Children's Home run by PIC Children’s Services in St Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 1 SC022464 Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited Interim inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is one of several owned and managed by a private company. The home provides care and support for one young person who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Enforcement action since last inspection: None

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

This home was judged good at the last full inspection. At the interim inspection, Ofsted judges that it has declined in effectiveness.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The home is led and managed by an experienced and qualified registered manager. He is also the manager of another one-bedded home a short distance from this one. He is supported by a deputy manager. This inspection found that the registered manager has failed to address a number of issues raised at the previous inspection concerning record- keeping, staff rotas, the workforce development plan and shortfalls in the reporting by the independent person.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

While the registered manager now signs into the home via the visitors’ book and logbook, he is not ensuring that this information is consistently included in the staff rota, as there are omissions for January and February 2018. Consequently, the discrepancies in the staff rota do not evidence his regular presence at the home and therefore that he is in effect in day-to-day charge of the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 2 The young person’s care plan, healthcare plan, behaviour plan and risk assessments have not been updated on a regular basis. The young person’s care plan and healthcare plan are the same documents that were presented at the last inspection in Jun 2017. This means that they are out of date and contain conflicting information. The young person’s behaviour plan was updated in October 2017, but was not placed on his file and again this is not current. Consequently, the records do not accurately reflect the current

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

care and support provided nor do they identify the progress the young person has made during this time. This means that staff who are new to the home do not have the most current information available to them. As a result, valuable information may be unknown and not acted on. Ultimately, the failure to maintain up-to-date care records to inform staff practice places the young person at an unnecessary risk of harm.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Key worker records are not robust and at times appear to have been hastily written. They do not reflect the discussions with the young person or identify what support staff should be providing. For example, the young person asked a member of staff about attending a mainstream school in January 2018. The member of staff did not pass this information on. The registered manager only became aware of this request during the inspection when the inspector pointed it out to him. Other records appear to be reprimanding the young person for not being ready for school. However, the records do not set out what staff should be doing to help him to be up and prepared for school. Consequently, records are not recorded in a way that is helpful to either the young person or the staff.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

Monitoring by the registered manager is ineffective. The registered manager has not identified the numerous shortfalls across a number of records and documentation. While he has delegated specific takes to others in the team, he has not ensured that they have been completed. The last monitoring report by the registered manager for April to September 2017 does not identify any of the issues in record-keeping. This does not help the manager to drive forward improvements. The workforce development plan has not been completed for the home. This does not enable the manager to effectively plan for the forthcoming year and to be clear about what changes he expects to make to improve the service.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

The independent person’s reports are not current. The most recent report provided was for November 2017 and was not actually completed until 3 February 2018. The reports contain inaccuracies. For example, the latest report states that the requirement regarding record-keeping has been addressed with ‘new and updated plans’. This is not the case. Later in the report, the independent person comments on a number of documents that are in need of revising, including the young person’s care plan. This is not accurate reporting and does not help the home to drive forward improvements.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

However, despite the shortfalls, the young person has made steady and sustained improvements in his safety and well-being since the last inspection. He is now engaging in education and is making good progress. He said that he can now walk away from trouble at school and does not get involved. Consequently, he has not been excluded from school for some time. He has achieved several ‘star of the week’ awards from Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 3 school, as well as rewards from staff, including an Xbox, for improved behaviour. The young person is pleased to have the Xbox. He said he no longer feels the need to go missing because he would rather be home on his Xbox talking to his brother and friends. He has not been missing since early November 2017, which is a big achievement for him. This has improved his safety and well-being. He is increasing in maturity and is making better choices about his friendship group. He spoke about how he had been

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

‘blocked’ from talking to others online for a week, as the child control/boundaries on the Xbox mean he cannot swear or use offensive language. He understood the reasons, but said that it was hard sometimes not to swear.

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and young people since the most recent full inspection

His social worker is pleased with the progress that he has made. They said that the young person’s behaviour has improved dramatically and that staff are very good at putting incentives in place that are meaningful to the young person and which work; hence the improvement in his attendance at school. The social worker also commented on the fact that the young person no longer smokes cannabis. He feels that the progress that the young person has made in the last few months is because the messages from staff have finally had an impact on him.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/06/2017 Full Good 28/03/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 16/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness

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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

Ensure that the registered person maintain records (‘case records’) for each child, which include the information and 23/03/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 4 documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the young person’s placement plan, healthcare plan, risk assessment, missing from care records and behaviour plans reflect the current care and support provided. Ensure that any historical and/or conflicting information is removed.

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the registered person maintains in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff rotas are available on site and that they record the times when the registered manager is working in the home. 23/03/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the independent person produces a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded: and the conduct of the home promotes children’s welfare. (Regulation 44 (4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the independent person must ensure that their assessment includes a rigorous review of the quality of record- keeping and that their reports do not contain conflicting information. In addition, their reports must be submitted to Ofsted in a timely fashion. 23/03/2018

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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 a children’s home that enables children to aspire to their full potential and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of children and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 23/03/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 5

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes fact, opinion and third party information. Information must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Ensure that the registered person has a workforce development plan, which can fulfil the related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20) (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8). In particular, ensure that the plan is bespoke to this home.  Ensure that the home’s records on each young person represent a significant contribution to their life history. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations

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Recommendations

including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  Regulation 45 sets out the requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months; also see Regulation 13(2)(h) (the leadership and management standard). The registered person should undertake a review that focusses on the quality of care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on the outcomes and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14 (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.2). In particular, ensure that the quality of record-keeping in the home improves and the impact this has on the care provided to young people is monitored.

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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

This inspection focused on the effectiveness of the home and the progress and Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 6 experiences of children and young people since the most recent full inspection.

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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’.

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 North Street, Haydock, St Helens Merseyside WA11 0TW

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Inspector

Chris Scully, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC022464 7 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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