Children's home run by Hampshire County Council in Winchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 1 SC038750 Registered provider: Hampshire County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned and managed by a local authority. The home provides care and accommodation for a maximum of four young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 15 to 16 November 2017

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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: declined in effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people make good progress in all areas and no longer engage in risk- taking behaviours.  All young people are engaged in education and developing skills for adulthood.  Staff provide consistent and nurturing support, ensuring that the young people Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 2 feel valued, safe and secure.  A focus of the home is to provide enriching activities, ensuring that the young people are able to try new things and widen their experience.

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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

 Young people are not able to freely move around the home at all times. Records do not provide the justification for staff locking doors to some communal rooms.  Risk assessments and records do not detail the actions that staff are taking to protect young people who are being bullied or who are at risk when using the internet.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 26/04/2016 Full Good 09/12/2015 Interim Declined in effectiveness 05/08/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 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 order to meet the protection of children standard the registered person must ensure that staff: (2)(a)(i) 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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe. 04/01/2017

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(3)(d)) 04/01/2017

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that there is a workforce plan in place which contains the information required by guidance. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered persons must ensure that supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

 In some cases, such as in residential special schools that are also registered children’s homes or children’s homes caring for children with complex care needs, restraint may be necessary as a consequence of a child’s impairment or disability. A child’s EHC plan or statement of special educational needs may contain detail about planned and agreed approaches to restraint or restraint techniques to be applied in the day-to-day routine of the child. This could include, for example the use of a device, such as outlined in paragraph 9.46. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.43) In particular, assess whether locking of communal rooms in the home at night is Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 4 necessary and proportionate and evidencing the decisions made within the young people’s care plans.

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Recommendations

 Restraint also includes restricting a child’s liberty of movement. This includes, for example, changes to the physical environment of the home (such as using high door handles) and removal of physical aids (such as turning off a child’s electric wheelchair). Restrictions such as these, and all other restrictions of liberty of movement, should be recorded as restraint. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 47, paragraph 9.42) In particular, recording when young people have been prevented from accessing rooms in the home because the doors have been locked.

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedures to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission and how staff should support the child on return to the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.28)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Due to the organisation’s residential plan, the group of young people and staff team who previously resided here have moved into a new purpose-built home. Young people and staff from another of the organisation’s children’s homes have now moved in pending the completion of a new home which is currently being built for them. The young people were well prepared for their move to this home, resulting in a successful transition.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Strong relationships with the staff and consistent support and nurture have enabled the young people to settle into the home. The young people have a sense of belonging here and want to remain living in the home for as long as possible. Consequently, there have been no changes to this group of young people for over a year.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Unwavering encouragement and praise from the staff have ensured that the young people feel valued and cared for. As a result, the young people want to achieve and are making good progress in all areas. Staff, including the organisation’s educational psychologist, regularly review the young people’s development. This approach ensures that strategies support the young person effectively to continue to grow and progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff’s consistent promotion of the importance of education has positively influenced the young people. Consequently, all of the young people are enrolled in education and training. The majority of the young people have good school attendance. When the young people struggle to attend, staff liaise with their educational establishments to implement strategies to improve this. One young person hopes to attend university next year, which represents a significant achievement. Staff are providing practical advice and guidance to support his application and prepare the young person for his transition into university life. Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 5 Realistic targets and achievable pathway plans enable the young people to develop their independence skills. The staff work closely with the young people and their placing social workers to ensure that effective plans for independence are in place. As a result, the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

young people are developing their skills and taking more responsibility for themselves in preparation for adult life.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A focus of the staff is to enable young people to have enriching experiences. The young people have been encouraged to develop their hobbies and interests. An incentive scheme ensures that young people receive rewards for their achievements and the rewards have enabled the young people to have new and exciting experiences. Consequently, all of the young people have had trips abroad, broadening their horizons and view of the world.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Trusting relationships between the young people and the staff have supported the young people to confide in staff how they are feeling and allowed the young people to be receptive to the staff’s advice. Consequently, the young people have not had to resort to previous risk-taking behaviour to express themselves, resulting in no incidents of going missing and a low number physical interventions.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff’s sensitive guidance to the young people regarding their relationships with their families has successfully supported young people to improve their relationships with their parents and siblings. Consequently, the young people maintain a sense of belonging within their families and will benefit from their ongoing support into adult hood.

