Children's home run by Greenacre Care Services Limited

Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 1 SC379104

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Greenacre Care Services Limited

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home that is registered to provide care for up to four children who have behavioural and/or emotional difficulties.

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This monitoring visit

This children‟s home was judged declined in effectiveness at the interim inspection on 29 January 2018. Two compliance notices were issued under section 22A of the Care Standards Act 2000 in relation to regulation 12 (the protection of children standard) and regulation 13 (the leadership and management standard), and a notice restricting accommodation was served under section 22B of the Care Standards Act 2000. The provider has taken some action, but enough to address all of the concerns raised.

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This monitoring visit

Since the last inspection, the manager has not fully addressed and met the requirements and the recommendation that have been raised. At this monitoring visit, eight regulatory requirements and one recommendation set at the last inspection remain unmet. The deadline for these requirements has not yet passed, therefore progress made will be monitored at the next inspection.

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This monitoring visit

The same two children continue to live at the home. Little has changed for the children in relation to their progress. The children are not engaging with the staff.

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This monitoring visit

One child remains out of formal education. Staff say that the child has been entered to sit one GCSE and three functional skills exams in May 2018, yet she occasionally attends some parts of the education sessions with the education tutor who visits the home. Children continue to use cannabis. One child continues to go missing from the home. On one occasion, the child walked out of the home telling staff that she would not be back. The staff on duty watched her leave and then reported her missing to the police. The child was missing overnight and the provider failed to Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 2 notify the regulator. This child is assessed to be at high risk of child sexual exploitation. The staff lack experience and so they do not fully understand their responsibilities to engage with this child and make an effort to prevent her from leaving the home. This places already vulnerable children at risk of significant harm.

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This monitoring visit

One member of staff said, „The children are used to doing what they want when they want to.‟

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This monitoring visit

Communication with other agencies is inconsistent. One child continues to spend large amounts of time away from the home. Staff say, and the records show, that the children are refusing to engage in any independence work. The food consumed by the children when they are at the home continues to be unhealthy. Staff do not routinely cook for the children.

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This monitoring visit

The current interim manager has introduced some new recording systems. For example, there is new paperwork to demonstrate how finance is distributed and recorded in the home. Although the re-establishment of this system is an improvement and children provide receipts for some things but not others. Overall, the system is confusing and does not provide a sufficient overview of how much cash children receive each week and how all of the money is then spent. The children continue to receive cash in regular amounts. This means that children who should be preparing to leave care are being set up to fail.

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This monitoring visit

The children continue to smoke in their bedrooms. During the inspection, the inspector saw that one child had placed a sock over the smoke detector in the bedroom. This is a repeated behaviour and the staff‟s efforts to prevent children from smoking are unsuccessful. Staff say that for one child, smoking cigarettes and using cannabis in the home have reduced greatly, yet it is the same child who spends large amounts of time away from the home.

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This monitoring visit

Care files pertaining to the children evidenced that little or no improvement has been achieved. Updates to written information are inconsistent, and fail to show any clear evidence that risk assessments and care and independence plans inform the staff‟s practice so that they can adequately care for the children. Inspectors were only made aware after more than two hours that electronic files were available. Two staff spoken to during the inspection were unaware of the updated plans held on the computer, and stated that they speak to each other to try and gauge how to care for the children. This practice does not allow staff to adequately care for the children and puts the children at risk of serious harm.

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This monitoring visit

New permanent and agency staff are working at the home. The recruitment process for permanent staff is suitable. However, the vetting and checks for agency staff are not consistently robust enough to ensure the safeguarding and protection of the children and staff. Incomplete vetting of adults coming to work with vulnerable children places the children at risk of serious harm, and the members of staff at risk of being the subject of allegations or complaints. Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 3 The staff rotas, six of which are for February 2018, do not adequately record the actual staff working at the home at any given time. The rotas are confusing and give the reader misleading information. For example, one of the February 2018 rotas reviewed, which the inspector was informed by the interim manager was the accurate rota, evidenced only one member of staff working alone on the 14

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This monitoring visit

February 2018. When the interim manager was asked if this particular member of staff had worked alone, the interim manager stated that she may have omitted that the member of staff had worked with an agency member of staff. This practice raises serious safeguarding concerns and leaves the children and staff at risk.

