Children's home run by Leeds City Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 1 SC033638 Registered provider: Leeds City Council

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A local authority operates and runs this home. The home provides care for children and young people whose plan is for them to live in a medium-term to short-term setting. The staff help the children and young people to restore relationships with their families with the aim of moving back home. The registered manager is experienced and appropriately qualified. He has been registered since June 2017. He has been managing this home since June 2016.

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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 widespread failures that mean young people are not protected. The care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home has been subject to four compliance notices and a restriction of accommodation notice.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/08/2017 Full Good 20/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 25/10/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Not judged Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 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, the 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

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.

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Requirement Due date

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 15/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 4 (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b) and (d)) *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

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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d)(e) and (f)) 15/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

*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

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; 15/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 5 encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

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;

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help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful;

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help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;

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strive to gain each child’s respect and trust;

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understand how children’s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same;

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Requirement Due date

de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children;

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understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying and how to deal with them.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(ix) (x)(xi)(xii) and (xiii)) *The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s 15/07/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 6 home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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

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ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii) and (iii)) *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–

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational training and support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible.

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people have a poor experience when living in this home. The young people are subjected to physical and emotional harm. They live in an unpredictable environment where the young people’s behaviour quickly escalates. This results in violent and chaotic Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 7 episodes that the staff cannot control.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people pose significant risk to each other. The matching of the young people’s individual needs and risks is overlooked. Assessments are not always undertaken prior to the admission of new young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

School attendance for the young people is poor. This is likely to affect their employment opportunities in later life. The staff make efforts to promote school attendance, but are not always successful.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people are encouraged to use their free time positively. Some of the young people attend local groups such as sea scouts and the local youth club. The young people also enjoy spending time biking and at the skate park.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young people maintain their sense of identity because contact with families is promoted.

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

The young people live in a hazardous environment where they could hurt themselves or others with debris. At the time of inspection, the garden was scattered with shards of glass, plastic and metal poles. There are five broken windows which remain boarded up. When damage is caused to the home, debris is not quickly cleaned up and damage is not swiftly repaired. During a recent incident of challenging behaviour, severe damage was caused to the conservatory roof. The roof has holes in where water could enter the building. Immediate action was not taken to secure this area from the young people. The area was secured during this inspection.

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

The young people are at ongoing risk of harm because safeguarding procedures are not followed when the young people sustain injuries.

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

The staff do not know how to manage risk effectively. The risk assessments do not reflect prevalent risks that the young people present. The risk assessments do not reflect the actual level of risk to individuals. Consequently, action is not always taken to prevent risks from reoccurring, for example the use of ligatures and risk posed by young people climbing onto the conservatory roof or onto the shed.

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

The young people and the staff are at risk of harm when incidents of challenging behaviour quickly become out of control. As a result, the young people do not always feel safe. Challenging behaviour is not managed effectively, resulting in the emergency services being called to assist.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The management team is unable to identify weaknesses and address issues as they Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 8 arise. The managers’ oversight of this service is hindered due to the fact that they spend large amounts of time helping staff to manage behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The young people’s experience of care is poor. The managers are not consistently instilling high expectations of staff practice. Aspirations for and expectations of the young people are low.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Effective action is not taken quickly by managers to follow through concerns to safeguard the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff do not have the skills and knowledge to support the young people’s complex needs. They are not always provided with training which meets the young people’s specific needs. For example, the staff have not completed training around self-harm when there are known risks regarding this in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff feel well supported by the managers and they receive regular supervision.

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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: SC033638 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 40 Great George Street, Leeds LS1 3DL

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Inspector

Jamie Richardson: social care inspector Rachel Holden: Her Majesty’s Inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC033638 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.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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