Children's Home run by Kirklees Council in Kirklees

Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 1 SC033367 Registered provider: Kirklees 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

The children’s home is owned and operated by a local authority. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for six young people who experience behavioural and emotional difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 28 to 29 November 2017

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 22 February 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Key findings from this inspection

This children’s home requires improvement to be good because:

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Key findings from this inspection

 The young people who come to live in the home are not effectively matched to live together, which impacts on their individual risk and safety. Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 2  The young people are smoking in the home, causing a potential fire risk that could impact on the safety of all those living or working in the home.  The young people are involved in behaviours that impact on their health and well- being. Not all of the young people have access to mental health services and additionally when specialist services are implemented, the young people are not utilising this help and guidance.  The young people live in a home that has experienced damage and, as a result, the home does not present as homely or welcoming.  The young people’s education needs are not being routinely met, as they continue to refuse to attend. This impacts on their progress and outcomes.  The staff have limited knowledge and time for practice reflection to enable them to

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Key findings from this inspection

confidently respond to some of the risks and presenting needs of the young people, for example social media.

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Key findings from this inspection

 The staffing levels have been increased to enable immediate action to be taken to ensure that the young people are safe.  The manager has developed a working relationship with other agencies to coordinate plans and strategies to ensure the young people’s safety.  The young people benefit from being cared for by a stable staff team and this team is supported by an experienced manager.  The home is not currently accepting any emergency admissions and this decision is endorsed by the local authority senior management team.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/08/2016 Full Good 09/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 08/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person must take to meet the Care Standards Act 2000, the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015 and the ‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’. The registered person must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirements Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirements Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirements Due date

help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(x)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirements Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirements Due date

have the skills to identify and act on signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirements Due date

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; and

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Requirements Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(iii)(b)(d)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirements Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— 05/01/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 4 meet the needs of each child; and

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Requirements Due date

enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6(2)(c)(i)(ii)) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirements Due date

understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirements Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them. (Regulation 11(2)(xii)(xiii)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirements Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14(1)(b)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirements Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(a)(b)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

An organisation may only carry on a home if—

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Requirements Due date

the organisation has notified HMCI of the name, address and position in the organisation of the responsible individual. (Regulation 26(4)(ii)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

The registered person must cooperate with the child’s placing authority in agreeing and signing the child’s placement plan. (Regulation 17(2)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirements Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirements Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(b)(c)) 05/01/2018

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Requirements Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

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Requirements Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; and 05/01/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 5 an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)) In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirements Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45(2)(c)) 05/01/2018

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Recommendations

 The children’s guide should help children to understand how to contact the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.22)  Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concerns emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure that it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  Regulations 35–39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author on each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s

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Recommendations

homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

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improvement to be good

Some of the young people are experiencing an unplanned move into the home. In addition, the young people are being admitted to the home despite the manager highlighting concerns about the impact on the young person and others and without the required local authority paperwork. Some of the young people, therefore, are experiencing a transient stay within the home, creating further placement moves and transitions for them. Lessons have been learned and placement procedures have been reviewed. This has stopped emergency admission into the home and addressed the procedures to source placements for children and young people. This addresses the concerns of the young people being placed ineffectively and stops young people being told and preparing to move on from the home but then not moving and receiving no explanation for this life-affecting decision. Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 6 In contrast, when the young people have a period of stability, the plans for their future

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improvement to be good

journey are clear, and these young people benefit from planned transitions. These moves are into provisions that are identified to meet the young people’s needs. One young person said: ‘It impacts on us when other kids just move in or out of the house, particularly as I see some of the young people who live here as family.’ If the young people wished to share their concerns with outside support agencies, they would not have the details of the Office for the Children’s Commissioner, as this is not within the provided children’s guide.

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improvement to be good

The young people’s attendance at their respective education and training provision remains sporadic and their engagement and motivation to progress within education vary greatly between the young people. The staff continue to work with the young people to fully explore their interests in an attempt to source education and training provisions suited to their individual needs. One young person now has a part-time work placement at a local gym, which he sees as a real positive achievement in his life.

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improvement to be good

The young people are registered with health agencies. However, there remain concerns about the health needs of the young people in relation to the impact of their illegal drug misuse. One young person identified that they were using substances to manage their feelings; yet this young person was not accessing any specialist service to help them manage their emotional well-being and mental health. The staff are gaining advice and guidance from substance misuse agencies and are trying to engage the young people with this support to address this problem. However, as the level and type of substance the young people are using are not clear, the staff team is not currently trained efficiently in responding to an emergency when the young people present under the influence.

