Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 1 SC482223 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group 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 home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children who have emotional and 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

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2016

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Sustained effectiveness

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home is good because:  Young people flourish in a caring and nurturing environment. Their risk-taking behaviour decreases significantly, they become more confident and they take more responsibility for themselves.  The new manager has created a skilled staff team, whose care enables young people to make good progress. Young people have positive experiences due to Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 2 the dedication and commitment of the staff team.  Young people, some of whom have not accessed education for a long time, are attending education and achieving well.  Young people receive good support in relation to their health needs. They have access to specialist mental health services to help them address any trauma and negative experiences in their lives.  Managers and leaders are realistic about the home’s strengths and weaknesses. They understand the need to embed practice, and to focus on ensuring that

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Key findings from this inspection

young people receive consistently good-quality care, from a skilled and well- qualified staff team. They are passionate about providing young people with good experiences of living in care.  A young person said, ‘For any new person who comes to live here, it will feel like home to them. It’s so nice and there are so many things to do.’

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Key findings from this inspection

The children’s home’s areas for development:  When young people have reported concerns about other professionals, the management team has not always been proactive in ensuring that young people receive a resolution in a timely way.  Recruitment checks on agency members of staff are not always robust.  The lock on the communal bathroom door has the potential to be easily tampered with. In addition, the reason for keeping young people’s bedroom door alarms on during the day is not clear. These two issues have the potential to undermine young people’s privacy.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 17/05/2016 Full Good 05/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/09/2015 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 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

In meeting the quality standards, if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 23/11/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. This includes obtaining evidence that all the required checks have been obtained for all agency staff used. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 23/11/2017

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Recommendations

 Staff should respect children’s privacy, and should support the other children living in the home to do so too. This specifically applies to ensuring locks on bathroom doors are fit for purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.17)  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. This specifically relates to use of bedroom door alarms. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.20)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from good-quality, individualised care. Staff know young people well. Young people are making progress in a variety of ways. Since the last inspection, the home has continuously improved. The home’s new manager started soon after the last inspection, and she has made a very positive impact on the functioning of the home and the staff team. In turn, this has improved outcomes for young people. The staff team has a good understanding of young people’s comprehensive care plans. Care plans are updated regularly to reflect young people’s changing needs. This ensures that young people receive consistent care and support. Education is a priority. Staff Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 4 listen to what young people say they want when finding an education package. This ensures that the package suits young people’s needs. Both young people currently living at the home are attending their education placement and are achieving well. Young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

people who have moved on from their placement at the home also achieved good education outcomes. This is extremely significant for one young person in particular, who had a long period out of education before coming into care. Young people are healthy and have access to basic health services, such as the local doctor and dentist. When appropriate, staff quickly access specialist services, such as smoking cessation clinics, and young people engage well. In addition, the staff team ensures a quick referral to child and adolescent mental health services if this support is needed. Young people take responsibility for their own health. They administer their own medication when appropriate, have joined the local gym and take part in sporting activities. They confirm that healthy meal options, fruit and vegetables, are always available for them. As a result, young people become healthier. Young people’s wishes and feelings are listened to and acted upon. Any complaints are

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

quickly dealt with. Records of the action taken to resolve the complaint and the final outcome of the complaint are kept in line with regulations. This was identified as a shortfall at the last inspection and practice has improved. The staff team works in consultation with young people. However, on some occasions when a young person has raised a concern about other professionals, although the concern is initially reported or brought to the attention of those involved, this has not always been proactively followed up by the manager. For example, a young person raised a concern about the attitude of an education worker. While the manager did immediately report this to the education provider, it was not followed up again. This means the young person has not had a resolution. There is the potential for young people to become dissatisfied and frustrated as a result.

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

Risk is managed well. Risk management plans are updated regularly and provide staff with written guidance that enables them to implement strategies to prevent or minimise risk. Incidents of risk-taking behaviour are rare, and young people rarely go missing from care. If young people were to go missing, staff are clear about the procedures they need to follow. For example, staff would ensure return interviews are carried out when young people return to the home after going missing. Challenging behaviour is responded to well. Good behaviour is encouraged and staff say that they focus on the positive and not the negative. Use of physical intervention is very rare, and if it is used the manager ensures that both the young person and the staff are debriefed. This ensures that the young person can feed back, and that there is management oversight of the incident and the opportunity for learning and development. A lack of feedback

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

was identified as a shortfall at the home’s last inspection. This requirement is now met and practice has improved. Staff have had appropriate training in safeguarding. They demonstrate a good understanding of their roles and responsibilities in safeguarding young people and understand the home’s whistleblowing policy. Employment practice is usually robust, with members of staff undergoing safer recruitment and vetting procedures to help ensure that they are suitable to work with young people. However, an agency member Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 5 of staff’s previous employment history had not been thoroughly scrutinised. This means a properly informed decision about whether this member of staff was suitable had not been made. The manager started to address this during the inspection. Health and safety are high priorities. All appropriate checks and assessments are in place, including a fire risk assessment. Door alarms are used on young people’s bedroom

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

doors to help ensure their safety at night. However, they are currently left on during the day. The reason for this is not described in any policies. This may have an impact on young people’s privacy. In addition, the bathroom that young people use has a lock that could be easily tampered with. Although this has not happened, there is the potential for it to impact on young people’s privacy. The home benefits from regular maintenance to ensure that it is a welcoming environment for young people. Young people like their bedrooms and there is enough communal space to ensure that young people can have time away from each other if they wish.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is working hard to embed a culture of high-quality, nurturing care. She wants young people to have a good experience of care and has high aspirations for them. The manager holds the appropriate qualification to manage a children’s residential service. Following a period of staff turnover at the start of the year, the manager is intentionally building up her staff team slowly to create a strong, committed and experienced workforce. This is likely to serve as a strong foundation from which the home can continue to make progress. The manager’s monitoring systems support continued improvement, and the impact of the management team’s hard work is evident. This benefits young people because they live in a home where the management team and staff are constantly considering ways to improve. Record-keeping is of good quality and reflects young people’s experiences while living in care. Members of staff say that they feel very well supported. They say that the manager is

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

always on hand to offer advice, guidance and support. The manager uses regular, and high-quality, one-to-one supervision sessions to help members of staff reflect on their own development, as well as the needs of the young people. Staff either already have or are in the process of undertaking the required qualification in residential childcare. They benefit from access to a variety of learning experiences, including mandatory training. This enhances their knowledge, skills and understanding of their role. Feedback during the inspection from stakeholders, including social workers, was very positive. Comments included, ‘I found the placement to be superb. The young person I placed was very distressed by the whole situation and the care and respect that the staff gave was second to none.’ A parent stated, ‘They were always on the end of the phone if I needed it. They were very supportive of me and offered me advice and guidance.’

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 6 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: SC482223 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Inspector(s)

Catherine Honey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC482223 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 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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