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

Young people feel safe and secure. They no longer feel that they need to resort to previous risk-taking behaviours, including criminal behaviour and substance misuse. The young people are learning to regulate and manage their emotions, resulting in a significant reduction in violent and aggressive outbursts.

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

Staff understand their roles and responsibilities in relation to young people who go missing. They use their strong relationships with the young people effectively and this has prevented the young people from choosing to abscond. As a result, there have been no incidents of going missing since the previous inspection. However, one young person’s individual missing protocol lacked sufficient guidance on what staff should do to find the young person and ensure that he is safely returned to the home.

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

Child protection and safeguarding concerns are shared appropriately with relevant professionals, including the designated officer. Young people’s complaints and allegations against staff are fully investigated and lessons learned are established to improve the staff’s practice.

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

There have been incidents of bullying. The staff have taken action to challenge the perpetrator at the same time as supporting the victim. However, the young people’s risk assessments and the staff’s recordings in relation to bullying are weak. They do not Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 6 provide sufficient information on the risk of bullying or evidence the actions that the staff are taking to prevent bullying from occurring.

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

Risk assessments around online safety are insufficient and do not reflect the actions that staff are currently taking to protect the young people when they are using the internet. Risk assessments fail to adequately inform new staff of the risks of young people going online or of the actions that they must take to protect the young person. The home’s online safety policy is currently under review. The current revision does not sufficiently cover the risk of online grooming and how the staff can reduce this risk.

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

The ability of the young people to move freely around the home at night is significantly restricted. It has become practice for the staff to lock the kitchen and dining room at night. The young people also reported that often the lounge and laundry room are also locked. As a result, young people report not being able to get a drink at night or their clean clothes for the next day. There is no assessment which justifies the reasons for these restrictions and as a result, they can be viewed as disproportionate and punitive.

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

Recruitment checks are not sufficiently thorough. Managers do not ensure that all of the required checks are completed to ensure that the staff are appropriately vetted to work with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has an excellent knowledge of each young person and is dedicated to ensuring that they each have access to every opportunity that will maximise their potential. The manager is young person focused and wants the best for them. She is committed to providing positive experiences and values the young people’s views. The manager champions and advocates on the behalf of the young people to ensure that they receive effective support to develop and progress. Her determination to provide good-quality care is taken up throughout the staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Good partnership working with other professionals, including the child and adolescent mental health services and the looked after children nurse, has ensured swift referrals to relevant agencies to provide young people with specialist or additional support when necessary. As a result, young people’s needs are met to a good standard.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There are continuous efforts by the manager to ensure that young people receive good quality of care. The manager’s successful evaluation and analysis of the monthly reports by the independent visitor, together with internal audits, inform the home’s comprehensive development plan. The manager is committed to sharing good practice and is visiting other homes within the organisation to inform the development of this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff’s continued professional development is a key factor in the good quality of care provided within the home. All who do not already hold a relevant level 3 qualification are undertaking this and are due to complete it within the time required. Effective oversight by the manager ensures that staff training needs are identified and met quickly and poor Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 7 practice is identified and addressed swiftly. Staff receive regular supervision. However, the records of staff supervisions do not routinely demonstrate consideration of the young people’s needs, progress and safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s workforce development plan does not cover all of the areas required by guidance. It is currently made up of several policies and does not provide succinct information to staff on the expectations around training, supervision or managing poor performance.

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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: SC038750 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hampshire County Council, The Castle, Winchester SO23 8UG

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Inspector

Melissa McMillan, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC038750 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 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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