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This monitoring visit

Records do not demonstrate that staff receive a robust induction into the home. For example, staff have induction checklists at the front of their personnel files, but not all sections have been completed and the interim manager could not evidence or demonstrate that all new staff, including agency staff, have received a full induction into the home. This failure to ensure that all staff receive appropriate inductions does not equip staff with information and training to enable them to provide safe and effective care for children.

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This monitoring visit

The children have contact with their families and this helps to provide some stability for them.

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This monitoring visit

Training is not sufficient. Training in safeguarding and child sexual exploitation has taken place. Not all permanent staff attended the training. An incident took place in the home with one of the children while the training was taking place and so the provider has arranged for this training to be delivered again.

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This monitoring visit

Different management consultants continue to work at the home during the week. For the evenings and the weekends there is a managers on-call system; however, managers are not present in the home at these times. Newly appointed staff who are on probation lead shifts with agency staff. Managers say that staff receive supervision, but the supervision notes for every member of staff were not available during this inspection. When staff raise concerns in supervision, for example about staffing, the actions taken to address these are not evident. The staff team lacks the skills, knowledge and confidence to deal with the children. The children are often verbally abusive to the staff and some of the staff are frightened or do not know how to help these vulnerable children.

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This monitoring visit

There has been no review by the home‟s management of the quality of care following the last independent visitor‟s report. This failure of the home‟s management to review and evaluate the regulation 44 reports means that recommendations to improve the quality of care cannot be actioned in order to assist staff in providing safe and effective care.

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This monitoring visit

The result is that the existing compliance notice in relation to the leadership and management standard is not met. The restriction of admissions notice remains in place. Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 4

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 29/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 18/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 5

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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 and use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose and to ensure that staff understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose, provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs as recorded in the child‟s plan, taking account of the child‟s background, help each child to develop resilience skills that prepare the child to live independently, and make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child‟s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(iv)(vi)(ix))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the staff implement the independence plan agreed with the placing local authority. 16/04/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff understand the barriers to learning that each child may face, and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers, and help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans. (Regulation 8(iii)(x)) 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that the health and well-being needs of children are met, children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well- being, and that children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. 16/04/2018 Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 6 (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)) The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust, an understanding about acceptable behaviour and positive responses to other children and adults. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)) 16/04/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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, help each child to understand how to keep safe, have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm, understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person, take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare. 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; 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

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Requirement Due date

12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(b)(d)) 16/04/2018

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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 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 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 staff work as a team where appropriate, ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child, ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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 the care provided in the home, demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received, and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the

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Requirement Due date

16/04/2018* Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 7 quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(f)(g)(ii)(h)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety. The requirements are that full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(1)(3)(d))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to agency staff. 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must implement a policy (“the missing child policy”) setting out the procedures to be followed, and the roles and responsibilities of persons working at the home, in relation to a child who is, or has been, so absent. (Regulation 34(4)(b)) 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular regard to ensuring that there is a copy of the staff duty rota of persons working at the home, and that a record is kept of the actual rotas worked. 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI without delay if an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(b)) 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the quality of care provided for children, the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of the care they receive in it and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of the care provided for children. The system must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(1)(2)(5)) 16/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The provider should refer to the non-statutory advice about visits by independent persons: Children‟s homes regulation amendments 2014: Advice Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 8 for children‟s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came into effect in January and April 2014. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 66, paragraph 15.10)

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Information about this inspection

The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children‟s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000. Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Greenacre Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 15 Achnacone Drive, Colchester CO4 5AZ

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Inspectors

Rosie Davie, social care inspector Catherine Russell, social care inspector Inspection report for children‟s home – monitoring visit: SC379104 10 to 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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