Children's home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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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 home caters for up to four children who have experienced disrupted development and multiple placement moves. There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

In November 2017, the home closed. The children, managers and staff who were at the home at the time transferred to a newly registered home. This children’s home reopened at the end of March 2018 with a change of purpose, new manager and new staff. In this home, the staff are referred to as adults rather than staff. The report therefore uses ‘adults’ instead of ‘staff’.

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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: 23 February 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not judged

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/02/2018 Interim Not judged 24/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 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 care planning standard is that children— (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. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (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),2(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that written impact assessments cover the potential impact of each child on each other. The registered person must also assess whether the services and staff in place need any additional support or training in order to care for the proposed child. 06/07/2018

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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— (a) helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and (b) promotes their welfare. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— (h) use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that their monitoring processes consistently identify and rectify any errors or concerns about care plans and records that adults make. 06/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 4 The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— (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. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to — (iv) provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation (6(1)(2)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that records consistently provide full detail of the care and support provided. The registered person must also ensure that the range of plans in place for each child cross reference appropriately to each other. 06/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that— (c) 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(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that the staff speak to a child about the restraint and that this is recorded. 06/07/2018

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Adults have a strong focus on meeting children’s needs. They help children to make better choices, understand what good behaviour is and think about what helps them to progress. Reward systems positively support children to have goals and feel valued. The adults think about what motivates and interests a child and use this information to plan rewards. Good plans to help children maintain contact with their families and friends are in place, and adults work to develop positive relationships with children’s families and friends. Children feel able to express their opinions and make complaints, which the adults respond to appropriately.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Good health is promoted well. The adults act quickly to ensure that children’s health needs are attended to and work well with others to understand individual children’s health needs. Creative consideration is given to how to encourage children to engage with therapeutic services that meet their needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Education attendance and engagement are given a high priority. Barriers to education are identified and reduced. Local authorities receive good information to help them make Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 5 appropriate decisions about which school will meet a particular child’s needs. The adults assess how well children can look after themselves and help children build the skills they need for their futures, including their independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The adults encourage children to enjoy life and take part in childhood pastimes, such as going crabbing on a beach and making daisy chains, and they support children to be involved in the local community. Each child has a memory book which they receive when they arrive, which is used to record the story of their life at this home. A monthly letter to each child tells them about their successes and difficulties so that they are better able to understand their progress and current challenges.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A warm welcome supports children to move into the home successfully. Impact assessments completed before a child moves in do not, however, adequately cover all the necessary areas. The assessments do not record how one child’s needs may impact on another or how some needs a child has will be met. For example, the assessments do not consider whether any additional training for the adults is required.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of planning and recording children’s care and support is variable. Records made in one planning document are not clearly referenced in another plan. Internal meetings held to review children’s needs do not highlight and plan for any additional needs that a child has.

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

Children’s safety and protection are promoted well. The adults know the internal and external referral procedures they should follow. Their induction provides a strong foundation for learning about safeguarding, which newly appointed adults said is helpful.

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

Ongoing safeguarding training and discussions ensure that the adults are aware of current and emerging safeguarding issues such as child sexual exploitation. There are clear policies about internet safety and agreements with children about internet use, which the adults monitor appropriately.

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

Health and safety issues are swiftly identified and rectified. The manager has identified shortfalls in the fire risk assessment that was completed on the organisation’s behalf, and is discussing this with the company concerned, in order to address the deficits she identified.

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

Children have not gone missing since the home re-opened in March 2018. One child has tried to leave the home without permission twice. The adults responded appropriately and discussed what happened with the child after each event.

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

Relevant risk assessments are in place and are updated as necessary. Some risk assessments lack detail of the actions the adults should take to reduce risk. While the adults can say what action they should take in response to risks, new adults may not know what to do if appropriate written guidance is not available.

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

Restraint is used sparingly and the adults seek specialist advice when necessary. The adults, however, do not always speak to a child after a restraint to check how the child feels and Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 6 whether they need medical attention. This action is necessary to ensure that a child’s views, health and feelings are considered. A record of adults being debriefed after a restraint is also not consistently made. Therefore, it is more challenging to change guidance to reflect any learning from previous restraints and provide a full account of all actions taken.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The current manager has been in post since late November 2017. The manager is completing a relevant qualification and she has made an application to register with Ofsted. The manager is developing the home in line with its new statement of purpose. The adults were positive about how the home is being managed, and two new members of the team have chosen to work here after being bank workers for the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

An up-to-date development plan covers a range of appropriate areas. The manager regularly updates the plan and has identified some areas of improvement outlined in this report, such as the quality of planning and recording of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Training and induction are well organised and have a positive effect on the adults’ care of the children. Adults undertake regular training and immediately commence an appropriate residential childcare qualification when they start working for the organisation. Adults who have recently joined the team have a good understanding of the ethos of the home and how they are expected to approach children’s care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular supervision provides adults with time to learn about caring for children and reflect on their practice. There is readily available support from a therapeutic support manager who assists the adults to develop effective ways of interacting with particular children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There is a positive ethos of working with other professionals. Adults are willing to consider with local authorities how they can manage situations better. The managers engage with local authorities after difficult situations in order to learn from what has occurred.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Despite its best efforts, the organisation was unsuccessful in creating a full, permanent team of adults to care for the children prior to the home opening in March. Contingency plans were put into place, and sufficient and experienced adults were available to care for the children. However, this initially delayed the adults’ ability to develop a team culture and consistency of practice. Managers took appropriate action, fewer numbers of adults were deployed to work with the children and consistency of care improved. The home will shortly be fully staffed, and the managers do not intend to admit another child until then.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The managers recognise that the area where the home is located means they have to think creatively about how to promote positive self-images for some young people. The adults do consider children’s identity within their day-to-day care, but care plans do not consistently guide adults about how to promote positive identities for the children who live here.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The organisation has a wide range of checks and balances to monitor practice, which identify and rectify issues quickly. Monthly visit reports identify shortfalls, but there is a missed opportunity to provide good-quality analysis, which would assist the organisation to identify Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 7 learning from the issues 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: 1252937 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Off Squirrel Way, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Inspector

Ruth Coler, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1252937 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 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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