Children's Home run by Eastfield Group in Sefton

Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 1 SC064663 Registered provider: Eastfield Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This is a privately owned home which provides care and accommodation for up to six young people with emotional difficulties and who may also present with more challenging behaviour. There is currently no registered manager for this home.

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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 inadequate

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good

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

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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: SC064663 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/08/2017 Full Good 07/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 29/09/2016 Full Good 11/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 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 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

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of 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; and that staff help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment. (Regulation 8 (1) and (2)(a)(iv)(viii)(ix)) 30/07/2018

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

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) and (2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, repair the broken furniture and replace any carpets which have burn marks. 30/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

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 (2)(a)(b)) 30/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 4 Specifically, the statement of purpose must accurately reflect the conditions of registration and, when revised, a copy must be sent to Ofsted.

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if there is no registered manager in respect of the home. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)) 30/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that the individual is of integrity and good character, the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform and full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(3)(a)(b)(d)) 30/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child, which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child, are kept up to date and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/07/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of the home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (Regulation 21 (c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to any area of the home and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) In particular, ensure that internal downstairs doors are unlocked to allow young people free access to all communal areas of the home.  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the

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Recommendations

needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make good progress in their lives while living at the home. They grow in self-awareness and, over time, learn to manage their emotions and to develop positive and trusting relationships with others. Interactions between the staff and young people are warm and considerate, and observable attachments exist.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people benefit from good health, and there is a high level of support offered to them to ensure that their health needs are met.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people make good progress in their educational attainment. One young person is sitting his GCSE exams and is encouraged to attend after-school homework clubs for revision. An independent reviewing officer commented, ‘It has been extraordinary the support he has received from staff during and in preparation for his exams.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people are not in education or on a limited timetable, they do not engage in purposeful activity. The lack of education plans for individual young people means that the staff are not adequately promoting the importance of learning and education for all young people. This has the potential to impact on young people’s learning and future life chances.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people, for whom going missing from home was previously a feature of their lives, experience a significant drop in the frequency of these episodes. A young person commented, ‘I used to be a runner in my old home, but I like it here, so I don’t run.’ However, when young people do go missing, staff follow a robust protocol that includes searching for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The atmosphere in the home is very warm and calm and social interaction is friendly and fun. Young people enjoy a variety of activities such as football and membership at a local gym and rugby club. These opportunities to engage in activities improve their health and well-being, both physically and emotionally.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Consultation with young people is a strength of the service. Their input is sought in all aspects of the work undertaken. Young people said that they value this and feel listened to.

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

The young people living in the home were extremely complimentary about the home and how this had positively impacted on their lives. They reported feeling ‘very safe’ and ‘happy’.

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

Staff have a calming influence when young people become anxious or struggle to manage their behaviour. Behaviour management plans have useful de-escalation Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 6 strategies that support young people. Young people agree to the consequences given, which are all around minor issues. Consequences in response to negative behaviours are proportionate and not punitive. A young person commented, ‘It’s always fair. If we have been naughty, we should get a consequence.’ It was pleasing to see that the rewards for good behaviour outnumbered the consequences of negative behaviour.

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

Young people are fully supported to maintain contact with people who are important to them. Staff ensure that all contact arrangements reflect the young person’s care plan. Arrangements can be complex and staff are sensitive to this. Appropriate support is in place to ensure that contact is as safe and positive an experience as possible.

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

All medication is stored and recorded appropriately. Consent for medical treatment and first aid is in place for each young person. The interim manager has a robust auditing system in place for overseeing the safe administration of medication that ensures that young people receive their medication in line with the prescription.

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

The home environment requires improvement, for example carpets with burn marks need replacing as do some wardrobe doors. Internal doors in the home should be unlocked to allow young people free access to all areas of their home. The responsible individual acknowledged the areas requiring improvement and committed to undertaking urgent maintenance work.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers is judged as inadequate as there has been no registered manager for over 26 weeks. However, a new manager has been appointed and is in the process of submitting her application to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is evidence of collaborative working with other professionals and family members who are involved in each young person’s care to support positive outcomes for them. Overall, feedback from professionals and family members is positive, praising the management’s and staff’s commitment to the young people and the progress that they make.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff said that they feel valued and supported by the new manager and responsible individual. However, staff supervision records do not demonstrate that supervision takes place regularly or that staff are able to reflect on their practice and the needs of the young people in their care during supervision. However, young people’s needs are discussed as a team at monthly staff meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recruitment practice needs to be strengthened to make certain that only suitable staff work at the home. The responsible individual has failed to ensure that full and necessary information is available in respect of the matters required by regulation. For example, a reference was not received and verified until after a member of staff started working at the home and proof of address, photographic identification and evidence of qualifications have not been obtained for all new staff. Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 7 The home’s statement of purpose is regularly updated to reflect changes in staff and the individualised care provided to young people. However, updates have not been sent to Ofsted in line with regulation. Furthermore, some of the information included in the statement of purpose is inaccurate and outdated. Consequently, the regulator cannot be confident that the home has the capability to care for the young people who are living

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring and review systems at the home help to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home and the staff team. Action to address shortfalls and build on strengths is taken quickly. However, the management team agrees that young people’s records require further improvement to ensure that staff sign and date each record accordingly.

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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: SC064663 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Eastfield Group, 6B Ryeground House, 6D Ryeground Lane, Formby, Merseyside L37 7EQ

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Inspectors

Elaine Allison: social care inspector Lisa Mulcahy: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064663 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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