track the progress young people make. This means that she is realistic about the strengths and areas for development of the home. She quickly addresses any areas of development identified, which enables the continual progress of the service.

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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. Whenever possible, they talked to children, 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 and 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: SC442778 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Children’s Services Directorate, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, Cheshire WA1 2NJ

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC442778 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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Inspector

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