Children's home run by Leicester City Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 1 SC038961 Registered provider: Leicester City 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 home is managed by a local authority. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to 10 young people, although the home’s statement of purpose currently states that it will accommodate up to seven 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: SC038961 2

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Key findings from this inspection

 Comprehensive care planning addresses young people’s individual needs effectively.  Staff have a good understanding of issues relating to personal identity. They promote young people’s needs relating to their culture, ethnicity, language, sexuality and gender.  A stable and committed staff team perseveres with challenging behaviours. It provides a consistently good standard of care to all young people, regardless of the behaviours that they face.  Safeguarding knowledge is robust, and child protection practice is good.  Management arrangements provide good leadership for the staff team.

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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 manager does not have a development plan in place. This means that he cannot demonstrate plans to improve the quality of care for individual young people.  Supervision and appraisal arrangements have not been in line with the local authority policy.  The building is very large. Security arrangements require strengthening to ensure that unauthorised people do not gain access to the home.  Young people are not always provided with a return interview following an incident of being missing from the home.  Records relating to young people who are missing from the home require additional detail. This includes evaluating the effectiveness of current safeguarding practice.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 29/06/2016 Full Requires improvement 01/12/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness 17/06/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 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 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(b)) In particular, ensure that unauthorised persons cannot gain access to the home. 05/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that helps children fulfil their potential and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that they understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(f)) This is with particular reference to ensuring that the home has a development plan which outlines how the home will promote improvement. 05/11/2017

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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 and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(b)(c)) 05/11/2017 Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 4

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 44, paragraph 9.30)  Records must be kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home (regulation 36 (schedule 3(14)). Evaluation of missing incidents should be undertaken to identify any gaps in training, skills or knowledge for staff or to record and retain evidence of what worked well. This evaluation should inform the review of the quality of care. (see paragraph 15.2) (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of this home is ensuring that the identity needs of young people are central to all care planning. Staff have good knowledge and skills in caring for young people from diverse social, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Staff have differing cultural backgrounds, ages and gender. This provides the opportunity for young people to relate to staff. Sensitive care and positive relationships ensure that young people enjoy positive day-to-day experiences. Over time, young people make good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have clearly-written care and placement plans which address individual needs. There is clarity about how staff can meet young people’s needs. Staff work well with social workers, healthcare providers, police and other agencies. The combination of robust plans and good multi-agency work is effective in promoting progress with young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to develop warm and positive relationships with young people. Young people confirm that staff support and help them in their daily lives. Some young people show very challenging behaviours. Staff understand the reasons for this. One residential worker said: ‘Sometimes young people cannot say how they feel. They show their emotions in their behaviours.’ Staff are resilient and persevere through challenging times. One social worker said: ‘Staff are creative, resilient, they stick with young people and don’t give up.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Educational engagement and attendance is variable within the home. The majority of young people attend college. When young people are not in education or training, staff are persistent in supporting and encouraging them to attend. Regardless of the Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 5 challenges, staff are dedicated to working alongside a range of educational providers to support young people in their education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Health outcomes for young people improve because of the care that they receive in the home. Staff work with a range of healthcare providers to manage the routine, and the specific health needs of young people. Some young people smoke cannabis. Staff try to educate young people about the risks, providing advice, guidance and support. They encourage young people to meet with substance misuse workers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support young people to become independent. This home has single-bedroom accommodation and self-contained flats. Staff teach and support young people to develop new skills and improve upon existing life skills. Independence preparation ensures that young people have successful transitions from the home. A young person who recently left the home said that he was ready to leave. He said that he felt well supported and fully involved in decisions about his future. Staff continue to support this young man with a package of outreach work. This ensures that he will have every chance of successfully adapting to his independence.

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

Risk-taking behaviours from some vulnerable young people present the staff with safeguarding challenges. Social workers and youth offending workers confirm that, despite these behaviours, safeguarding practice is effective in reducing the risk of harm. Staff work with children, parents and other professionals to ensure that risks reduce for all young people.

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

Staff support young people to feel safe. Young people confirm that they feel safe in the home and feel that they are able to connect with a trusted adult. Staff work hard to stabilise young people and use skills, knowledge and experience to work flexibly to meet the diverse needs of the group. One young person, who recently left the home after living there for five years, told the inspector: ‘It’s a safe place, and staff keep you safe.’

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

When children go missing, staff are aware of the risks. There are robust systems in place to reduce missing-from-care episodes. Keeping young people safe is intrinsic to staff recruitment, induction and training. Staff understand how to reduce the risks to children, and they follow appropriate procedures. However, when young people return to the home, they are not always offered a return interview. This fails to capture essential information about why young people leave the home, where they go and the possible risks. In addition to this, records of missing-from-home episodes require more detail. Records should be evaluative and consider how to improve on responses to incidents of going missing from care.

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

Partnership working is very effective. Staff work well with other agencies, and with parents and carers, to assess and reduce the risks to young people. Care planning is collaborative, and staff are proactive in engaging other professionals on that journey. One social worker said: ‘Staff communicate really well. We have a teamwork approach to Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 6 caring for these young people.’

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

Behaviour management is effective in the home. Physical intervention is used rarely and only in response to situations that have the potential to cause harm to others or significant damage. Staff are appropriately trained and attend regular refresher training.

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

Young people are kept safe through a robust recruitment and vetting system. Visitors to the home are checked and monitored. Appropriate measures are in place in relation to young people’s health and safety, such as fire evacuation drills and checks of the premises and equipment.

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

Safeguarding protocols and procedures, including whistleblowing, are well known and implemented by staff and managers, who place the young people at the centre of their practice. Clear records demonstrate that any safeguarding concerns are referred to the appropriate agencies, including the local authority designated officer.

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

Security within the home needs to be improved. A young person who does not live in the home has gained unauthorised access. This is because a resident in the home has assisted him to gain entry. This is not a fault of staff. The home is exceptionally large and requires additional security to prevent people entering the home. Managers recognise this need and are taking urgent action.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager for this home has considerable management experience in residential childcare. He has completed the level 5 diploma in leadership in health and social care. This means that he has suitable qualifications and experience to provide leadership for the home. The responsible individual provides supervision and senior management support to the registered manager. Additionally, two assistant managers provide operational support within the home. This means that the home benefits from an experienced management team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There was one requirement made at the last inspection. This requirement has been met. The manager now notifies Ofsted and other agencies when there are concerns regarding sexual exploitation. The recommendation from the last inspection has been met. The manager has undertaken a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home. The response by the manager demonstrates that appropriate action is taken to drive improvement in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership work is a strength of this home. Comments from stakeholders are wholly positive. They provide evidence that young people benefit from the support of a professional and caring team. Social workers confirm that young people make progress because of this care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers understand the strengths and weaknesses of the home. They act upon recommendations made by their independent visitor. The manager produces his own Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 7 monitoring reports, but there is no development plan in place. This means that there is a lack of forward planning to improve the quality of care for individual young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Managers provide daily support to the staff team. Staff said that managers are approachable and supportive. However, staff supervision has not taken place at intervals outlined in policy. Likewise, staff appraisals have not taken place annually. This does not enable managers to have oversight of staff performance or their development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The building is in need of improvement. This has been highlighted in previous inspection reports. The local authority has approved a programme of refurbishment for the home. The work is due to commence in 2018. Young people will benefit from a high-quality home environment.

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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: SC038961 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City Hall, 3rd Floor, Rutland Wing, 115 Charles Street, Leicester LE1 1FZ

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Inspector

Amanda Ellis, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC038961 9 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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