Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 1 SC394283 Registered provider: Salford City 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 home is a local authority setting registered to accommodate up to five young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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: 11 October 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/10/2017 Full Good 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/06/2016 Full Good 16/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on—

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Requirement Due date

(b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

(c) positive responses to other children and adults

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

(b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(b)) 31/05/2018

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

(i) 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;

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Requirement Due date

(ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

(iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

(iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

(v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to 31/05/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 4 protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

(b) 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;

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Requirement Due date

(c) that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded;

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Requirement Due date

(d) 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(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v) and (b)(c)(d)) The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

(a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

(f) 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;

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Requirement Due date

(h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation13(1)(a)(b) and (2)(f)(h)) 31/05/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

(a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

(b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

(a) 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 31/05/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 5 in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)) Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5)) 31/05/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are alert to the possibility that children may be at risk from relationships including with other children, and they therefore should take appropriate steps to protect a child. Specifically regarding friendships in the community. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.13)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control and discipline are fully recorded and subject to regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. In particular, ensure accurate, succinct and evaluation record-keeping. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, 16 young people have been admitted to the home. The majority of these admissions have been on an emergency or a short-term basis. Young people have not always been appropriately placed or well matched, and this has put a strain on relationships within the group. Some young people have been negatively influenced by others, resulting in a high number of challenging incidents. Consequently, the progress and experiences of young people are limited.

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improvement to be good

Some young people have good attendance at school, while others have been excluded or have limited engagement. Despite the best efforts of staff, most young people struggle to maintain good attendance in class. This impacts on their educational outcomes and compromises their future life chances.

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improvement to be good

Young people have good access to a range of health professionals, including the looked after children’s nurse and Salford Therapeutic Advisory and Referral service for Looked After Children (STARLAC), to improve their psychological and emotional well-being. Staff provide young people with suitable information about maintaining healthy lifestyles, and encourage participation in activites, such as swimming and going to the gym. However, most young people smoke cigarettes and cannabis, and young people smoke in their bedrooms. This puts them and others at risk of ill health. Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 6 Young people’s views are sought through regular key-work sessions, house meetings and daily chats. Staff encourage young people to voice their views and opinions. There is good evidence to demonstrate that some young people have built trusted relationships with staff, and have been able to confide in them when they have felt unsafe. A young

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improvement to be good

person said, ‘No one wants to be here, but it’s nice and the staff are nice. If I’m upset I can talk to them [staff] and they are always there.’ That said, the records of young people’s meetings do not clearly reflect the views of the young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage young people to engage in positive activities. One young person said, ‘We go for walks, go to the caravan and a water park.’ However, most young people prefer to spend their time away from the home with their friends. There have been incidents of anti-social behaviour in the local community, as well as in the home. This has resulted in the police being called to support staff to restore order; this puts young people at risk of being criminalised.

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improvement to be good

Group dynamics have led to negative alliances between young people. This has had an impact on the positive relationships with staff. Staff have experienced disturbed nights, having to stay awake to manage young people’s behaviour. In recent weeks things have begun to settle down, following the movement of some young people. The registered manager and staff acknowledge that the progress of young people has been limited due to the negative behaviours of the group. A member of staff said, ‘I would never like to go through that again.’

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improvement to be good

The home is suitably decorated in the communal living areas. However, the inspector observed that young people’s bedrooms were not sufficiently clean and well maintained. There has been significant damage to the upstairs area of the home, and there has been a delay in carrying out the necessary repairs. Young people’s bedrooms do not provide them with a warm and inviting space in which to spend time.

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improvement to be good

Young people spoken to said that they feel safe in the home. The majority of young people have been admitted to the home at short notice, and without key documents. Impact risk assessments are often completed after a young person has been admitted to the home, and they are very generic. On one occasion, the home was directed by a senior manager to place a young person, despite the home saying that the placement was not suitable. These shortfalls in care planning potentially undermine young people’s welfare and safety.

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improvement to be good

Young people who go missing are protected in line with agreed protocols. Records show that staff attempt to maintain phone contact with those who are unsupervised in the community, and make attempts to look for them if they fail to return home on time. However, this is not sufficiently robust to demonstrate that staff always acts as a good parent would. Most days, young people leave the home to meet their friends, who are unknown to staff and young people refuse to say where they are going. Staff have Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 7 struggled to engage young people in the home, to deter them from going out most evenings.

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improvement to be good

There have been incidents of bullying in the home. However, there are no records of bullying incidents, so there is no clear audit trail of the frequency and number of incidents. Furthermore, it is not evident what action has been taken to support young people to feel safe and free from bullying in the home.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there has been one allegation which was retracted and one safeguarding concern. There are appropriate procedures in place should staff need to raise a concern. However, the home does not have effective systems in place to record and track safeguarding concerns.

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improvement to be good

Staff have been challenged in recent months by young people’s behaviour. As a result, behaviour management strategies have not always been effective. Staff are trained in restraint and behaviour management techniques. Restraint is rarely used in the home and only as a last resort. There have been four incidents of restraint since the last inspection; one involved the registered manager and two involved a senior member of staff. The registered manager and the senior member of staff have monitored, evaluated and signed off their own records. This prevents proper oversight of the methods used to ensure the welfare and safety of young people.

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improvement to be good

Individual risk assessments and behaviour management plans identify known risks to young people’s safety and welfare. However, risk management plans do not take into account the measures required to prevent young people from smoking in their bedrooms. This shortfall has the potential to pose a serious risk to young people’s welfare and safety.

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

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager. The manager and her deputy acknowledge that they have been through a very challenging time in recent months. Despite this, the home has a proven track record of providing good- quality care. The authority is currently undertaking a full review of its residential services. The review will help to drive forward improvements across the authority’s residential services.

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

There are sufficient staff to meet the needs of the young people. Staff spoken to demonstrated a real commitment to their role, but also expressed how they had ‘been on their knees’ trying to manage young people’s challenging behaviour. The manager confirmed that staff had been left feeling ‘burnt out and stressed’. Consequently, there have been high levels of sickness. Gaps in the rota have been covered by staff from the authority’s other homes and regular bank staff. This helped to reduce the levels of disruption for young people. Two staff have recently transferred to the home and have had a huge positive impact on staff morale.

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

Staff say that they feel supported by managers. Despite the difficulties, staff have Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 8 received one-to-one supervision that has enabled them to reflect on their practice. However, disruption in the home did have an impact on the regularity of team meetings; these have recently been reinstated. All staff hold or are undertaking a suitable childcare qualification. This ensures that staff have the skills and knowledge to meet the needs of young people.

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

The home is not meeting all of its aims and objectives as set out in the statement of purpose. For example, young people have not consistently received care in a safe, warm and welcoming environment. The high number of emergency admissions has had an impact on the stability of the home and staff feel that the home has lost its sense of identity.

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

The independent visitor, who monitors the quality of care, has raised concerns about the home in her recent reports. Managers have a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the home and are committed to implementing the changes required to improve the progress and experiences for young people. Professionals spoken to were very complimentary about the home.

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

The one requirement made at the last inspection has been met. Serious notifications have been notified to HMCI; this allows for oversight to ensure that appropriate action has been taken to safeguard young people. The manager has revised the locality risk assessment, but the recommendation in relation to placement planning has not been met. This has now been raised as a requirement. A recommendation in relation to records in the home has also been raised.

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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: SC394283 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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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