Children's home run by Aurora Care Young People’s Services

Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 1 Registered provider: Aurora Care Young People’s Services

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This children’s home offers care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

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

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

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.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 18 January 2018

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Inadequate

p.1

Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home was judged inadequate at the last full inspection on 18 January 2018. Following this inspection, a compliance notice was issued under Regulation 13(2)(a)(c)(h). This was found to be met during this inspection. Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 2

p.1

Key findings from this inspection

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

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The home has made good progress in addressing the shortfalls identified at the last inspection, but these changes are still in the early stages.  There have been changes to the management arrangements since the last inspection. There is an acting manager in post. The provider is actively seeking to recruit a permanent manager for the home.  The manager has not ensured that there are plans in place to reduce the risk of harm to young people when there are identified risks with those that the young people associate with outside the home.  The manager does not ensure that independent return interviews are undertaken with young people when they have been missing or absent from home.  There continue to be some shortfalls in recording, particularly in respect of significant incidents and restraint.  Staff have not been undertaking key-work sessions with young people on keeping themselves safe.  Care planning has improved since the last inspection, but there are still areas of

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

development in ensuring that there are plans in place to support young people to develop the skills that they require for adulthood.  Staff are not proactive in ensuring that young people are supported in independent study.

p.2

Key findings from this inspection

 The acting manager has been effective at improving the quality of care in the short period of time he has been in post in the home.  Young people all have good attendance at school.  The acting manager has ensured that risk assessments now identify clear written actions for staff to follow to manage most known risks.  The home is much more settled since the last inspection.  The staff team now includes a better mix of experienced and new staff.  Staff have undertaken a wide range of training since the last inspection to support them in meeting the needs of the young people at the home.  There are now more staff in post with the level three childcare award. Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 3

p.2

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/01/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 4

p.3

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.

p.4

Requirement Due date

In order to meet the protection of children standard the registered provider must 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. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(ii)) 17/04/2018

p.4

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 promotes their welfare. (Regulation 13(1)(b)) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13(2)(c)) 17/04/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which include the information and 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)) 17/04/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that— if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 17/04/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 5

p.4

Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  Staff must support children with home study by encouraging them to learn independent study skills and helping them to practise those skills. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 29, paragraph 5.18)  Staff must help each child prepare for any moves from the home, whether they are returning home, moving on to another placement or adult care, or to live independently. This includes supporting the child develop emotional and mental

p.5

Recommendations

resilience to cope without the home’s support and, where the child is moving to live independently, practical skills such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self-care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27) This is specifically in respect of ensuring that young people have individualised independence plans in place.

p.5

improvement to be good

The quality of care afforded to young people in the home has improved since the last inspection. Young people now receive more consistent, well-planned and individualised care. This has resulted in young people making progress from their starting points. A social worker reported that, ‘Since being in placement, [name] has consistently shared how he wishes to remain in the placement. [Name] states he is less anxious now and less aggressive. He feels emotionally in a better place and has less low moods.’ Young people are all engaged in education. Staff support this by ensuring that young people attend school through the use of incentive charts. Young people report that this approach is effective. Staff communicate well with educational professionals to ensure that young people receive consistency between home and school. An independent reviewing officer (IRO) reported that, ‘[Name] has settled down and is attending

p.5

improvement to be good

education again, something he was not engaging in when living at home. Staff have supported him with this.’ Staff are, however, not always proactive in encouraging young people to undertake independent study towards exams, which does not ensure that young people have the full support and encouragement that they need to achieve academically. Staff identify young people’s strengths and individual interests and, as a result, young people engage in activities that they enjoy, such as football or golf. This ensures that young people have the opportunity to pursue their interests and develop their talents. Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 6 This has a positive impact on young people’s self-confidence and self-esteem. Staff and young people report that the home is more relaxed now. One young person reported that, ’It’s all running more smoothly now. It was disjointed before, staff weren’t working together, [name of acting manager] has changed things, we see a massive

