Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Milton Keynes

Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 1 SC391379 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

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 December 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: 23 January 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 home is currently struggling to meet the needs of all the young people who live here. The registered manager left abruptly, and the deputy is on extended leave. Staff are exhausted and there is high use of agency staff to support Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 2 young people’s needs; this has led to instability in the home.  Pre-placement planning and impact risk assessments are not effective in identifying the needs of young people. Staff do not have all the skills or training required to support some of the young people in this environment.  Risk assessments and in-house plans vary in quality. They do not reflect current behaviours or risks, and have not been updated to reflect significant changes in behaviour.  The home is not providing care in line with its statement of purpose. The home is not working therapeutically. Plans devised by the therapy team are not integrated into young people’s plans, and staff have had little training in how to

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Key findings from this inspection

create a therapeutic caring environment.

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Key findings from this inspection

 Young people are making measurable progress since living in the home. They have some good relationships with staff, who are seeking to develop young people’s physical and emotional well-being.  Young people see the home as a safe place. Safeguarding practice is good, and there are strong links with partner agencies in the community. Staff are respectful of young people and will intervene in their relationships in the community if they consider that they are inappropriate.  Staff dynamically assess young people’s activity requests, particularly for time alone or being given money without supervision. They discuss such requests as a team, and respond to the requests in a considered way.  Senior leaders within the organisation recognise that there are concerns in the home currently, and they are providing a greater presence to help support the acting manager, and the staff team.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/10/2016 Full Good 21/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/08/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff protect and promote each child’s welfare; provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6(2)(a)(b)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, supervise young people, taking into account their age and abilities, in order to reduce avoidable incidents. 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8(2)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that young people are ready for learning on time, including setting a routine for those not in education. 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual 28/02/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 4 respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, implement sanctions which will assist children to change and/or adapt their behaviour.

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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 staff help each child to understand how to keep safe and have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(ii)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, explore with young people the reasons that they go missing, for example through undertaking effective key-working sessions about the matter. 28/02/2018

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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 staff 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; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(vi))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, identify risk and including this in risk assessments; ensure that staff follow any plans put in place as a result of an identified risk. 28/02/2018

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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 aspire to fulfil their potential; 28/02/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 5 and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 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(2)(a)(e)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the statement of purpose should accurately reflect the service provided; a development plan should be in place for the service; and the use of agency staff should not have a detrimental impact on those living in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that pre-placement impact assessments are competed for all young people admitted to the home and that these identify how staff can meet their needs. 28/02/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development. (Regulation 33(4)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Specially, train staff in the therapeutic approaches as stated in the statement of purpose. 28/02/2018

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 6 as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) This relates to the décor and maintenance of the home.  Just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to

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Recommendations

any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. Information on restraint and deprivation of liberty is contained in the protection of children section of the Guide from paragraph 9.41. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) This relates to the locking of internal doors.

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improvement to be good

Young people make some measurable progress while living in the home. They have strong relationships with many staff, who have a good understanding of each young person’s strengths and areas for development. During the inspection, the atmosphere in the home was generally positive. Young people spoke to inspectors about Christmas; staff liaised with social workers to ensure that, where possible, young people had the opportunity to see their families, and staff transported and supervised young people when required.

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improvement to be good

Young people are treated as individuals, and their views and wishes are listened to and respected. They have the opportunity to express themselves in house meetings, although they prefer to share their views through key-work sessions and ad hoc discussions with staff. They know how to make a formal complaint, and any complaints raised have been responded to effectively.

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improvement to be good

All young people have programmed education. Currently, one young person attends education regularly, although she is often late. Agreements with the school mean she stays behind at school to make up time. However, staff appeared resigned to this being the solution and were not encouraging her to get ready more quickly. One young person who is currently declining to attend school was in bed during school hours, and another who was on school holidays was still in bed mid-afternoon, after being disruptive the night before. Education and engagement in positive activities do not seem to be priorities, and there were no formal plans in place to address this.

