Children's home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 1 SC489512 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.

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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: 7 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people have good relationships with staff who know them well.  Young people maintain contact with their family and those important to them. Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 2  Partnership working with external agencies is strong. Effective relationships exist with the local police, education settings and the majority of social workers.  Young people make good progress with their educational goals.  Key workers regularly spend one-to-one time with the young people to discuss their plans and hear their views.  Comprehensive risk assessments are in place for all of the young people. These documents help to inform staff of potential risks and guide their practice.

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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

 Improved supervision practice lacks consistency and does not take place regularly. Records of meetings do not evidence tight decision-making.  Staff do not have their performance reviewed annually.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/04/2016 Full Good 12/01/2016 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 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 registered person must- maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; 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)) 16/10/2017

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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)) 16/10/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered manager considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(b)) 16/10/2017

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Recommendations

 Ensure the manager’s internal monitoring report is used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Recommendations

 Ensure the registered person only accepts placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations, including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4) This specifically refers to compiling formal referral paperwork.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Since the last interim inspection in January 2017, some key members of the staff team transferred to a new home within the organisation. Unintentionally, this decision, taken by senior managers, affected the stability for the young people. The consequences of the disruption and loss of secure attachments with these staff was evident in the level of Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 4 challenging behaviour displayed by the young people over the past few months. This, coupled with new young people moving in during this period, led to some placements ending abruptly. Recognising the impact, the manager looked at ways to prevent this happening again, which included not taking new admissions until the home was more settled.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Prior to young people moving in, the manager now scrutinises all referral information to ensure that the staff are able to support them. Comprehensive risk assessments carried out by the manager assess the impact on the existing group and outline the measures in place to manage this. This practice ensures that the young people are compatible and avoids disruption in the future. One social worker spoken to at the time of the inspection said that, ‘The whole process was well planned.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The strong attachments that existed between the staff and the young people led to positive outcomes for some, including making progress from their starting points. The staff continue to work hard to develop good relationships with the young people and observations of their interactions demonstrate that they are committed, friendly and caring. One young person who had lived at the home for a long time said that she ‘really liked it’ and that the strength for her was the ‘quality of relationships with the staff’. Another young person, who had only been at the home for a short period of time, appeared very relaxed and had already settled in to the daily routines and was helping to prepare the lunch.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have productive relationships with the local and virtual schools. Young people make good progress with their educational goals, and the manager and staff have high aspirations for them. Individually tailored education plans enable the young people to achieve regardless of their academic ability. This flexible approach to learning enables the harder-to-reach young people to engage in activities that help them to prepare and plan for their future. One young person, having just taken her GCSEs, has already secured a place at college in the area in which she will be living. Staff maintain the young people’s determination to succeed by regularly rewarding their achievements.

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

Protective staff work hard to keep the young people safe. Their therapeutic approach enables the young people to understand and regulate their behaviour. Regular sessions with key members of staff address areas of risk. However, at times these meetings are reactive and therefore do not help to prevent the young people from engaging in risky behaviours. Despite this, one young person said that she ‘can talk to staff about concerns’ and that she felt that they ‘were able to protect her’.

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

Collaborative working relationships with other professionals, particularly the police, also help to keep the young people safe. Regular meetings enable the manager to share essential information. This is particularly useful should a young person go missing. The staff demonstrate their understanding of the protocols by following these in practice. This includes chasing up return interviews in order to try to understand the reasons why the behaviour occurred. Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 5 Contact with the police is minimal, and largely linked to incidents of the young people going missing. However, a serious incident of a different nature did occur that required police intervention. On this occasion, the manager failed to notify Ofsted. Despite this, and having spoken to the police directly, the police are confident in the manager’s ability and say that he has a ‘good grip on things’.

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

Learning from a previous serious data breach, confidential information is now secure. Extra security measures put in place by the manager minimise the risk of the young people accessing it. This includes changed locks and a reduction in the number of keys required to open them. Clearer systems, applied diligently by the staff, enhance this security further along with other improvements made. Examples include changing passwords regularly, and preventing the young people from watching television programmes inappropriate for their age and accessing the wi-fi unsupervised.

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

The employment of new staff follows safer recruitment practice. Pre-employment checks, undertaken by the organisation, minimise the risk of employing unsuitable staff. However, interview notes are brief and lack detail with regards to exploring a candidate’s suitability beyond their qualifications. As a result, it is difficult for the manager to be confident that the employee has the relevant skills and knowledge required to undertake the role.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A suitably qualified manager is in charge of the day-to-day running of the home. Having been in post for over 18 months, his skills and experience have helped the team through a difficult few months. Disempowered by senior managers at times, the manager has been unable to influence decisions that have had a negative impact on the staff and the young people. One example includes moving established staff to another home, which resulted in a lack of continuity and breakdown in relationships for the young people in this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Detailed monitoring systems provide the manager with useful information. Developed and implemented by him, they help to identify the strengths and weaknesses; for example, behaviour management. However, during the recent unsettled period the manager failed to maintain the frequency of this task and relied solely on the independent visitor’s reports to identify shortfalls in practice. During this inspection, it was also noted that incomplete records of the staff on duty in June failed to provide an accurate record of who actually worked. Since then, the manager has demonstrated that he has learned from this experience and feedback, and he has implemented changes as a result.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Pro-active arrangements now ensure that only young people whose needs can be met move in. Decisions taken by the manager are child-focused. Compatibility assessments consider the impact that new young people might have on the existing group. Lacking detail in the past, the new process minimises the risk of placements ending abruptly and young people experiencing unplanned moves. Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 6 Good quality supervision training enables the manager to deliver reflective supervision. However, impacted by the recent turbulence, formal sessions have been irregular. Despite this, the staff say that they feel supported. During this turbulent time, the manager failed to look at the individual development needs of the staff team outside of mandatory training. The staff do not have annual appraisals and this inhibits their ability to progress their professional development.

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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: SC489512 7

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Children’s home details

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

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Deysel

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Inspectors

Amanda Harvey: social care inspector Jacqueline Georghiou: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC489512 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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