Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 1 SC064858 Registered provider: Salford City Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and learning difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home will provide a Police and Criminal Evidence bed for young people irrespective of gender, and aged from 10 to 17 years. Greater Manchester Police should provide staff with information regarding the nature of the offence committed, and any known risks, as outlined in the home‟s statement of purpose document.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2007.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 14 February 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 2 Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 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

11.—(1) 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

(a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (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

(i) meet each child‟s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child‟s relevant plans; (ii) help each child to develop socially aware behaviour.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the home should ensure that children are helped to understand the impact of their behaviour on themselves and on the safety and well-being of others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(a)(i)(ii)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

8.—(1) 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

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

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Requirement Due date

(iv) help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; (vi) maintain regular contact with each child‟s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child‟s education and training and to maximise the child‟s achievement; (viii) help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of 29/06/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 4 compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8(1) and (2)(a)(iv)(vi)(vii)) *12.—(1) 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

(a) that staff— (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; (ii) help each child to understand how to keep safe; (iv) manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare; and (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. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iv)(v)(b)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

13.—(1) 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 (b) promotes their welfare.

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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

(a) 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; (b) ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; (d) ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; (e) ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; (f) understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each 29/06/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 5 child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)(b)(d)(e)(f)(h)) 14.—(1) 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 (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 in the home‟s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

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)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”) has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(vii)(b)(i)(ii) and (c)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39(3)) 29/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

6.—(1) The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

(a) understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; (b) use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. (Regulation (6)(1)(a)(b)) 29/06/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 6 * This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home is a short-term reception unit, which admits children and young people in emergencies and times of crisis. Consequently, the home is not able to undertake an impact risk assessment prior to a new placement; this means that children and young people are not well matched. The provider recognises that some children and young people have been negatively influenced by the behaviour of others, and the welfare and safety of some children and young people has been compromised. This means that, from their initial starting points, children and young people are not making good progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Most children and young people struggle to maintain a good attendance at school or in their education provision. Children and young people are not in healthy routines of getting up for their education or eating at regular times of the day. As a result, their educational outcomes are poor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The behaviours of children and young people have meant that the home has not always been a calm, stable and nurturing environment. There have been incidents of challenging and disruptive behaviour, and staff have struggled to implement clear and consistent boundaries to respond to these. Staff have struggled to promote positive relationships, often due to the imbalance between groups of children and young people. At times this has led to a chaotic environment where children and young people have displayed violent and aggressive behaviour towards staff and each other.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have had some success in engaging children and young people in positive activities, including bike rides and a trip to Blackpool. However, most prefer to spend time away from the home with their friends. Staff encourage children and young people to contribute to the running of the home through house meetings. However, the regularity of these has been disrupted due to staff not managing the behaviour of children and young people effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children and young people have access to a range of health professionals. Staff support them to attend their health appointments. However, a number of children and young people continue to smoke cigarettes and smoke in their bedrooms. Some children and young people also misuse substances. This has a negative impact on their health, welfare and safety.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children and young people benefit from contact with their families, and staff are proactive in supporting them to maintain these important attachments. Parents are made welcome to the home. A parent said: „They [staff] are very good, they contact me every day, and we are working together… they speak to me if they have any concerns to see if I can help… he does like it here when he engages.‟ Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 7

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

It was not possible to speak to children and young people about their experience of living at the home during this inspection. However, they do not consistently receive safe care and protection.

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

Of significant concern, identified during this inspection, is that children often leave the home during the day and do not return home until late in the evening. Staff do not always know where they are going to or who they are with. When they are missing from care, children and young people engage in risky behaviours, such as substance misuse, which compromises their welfare and safety.

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

Records show that if children and young people fail to return on time, staff report them to the police within pre-set timeframes. However, this practice has been undermined at times, or is not sufficiently robust to demonstrate that the home always acts as a good parent. For example, on one occasion a child who had been reported missing called the home the following day to ask staff to bring them a bus pass. When staff arrived at the meeting point, the child was under the influence of an unknown substance. The staff member gave the child their bus pass and then returned to the home. There was no evidence to demonstrate that the member of staff had tried to encourage the child to return home with them. The actions of staff failed to safeguard the welfare and safety of the child.

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

In reviewing the bullying records, the inspector found that there had been 12 incidents of bullying. These included intimidation and sexualised bullying. There have also been incidents of children and young people barricading themselves in each other‟s bedrooms. During one incident, four children had barricaded themselves in a child‟s bedroom. Staff could hear one of the children crying, screaming and the sound of slaps on bare skin. Although the staff managed to gain entry to the bedroom, they were forced to leave for their own safety because all four children became aggressive towards them. The staff called the police and on-call manager. Although the police arrived some time later there was no support available from the on-call manager.

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

The child was left in the bedroom with the other children, while staff remained in the upstairs office. For a further two hours staff could hear noises coming from the child‟s bedroom, including slapping, cries for help and requests from the child for them to stop. There was no evidence of any action taken by the staff during the two hours to immediately manage the situation or minimise the risk to the child until the police arrived at 2.45am. This means that managers and staff failed to provide safe and effective care.

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

Although children‟s individual risk assessments identify known risks, the risk management strategies are ineffective in providing staff with clear guidance on how to manage and reduce risk-taking behaviours. This is an issue particularly in relation to children going missing, returning home under the influence of substances and bullying. This does not ensure that each child is safeguarded effectively. Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 8 Following significant incidents, managers fail to update and amend individual risk assessments to ensure that staff have clear strategies in place to support children and young people to reduce their risk-taking behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is managed by an experienced and suitably qualified manager. However, she acknowledged that the home has been through a very difficult time, and staff have been overwhelmed by managing crises in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home is not meeting the aims and objectives of its statement of purpose, to provide a nurturing environment where children and young people can feel safe, supported and respected.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home employs a sufficient number of staff to care for children and young people. However, managers are currently reviewing staffing, due to a number of staff being on long-term sick. Managers introduced another waking night staff member to help improve behaviour management and routines during the night, but this proved to be ineffective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are suitably qualified and receive regular supervision. However, more needs to be done through the development of the staff team, to help improve its competence in building strong and trusting relationships with children and young people, who often arrive at the home in crisis and disengaged.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager oversees the records and signs them. However, she fails to identify whether the measure imposed in the disciplinary records is effective or appropriate. Since the last inspection, there has been a complaint raised by a parent. The records of this are incomplete, and do not demonstrate that the complaint was thoroughly investigated, or whether the outcome was fed back to the complainant.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent visitor has recently raised their concerns about the quality of care in the home. The local authority is currently undertaking a full review of its residential services. During this inspection, managers were reviewing the home‟s development plan, but acknowledged that this is work in progress. The home is unable to demonstrate its capacity for continued improvement following the interim inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The one requirement and recommendations from the last inspection have not been addressed. Consequently, there are a number of requirements made as a result of this inspection.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC064858 9 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: SC064858 10

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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: SC064858 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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