Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Milton Keynes

Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 1 SC391379 Registered provider: Benjamin UK Ltd

p.1

Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is owned and run by a private organisation. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since December 2017.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2017

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 23/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 25/10/2016 Full Good 21/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8(2)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v))

p.3

Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that young people are ready for learning on time, including setting a routine for those not in education. 06/07/2018

p.3

Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans; help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 11(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v))

p.3

Requirement Due date

Specifically, implement sanctions which will assist children to 06/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 4 change and/or adapt their behaviour.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff 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; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm and take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. (Regulation 12(2)(a)(i)(vi))

p.4

Requirement Due date

Specifically, identify risk and include this in risk assessments; ensure that staff follow any plans put in place as a result of an identified risk. 06/07/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that 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(2)(d))

p.4

Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensuring that the kitchen and bathrooms are clean and maintained in a manner that reduces dirt and grime build up. 06/07/2018

p.4

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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h))

p.4

Requirement Due date

This relates to ensuring that all records and plans are clear and the most up-to-date version is readily available to all staff in the home. 06/07/2018

p.4

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that children are admitted to the 06/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 5 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(2)(a))

p.4

Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that pre-placement impact assessments are completed for all young people admitted to the home and that these identify how staff can meet their needs.

p.5

Recommendations

 Just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their 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. All decisions should be informed by a rigorous assessment of that individual child’s needs, be properly recorded and be kept under regular review. Information on restraint and deprivation of liberty is contained in the protection of children section of the Guide from paragraph 9.41. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10) This relates to the locking of internal doors.

p.5

improvement to be good

Children make some progress while living in the home. Staff endeavour to form positive relationships with often difficult-to-engage children. At the time of the inspection, two children were living at the home, although one was missing for the length of the inspection. This is not a new behaviour and staff have tried hard to engage the young person and reduce her missing episodes. One child has moved on from the home since the last inspection to a provision better able to meet her needs. Staff in the home managed her high-level needs to the best of their abilities for longer than anticipated, as identifying the next placement for her was a challenge.

p.5

improvement to be good

Pre-placement assessments are not robust. The most recent assessment is factual rather than evaluative, missing key training that staff may need and the key factor that the court has agreed that her liberty could be restricted by the home. This is not reflective of the statement of purpose or the needs of the other children living in the home.

p.5

improvement to be good

Staff seek to gain children’s views through key-work sessions and general discussion. Observations showed staff persisting in seeking what the child would like to do for the day and sharing several ideas with her, as well as responding to her other questions Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 6 during their discussion. There is little evidence currently of what has changed as a result of children’s suggestions, but key-work sessions are recorded in detail, with actions and follow-up.

p.5

improvement to be good

The children are enrolled at the in-house school or in a local school in the community. Attendance is poor and a lack of routine in the home does not ensure that children are ready for learning. The impact of poor routines is also felt during school holidays and weekends as late waking leads to potential disruption at night. Staff endeavour to engage children in stimulating activities and to develop their skills and interests, and where possible children can attend a short course or take a qualification linked with these interests via the home’s school.

p.6

improvement to be good

Children are safer living in the home than they were before moving to live there. Children’s actions and demeanour show that they feel safe and comfortable with staff they have formed relationships with. Staff are confident in their roles with regard to safeguarding and child protection. Concerns are recorded and reported to partner agencies as necessary. Some records held within the home are muddled, but the designated officer in the local authority confirms that they are confident with the home’s response to allegations of abuse or harm.

p.6

improvement to be good

Children do go missing from the home. Staff ensure that there is a coordinated response when children go missing. Specialist police officers visited the home during the inspection and protocols are improving. One child is missing regularly, often for days at a time. Staff remain in contact with her while she is missing. Discussions to understand why she is missing have failed to prevent or reduce her missing episodes. She has also had the opportunity to meet with a gang worker and has links with an independent missing support worker.

p.6

improvement to be good

Behaviour management is a developing area within the home. Staff follow the organisation’s use of tokens, which is successful for some children. The weekly presence of the therapy team in the home supports staff to consider other approaches to unwanted behaviour, and to understand what it may be communicating. The use of physical intervention is monitored sufficiently. Sanctions, although few, focus on paying for damage, rather than learning from causing the damage. The same sanction has been imposed for the same child three weeks in a row, and has had no impact, as it did not change the behaviour.

p.6

improvement to be good

The home is not risk-averse, allowing children the opportunity to take age-appropriate risks. Risk assessments often lack detail, or do not contain up-to-date information. For example, one missing-from-care plan has been updated, but the most recent plan is not obviously available for staff in the home.

p.6

improvement to be good

The home has been redecorated in many areas recently. However, the kitchen, toilet and bathroom are grimy and require a thorough clean. Children’s bedrooms are chaotic, Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 7 dirty and damaged. Staff are not cleaning and tidying these on a regular basis, which means that they are not pleasant places for children to spend time in.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the home has been without a consistent manager. Changes in the day-to-day running of the home, and to the senior management team, have left the home unstable. In addition, there have been new additions to the staff team, who have not necessarily had the best induction, supervision and support due to the lack of management direction. This has resulted in fragmented and inconsistent care for children, leading to their outcomes being less positive than they could be.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A new manager and deputy manager had been working in the home for approximately two weeks at the time of the inspection. They are keen and committed to improving the quality of care for young people, including embedding consistency and structure. They recognise that the staff team is currently forming and are seeking to provide a stable base for the staff team to grow and feel supported, in order to provide good care for children.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The responsible individual has recognised that she needs to have a greater input to the home, and has been developing stability strategies and new training packages for staff. Staff have benefited from increased training and guidance from the therapies team in order to better fully understand the home’s ethos and approach to care, and to improve their understanding of actions and behaviour, and the messages this is conveying. However, the training and strategies have not yet had sufficient time to fully embed into practice. In addition, the responsible individual has noted that in hindsight two young people were not suitably matched to the home.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The newly appointed manager and responsible individual are increasingly aware of the issues within the home and they have utilised the visitor, in line with regulation 44, who has drawn up a comprehensive action plan. The home’s manager is using this tool to prioritise the areas for development. Current improvements include a significant reduction in the use of agency staff. The statement of purpose has also been updated and is now clearer. Staff understanding of the therapeutic ethos is improving.

p.7

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the last full inspection, eight requirements and two recommendations were made. Of these, four requirements and two recommendations have not been met. These include a lack of routine; ineffective sanctions; gaps in risk assessments; impact assessments; the cleanliness of the home and internal locks being used. These will be repeated as requirements.

p.7

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 Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 8 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.

p.7

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: SC391379 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Church Farm House, Station Road, Aldbury, Tring HP23 5RS

p.9

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Deysel

p.9

Inspector

Jennie Christopher, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC391379 10 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.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.10