Children's home run by Exceptional Care Limited in Knowsley

Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 1 SC483070 Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home that is registered for four young people with complex needs arising from emotional trauma and the subsequent impact on behaviour. The home caters for three young people in the main part of the house and one young person in the basement annexe, which is designed to support young people who are preparing for independent living.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since October 2017.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 22 November 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2017 Full Good 17/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 21/09/2016 Full Outstanding 24/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 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— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 29/06/2018

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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 helps children aspire to fulfil their 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 29/06/2018

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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 on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes fact, opinion and third party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 4 must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) In particular, ensure that regular consultation takes place with family members

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Recommendations

and stakeholders as part of the external monitoring to improve and inform the quality of care provided. In addition, the author of the reports should include their opinion as to how well the home promotes the well-being and safety of young people.  Ensure that the employment practice when recruiting staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff have high aspirations for all of the young people in their care. Young people make pleasing progress in most areas of their lives due to the good quality of care that they receive. In particular, young people make progress in their education, health and development, relationships, contact and behaviour. Consequently, outcomes for young people improve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported to attend and engage in education regularly. When difficulties arise in education, the registered manager takes prompt action to address the issues to ensure that young people’s education is not disrupted. Consequently, young people generally make good progress in education.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The health and development needs of young people are well met. Thorough healthcare plans demonstrate that the registered manager and staff have a good understanding of the individual health and development needs of young people. Young people are encouraged to maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet and engage in various social and recreational activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff actively promote the relationships that young people have with their friends and family. Contact between the young people and their friends and family generally improves from when they first move into the home. For example, one young person now has regular contact with her parent, which has changed from being supervised to unsupervised. This has helped to significantly improve their relationship and enables them to spend safe, quality time together. Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 5 The planning for a young person who has recently moved into the home was good. The registered manager ensured that she obtained detailed information about the young person that helped her to assess if the home could meet the young person’s needs well. The young person has settled into the home well and said, ‘I love living here. The house is like a mansion and the manager and staff really help me.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home offers young people a warm and nurturing environment that feels like a family home, with photographs and personal items displayed around the home. Regular maintenance and improvements in décor help to ensure that it is a pleasant place for young people to live. Furthermore, young people have a say in the day-to-day running and the development of the home.

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

Young people feel safe and are kept safe. Safeguarding practice at the home is good. The registered manager and staff respond appropriately to safeguarding issues, and this helps to keep young people safe from harm.

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

When young people are missing from home, the registered manager and staff do their utmost to ensure their prompt and safe return home. The missing-from-home procedures ensure that young people receive an independent return home interview to allow them to talk about the reasons why they were missing and the risks that they may have been exposed to. Consequently, action can then be taken to help and protect young people.

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

Young people benefit from clear and consistent boundaries. The positive behaviour of young people is continually promoted and rewarded at the home. A restorative approach is taken to managing negative behaviour, which enables the young people to reflect on their behaviour and make positive changes.

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

The registered manager and staff use their professional judgement and knowledge of young people to decide if and when physical intervention should be used. Physical intervention is only ever used to keep a young person or others safe from harm. Young people are given the opportunity to discuss their views, wishes and feelings following the use of restraint. However, records do not demonstrate that the staff involved have been given a chance to discuss or reflect on the intervention. Consequently, the registered manager is not able to complete a thorough review of the intervention to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge.

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

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced to fulfil her role. She is a strong advocate for young people and is motivated and passionate about her work. However, during the past few months, the service has experienced five staff members leaving their employment at the home. The reasons for leaving varied, and included progression into new roles. As a result, the registered manager has been more involved Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 6 in the day-to-day running of the home. This has resulted in shortfalls in her managerial responsibilities.

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

Staff are given the opportunity to reflect on their practice and discuss the needs of individual young people during supervision. However, there have been some gaps in the frequency of the professional supervision of staff, including newly appointed staff. In addition, actions from supervision are not always clear or followed up at subsequent sessions. This does not enable the manager to support or monitor the professional development of staff. Although this has not yet had an adverse impact, it has the potential to do so if this continues.

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

Some mandatory training for staff has not been completed or is out of date. This does not ensure that all members of the staff team have the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the young people. However, arrangements are in place for outstanding training to be completed in the near future.

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

The home’s statement of purpose is up to date and clearly outlines how the home provides individualised care to meet the needs of the young people. However, a copy of the statement of purpose has not been sent to Ofsted in line with regulation.

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

Safer recruitment practice at the home is not robust. For example, not all references are verified prior to new staff working at the home, and the information obtained in relation to the education and employment histories of applicants does not identify if there have been any gaps to be explored as part of the recruitment process.

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

Monitoring and review systems at the home need to be strengthened. Management oversight and scrutiny of records have failed to identify shortfalls in recording and that some records are out of date. The independent monitoring of the home does not include regular consultation with stakeholders and family members. This does not enable the independent person to make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding, and promoting the welfare of the young people in the home’s care.

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

The registered manager is clear about the strengths and weaknesses of the home and the staff team and has plans to address these.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 7 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: SC483070 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Exceptional Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 147 Moss Delph Lane, Aughton, Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 5BH

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC483070 9 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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