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improvement to be good

The young people live in a home which has an initial unwelcoming and unhomely presentation. The staff are implementing measures to address the damage caused to the home, and these improvements are encouraging and promoting the young people to have a sense of pride and worth in the home. As improvements are being made, the young people are involved and this is helping the young people take some ownership and utilising the communal spaces within the home.

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improvement to be good

There are elements of the young people’s behaviours and the care afforded to them that are impacting on their safety and protection. There are significant concerns about the young people smoking in their bedrooms and the risk that this poses to their safety. The staff are starting to challenge this behaviour and have implemented daily room checks to further address this concerning behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The young people continue to go missing from home. However, the police report that the frequency of these incidents is reducing, as the staff are now taking active steps to ensure the young people’s safe return. The young people benefit from independent return home interviews which are delivered by a consistent worker who is engaging the Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 7 young people. This is providing the best opportunity to learn more about the young people’s activities when missing from the home. Despite this positive action, there remain gaps in communication with all professionals. In addition, information in the young people’s plans and risk assessments is not current, hence it does not provide the staff with the pertinent concerns around associates and strategies that could further ensure the young people’s safety.

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improvement to be good

The young people live in a generation of social media and the staff have a level of oversight of their usage. The staff are trying to educate the young people about the risk associated with online media; however, the staff’s awareness of current trends and safeguards is not consistent. This means that the staff do not have a clear awareness to support informed and confident discussions with the young people.

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improvement to be good

The young people are experiencing elements of bullying from other residents. The young people have been the victim of racial abuse, theft and damage to their personal property, and as a result have not wished to live in the home. The staff do not have a consistent collective approach to address bullying to guarantee that all the young people can be confident that they are safe and respected in the home.

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improvement to be good

The staff are trying to implement disruption techniques and engage the young people to reduce the risks that they are associated with. The staffing ratios in the home have been adjusted accordingly to make sure that the staff can take immediate action to safeguard the young people. The staff have completed referrals to a gang intelligence team and, also through sharing other intelligence, this has resulted in harbouring and trespassing notices being issued to safeguard the young people from exploitation and antisocial behaviour. The staff are also trying to engage the young people more in activities in the home and community. This is providing the young people with time with the staff to build on their relationships. However, this engagement is not consistent and there are observed periods when the young people are not engaged by the staff. The young people also say that some of the staff are interested in them while others are not easy to

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improvement to be good

talk to and present as being uninterested.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The home benefits from the stability and experience of a long-term registered manager. The manager is aware of the concerns within the home and advocated for the home when expressing her concerns to senior management. She has improved the partnership working with the police and, together, arrangements have been implemented to respond to the presenting needs of the young people. The police say: ‘The staff have vastly improved their responses to the young people going missing and are also addressing and sharing intelligence regarding exploitation and antisocial behaviour.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The staff are receiving supervision more frequently, as previously there had been evident gaps. It is reported by some of the staff that in addition to the increase in formal supervision, the manager and deputy management team are approachable and will always provide the staff with practice guidance and support. The manager is able to identify the strengths that her team offers to the young people. However, the staff are Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 8 not receiving their annual appraisals to further support and acknowledge their progress and development needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager has a monitoring process in place and has completed a review to reflect on the areas of progress and development that have been implemented for the home. Although the report was completed, it contained no action plan for the following six- month period. Also, within the manager’s oversight, there have been occasions when notifications of significant incidents have not been sent to HMCI.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

As a result of the complexities within the home, the staff’s and management’s preliminary focus has been on meeting the immediate care needs of the young people. As a result, there are evident gaps in the young people’s records. This includes no detailed management overviews of all physical restraints. When documents are created, the author is not routinely signing and dating these records. Crucially, elements of the young people’s care plans are woolly and do not provide clear actions to enable the staff to review their progress and confirm that their needs are being met. For example, for one young person there is no clear plan or strategies for the staff if this young person presents under the influence of any substance that could cause them harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There is currently no registered responsible individual for the home. To reflect this vacant post, a current registration certificate has been issued which is not on display in the home.

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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: SC033367 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 30 Market Street, Huddersfield HD1 2HG

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Inspector

Jennifer Fenlon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033367 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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