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improvement to be good

Young people are supported to follow healthy lifestyles, and staff support them to understand what this means for them. Young people have a range of freshly cooked, balanced meals, and are encouraged to help cook and prepare these. Young people do Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 7 smoke and on occasion misuse substances. One is accessing therapy through the in- house therapy team. Therapeutic input is available to staff to help them consider young people’s general emotional well-being; however, it is not embedded in the home’s practice or ethos. In-house plans do not reflect the therapeutic approach as outlined in the statement of purpose, indicating that it is not used effectively in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff appear to be trying to provide a positive environment in which young people can grow and progress. The recent, abrupt loss of the registered manager, and the increased need for agency staff, has led to the staff becoming tired and feeling like they are firefighting, rather than being able to plan shifts and work effectively to meet the young people’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s actions and demeanour show that they see the home as a safe place. Some were seen to approach staff with any worries or concerns, and staff spent time with them, talking through their issues. Others clearly struggle with being given care and attention, and do not yet know how to respond to people caring for them.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding practice in the home is strong. The safeguarding lead for the organisation regularly attends multi-agency meetings in the community, and has a strong working relationship with the designated officer. Incidents of concern, disclosures and allegations are reported swiftly to partner agencies, and conclusions to investigations are fully recorded. Action taken as a result of safeguarding investigations is clearly recorded.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of their role concerning safeguarding and child protection. Staff were noted to be challenging members of the public who were giving young people cigarettes or lighters, and checking the names of friends and acquaintances of young people, and when necessary seeking police intervention if it was deemed that someone was inappropriately befriending a young person. This is good safeguarding practice.

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improvement to be good

Young people are regularly missing from the home. Staff responses to this depend on individual needs. For one young person, this means two staff following her immediately. For the others, staff look for them in known locations, and contact them via a mobile phone. The police are called in line with agreed plans. One young person’s incidents of going missing have significantly reduced in recent weeks. However, this is related more to her boyfriend moving closer, rather than proactive intervention by staff. There is little evidence that staff have explored with the young person why she goes missing, beyond her desire to see her boyfriend.

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improvement to be good

Staff are not risk averse, and allow young people age-appropriate freedom. They dynamically risk-assess young people’s activities as they request them, considering if an activity is appropriate, and whether the young person is going to manage the responsibility based on past actions. However, risk assessments are not up to date. The risk assessment for one young person deemed to be at significant risk is from her Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 8 previous placement in the organisation, despite her living in this house for several months. It does not include the risk of fire-setting or carrying weapons, despite both these issues occurring while she has lived in the home. Additionally, risk reduction measures in place are not acted on. These include the sharp objects signing-out book not being used for several days, and young people not having had fire safety training, despite it being an agreed action.

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improvement to be good

Incidents are not responded to effectively, resulting in issues which could have been avoided. For example, a young person used nail glue inappropriately on separate occasions, in one instance requiring hospital treatment. Additionally, there has been insufficient follow-up to the two occasions when a young person’s boyfriend entered the property at night, once without staff being aware until morning.

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improvement to be good

Positive behaviour is actively promoted in the home. The organisation’s token system is partially effective with the current group. Sanctions are mostly fair and proportionate. However, the use of financial sanctions is not effective, with many sanctions being repeated, demonstrating that they have little impact on changing behaviour. Additionally, minor damage around the home, such as graffiti and make-up smeared on walls, is not successfully addressed. The current use of locks on internal doors detracts from the homeliness of the environment.

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

The home currently has a registered manager in post. However, the post-holder has not returned to work since handing in her notice, which is effective from mid-January 2018. This has led to many shortfalls and a sense of instability in the home. The deputy manager is on extended leave. A deputy from another home in the organisation has been acting as manager for the last two weeks. Senior managers within the organisation recognise many of the shortfalls identified at this inspection, and are seeking to rectify them as soon as is practicably possible. They recognise that staff are tired, and that the volume of agency staff being used is causing instability in the home. A new manager has been appointed, and joined the inspection on the second day.

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

Staff are positive about the home and are grateful for the support they are receiving. Until recently, they were having regular supervision, and felt they were well supported. There have been several changes in the staff team, with one leaving and another moving to bank work. Due to staff feeling exhausted and the lack of leadership, mistakes have been made, including a young person finding out that a member of staff was leaving by reading a rota, rather than being told directly.

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

The senior managers within the organisation are reviewing the placements of the young people in the home. They acknowledge that it is not the right placement for one young person, and are working with the placing authority to ensure that she moves to more suitable accommodation that can meet her needs, rather than ending her placement abruptly. They have also challenged the placing authority regarding a planned move, as they do not feel it would be beneficial for her. Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 9 Pre-placement planning and impact risk assessments have been weak for two young people. The assessments do not identify how staff will support the new young person’s needs, what training staff may need and how the new young person will impact other members of the group. Young people’s in-house plans vary in quality, and do not always direct staff effectively in how to meet young people’s needs. For one young person, her

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

plans have not been updated in this placement, despite many changes in her presentation.

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

The current operation of the home is not as stated in its statement of purpose. Staff lack direction concerning therapeutic working, and plans do not evidence that this occurs. Staff are unable to explain what the therapeutic ethos of the home is, and have had no follow-up training in therapeutic methods since the half-day training during their induction.

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

Senior managers recognise that there are many areas of the home which require improvement. They are prioritising care for young people and supporting the staff team. There is no formal development plan in place at this time.

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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: SC391379 10

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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

Jennie Christopher, social care inspector Janet Hunnam, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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