p.5

improvement to be good

difference. He talks to us and helps around the house.’ Positive relationships were observed between staff and young people during the inspection and young people sought out staff after education to talk about how their day had been. Young people were positive about how the staff had helped them and stated that they would talk to staff if they were worried about anything. One young person stated that, ‘I kicked off a few days ago and they helped me calm down. Being left helps me to calm down, staff are listening to this and we have sat and spoken about it. They are more supportive.’ Care planning has improved. Young people’s plans now reflect their individual and identified needs. As a result, there are clear plans in place about how these needs will be met. Staff undertake some independence work with young people, but this is not contained in any plan. Consequently, young people do not receive support in this area

p.6

improvement to be good

that is specific to their needs, and their progress is not measured. This does not ensure that young people receive support to develop the skills that they need for adulthood. The new manager is committed to ensuring that young people’s views are heard and that young people are involved in all aspects of their care. This ensures that young people feel listened to in their home and are empowered to make choices. The new manager consults with young people regularly. He has made some changes in the short time he has been in the home based on these consultations, for example the Wi-Fi has now been fixed. One young person commented that, ‘One of the first things he asked was what did he need to do to improve the home.’ There have been no new admissions since the last inspection. Transitions out of the home are well managed. Staff support young people in this by spending time with them talking about the move and supporting them on visits to new placements. This ensures

p.6

improvement to be good

that young people are prepared for moves and well supported when they move on from the home. An IRO reported that, ‘Staff have been supportive with escorting her to the placement to view and spend time there, and they will support her in a planned move.’ The manager has taken steps to ensure that the home is more warm and homely for young people by encouraging young people to choose pictures and purchasing items of their choice for the home, such as stencils for the walls. There are now photographs on the walls of the home of the young people enjoying different activities. This has made it a more welcoming environment for young people.

p.6

improvement to be good

The home has been more settled since the last inspection. There has been a reduction in significant incidents in the home. The manager has ensured that there are now risk assessments in place which identify each young person’s individual risks and vulnerabilities, and include written actions for staff to take to reduce these risks. The new manager is committed to involving young people and staff in the development of Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 7 these plans. Staff have all had training in managing difficult behaviour since the last inspection. Behaviour management plans now contain clear strategies for staff to use with young people to manage any challenging behaviour. Young people are consulted about what strategies they find work when they are angry, and these are recorded in young people’s plans and utilised by staff in managing young people’s behaviour. The new manager promotes the importance of building positive relationships with young people and this is

p.6

improvement to be good

underpinned by clear strategies such as reward charts, which young people report encourage positive behaviour. As a result, there has been a reduction in challenging behaviour in the home since the last inspection. Most staff have now received training in restraint and there is training scheduled for staff who have not yet done this. There has been a significant reduction in the level of restraint used in the home since the last inspection. However, the manager does not always ensure that all staff have attended restraint training prior to them becoming involved in restraints in the home. This is not a safe practice for young people or staff. Staff recording of restraint and significant events continues to be an issue, with documents not dated and differing information about the same event being recorded in different documents in the case records. The new manager has identified this as an issue in his own audits and is working with staff to ensure that they understand the

p.7

improvement to be good

importance of careful and accurate recording of such incidents. There has been a reduction in the level of young people going missing from home since the last inspection. This was confirmed by professionals. One IRO reported, ‘Staff have followed appropriate processes and procedures in terms of keeping both young people safe and, although initially, there was a concern about missing from home episodes, they have significantly reduced and there have been no further concerns regarding the young people’s safety.’ When young people have gone missing from home, staff have followed missing from home protocols and young people have been located quickly. However, the manager does not always ensure that independent return interviews are undertaken. This means that opportunities to identify reasons for a young person going missing are lost, thus reducing the opportunity for evaluation, and identifying work to

