Children's Home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053 in Nottingham

Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 1 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053

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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 operated by a private organisation and provides care and accommodation for three children and young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted in December 2015.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 21 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 16/05/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 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 registered person must ensure that— at all times, at least one person on duty at the home has a suitable first aid qualification. (Regulation 31 (2)(a)) 30/06/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d)(e)) 30/06/2018

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Recommendations

 Strengthen management oversight of care arrangements to ensure that a direct link is made between key-work sessions and the child’s placement plan and that the quality and quantity of such work is overseen by the manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.23)  Staff should ensure that the responsible local authority provides an opportunity Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 4 for a child to have an independent return interview when they have been missing from the home. Staff should ensure that this is recorded and use the information provided by those interviews to inform risk assessments and plans. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress. Staff provide a nurturing and supportive environment that is supported through empathetic and trusted relationships. This, combined with a comprehensive understanding of the individual needs and histories of young people, contributes to improved outcomes for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people at the home have complex needs but make good progress from their starting points. One young person has made significant progress in reducing his risk- taking behaviour. This in turn has improved his opportunities and enabled him to continue to engage with education. Staff consistently offer a secure base to young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A social worker said: ‘He has had a really settled period and it feels like he has turned a corner. The home have worked really hard with him over the years.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work hard to develop positive working relationships with families. Staff are able to evidence how this progresses into more productive and beneficial contact arrangements for young people. Relationships between staff and family members are built over time and some families are grateful for this. A grandparent said: ‘Staff are great and are always up to date with things.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

An education professional and social worker both reported that staff ‘stick’ with young people. Young people who have previously not engaged with education are in educational programmes. Attendance is good and this has been sustained.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Key-workers and managers track young people’s progress on a weekly basis. Social workers receive weekly reports to update them about what young people have engaged with and their achievements. Communication with key agencies is very good.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Advocacy is available to young people. Staff work directly with young people in key-work sessions on a fairly regular basis. A recommendation is made regarding the management oversight of this work in terms of the quality and regularity of key-work sessions and how these are linked to behaviour management and care plans for young people.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff understand young people’s risk-taking behaviours. They work hard on developing trusting relationships to support young people to reduce the risk over time. Developing trusting relationships cannot be achieved immediately. Staff have demonstrated skill in Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 5 managing these relationships and their commitment to young people for sustained periods. This was supported by feedback from a number of stakeholders.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Staff provide the young people with a safe place to live. They have a good understanding of the young people’s needs and use clear, well-written risk assessments that support young people’s safety inside and outside of the home.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Missing from care procedures are well understood and implemented, and incidents of young people going missing from the home reduce over time. When such incidents do occur, staff are proactive in their response. A recommendation has been made in relation to using the information from missing from care return interviews to inform practice. It is also recommended that staff record when missing interviews are offered, declined or not completed by placing local authorities.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

The logging of incidents is thorough and comprehensive; however, improvements are needed in the tracking of incidents to better understand how young people make progress over a sustained period of time. An example of this is measuring the reduction in missing from care episodes.

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How well children and young people are helped and protected: good

Safeguarding incidents are responded to promptly and appropriately. Management decisions demonstrate that young people’s safety and well-being is always prioritised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has over 2 years’ experience in managing the service. She has a clear and positive vision for young people. She is passionate and committed to securing positive outcomes for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager works well with the other professionals involved with each young person. A worker from the child and adolescent mental health services said: ‘Staff at the home understand and have a good ethos. This comes from the registered manager. It’s a nurturing home and staff look out for the young people.’

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has worked hard to address the identified shortfalls from the last inspection and has met the recommendations made by the home’s independent visitor. She has made strides in recruitment and in attempts to stabilise the staff team. The manager recognises that the team is new and ensures that sufficient staff are used from another home within the organisation to support the development of the team at this time. A requirement is made in relation to ensuring that enough staff are trained in first aid to meet the needs of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff resources are deployed appropriately on the whole. There are not always staff available who are able to drive the company vehicle. This can affect contingency planning, such as if a young person does not return from free time as planned. A requirement is made to ensure that sufficient staff resources are available to allow for safe contingency planning. Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 6 Communication with other professionals is good and the home has received positive feedback. Professionals spoke positively about the home and the progress young people make. When complaints are received, the manager acts on them and takes them seriously. Staff competency procedures are followed where necessary, and appropriate action taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff supervision and team meetings are structured, take place regularly and are recorded well. Staff feel able to share their experiences and feel supported by managers and colleagues.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager seeks the support and input from other professionals. She is keen to ensure that young people receive the help they need in a timely manner. This was evidenced by the sourcing of specific child sexual exploitation training for the team.

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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: 1212708 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchant’s Place, River Road, Bolton, Lancashire BL2 1BX

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Inspector

Bev Allison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1212708 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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