p.7

improvement to be good

reduce this behaviour. The manager does not ensure that the outcomes of police investigations are followed up or escalated when this information is not forthcoming from the police or local authority. This lack of follow-up in respect of one young person has resulted in a lack of multi- agency planning about how to keep this young person safe following an incident. Furthermore, staff are not able to identify potential indicators of domestic violence between young people who are in a relationship. This prevents staff from being able to take appropriate action to ensure the safety of young people in this situation. There are shortfalls in the direct work that staff undertake with young people about how they should keep themselves safe. Key-work sessions are lacking and do not evidence that staff are working with young people on how to keep themselves safe in relationships. All staff have undertaken safeguarding training. However, shortfalls were identified in

p.7

improvement to be good

Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 8 training around internet safety and Prevent. Only two of the eight staff have received this training, which does not ensure that staff have the necessary skills and understanding in these areas to ensure that they know what action to take to keep young people safe from harm. There have been no new staff to the organisation since the last inspection. The management team has taken steps to address the shortfalls in safer recruitment identified at the last inspection, and ensure that their recruitment procedures are robust. There were no shortfalls identified with recruitment processes during this inspection.

p.8

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

There has been a period of change since the last inspection. The manager in post at the time of the last inspection is no longer employed by the organisation. There is now an acting manager in post while the organisation recruits a permanent manager. There has been a new responsible individual in post since the time of the last inspection who has offered consistent managerial oversight during this time. The acting manager started in the home on 14 February 2018. Despite the short period of time that he has been in post, he has developed a good understanding of the home’s strengths and areas that require development. The manager has good systems in place for monitoring staff practice and young people’s progress, and he has plans in place for the continuous improvement of the service. He has undertaken his own audit and drawn up a development plan to address the shortfalls and areas of development in the home.

p.8

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

He has started to make good progress in addressing the shortfalls identified at the last inspection. As a result, the home is now meeting its objectives set out in the statement of purpose. Staff and young people spoke about the improvements in the home since the last inspection, such as sorting out the wi-fi for young people so that they can do their homework, and staff working more consistently as a team. One young person commented that, ‘A lot has changed in the home. Staff are doing more than they used to, [new manager] has made improvements, and he’s changed the incentives, which have worked. I have 100 per cent school attendance now and we have not been in late recently because of this. It’s all running more smoothly now. It was disjointed before, staff weren’t working together, but [new manager] has changed things. I can see a massive difference.’

p.8

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

Staff like working in the home and feel well supported in their roles by the current management team. They report that they feel more empowered in their roles and listened to. One member of staff reported that, ‘I definitely feel more listened to, and our points of views are considered more often. [Name of acting manager] has helped me out with a few things, he will sit down and take time, whether it takes 10 minutes or half an hour, rather than me taking a stab in the dark.’ Another member of staff reported that, ‘Staff are more relaxed now and that makes young people feel more relaxed.’

p.8

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

The organisation has taken steps to address the lack of experience, skills and knowledge of the staff team by bringing in more experienced staff from other homes within the organisation. Four out of the eight staff now have the required level three qualification in Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 9 childcare and the remaining staff are enrolled on this course. The manager ensures that less experienced staff are paired with more experienced staff on shift. Staff have undertaken a good range of training since the last inspection. Overall, there is now a better mix of staff with relevant qualifications and experience in the staff team.

p.8

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

Since the last inspection, there have been no admissions to the home. Both the acting manager and responsible individual fully accept the difficulties around admissions and matching that had occurred last year, and were clear about how this will be managed differently under the new management team. When the home does start to admit new young people, each young person will be subject to the 28-day assessment before another young person is admitted; this is to ensure that staff have the time to get to know young people properly and ensure the stability of the home. Professionals and young people are positive about the how the home is contributing to young people’s progress and how well the staff communicate with them. An IRO reported that, ‘Staff communicate well during review meetings and always produce a report, which covers the young people’s engagement, routines and demeanour around the house.’

p.9

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.

p.9

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: 1258770 10

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aurora Care Young Peoples Services

p.10

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pendle Suite, Hawkshaw Business Park, Longsight Road, Clayton-le-Dale, Lancashire BB2 7JA

p.10

Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

p.10

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.11

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.11

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.11