Children's home run by Children Assisted in a Real Environment Ltd in Hammersmith and Fulham

Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 1 SC466378 Registered provider: Children Assisted in a Real Environment (care) 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

A limited company operates this children‘s home, providing care and accommodation for up to five children and young people who have learning disabilities. The registered manager also manages another home provided by this company.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: SC466378 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/07/2017 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/10/2016 Full Good 02/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 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 registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep under review and, as necessary, revise the home‘s child protection policies. (Regulation 34 (6)) 31/07/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (―the behaviour management policy‖) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children‘s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, whereappropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)) 30/06/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (―case records‖) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

if the child dies before attaining the age of 18, for 15 years from 31/07/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 4 the date of the child‘s death;

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Requirement Due date

in cases not falling within sub-paragraph (a), for 75 years from the child‘s date of birth;

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children‘s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and

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Requirement Due date

in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)) The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (―a quality of care review‖) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‘s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (―the quality of care review report‖).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5)) 30/06/2018 Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 5

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Recommendations

 Ensure a homely, domestic environment. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Specifically, consistently maintain the front and rear gardens and remove garden debris, weeds and nettles.  Ensure that the registered person checks that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 46, paragraph 9.36) In particular, the registered manager should sign behaviour management plans and risk assessments to evidence their scrutiny of these documents.  No more than half the staff on duty at any one time, by day or night at the home should be from an external agency. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 54, paragraph 10.17)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the

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Recommendations

workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: – detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home‘s Statement of Purpose; – detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications); – detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; – detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing

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Recommendations

training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home‘s manager. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. (‗Guide to the children‘s homes regulations including the quality standards‘, page 61, paragraph 13.1) In particular, make sure any gaps in employment are explored and that copies of references and a second proof of address are obtained for agency staff. Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are settled and secure in their routines in the home. Staff ensure that all children attend school regularly and complete homework. Children participate in the local community, for example by attending a youth club, getting to know staff in shops and by using public transport.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to be as independent as possible. For example, some really enjoy choosing menus then travelling with staff to the supermarket to buy the ingredients with the help of pictorial aids. All children learn to help clear away after meals and assist staff with laundry.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff prepare children living long-term in the home for short breaks back with their families. After a long time in the home, one child transitioned successfully to adult services, following careful preparation by staff. Children had the opportunity to mark this occasion with a party. Birthdays and religious/cultural events are celebrated and every encouragement given to enable children to practise their religion.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children benefit from healthy, home-cooked meals and can help staff prepare food. Children are encouraged to sit together to share meals and to show good manners. Some children are now eating a greater variety of foods, which benefits their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children move freely about the home. They have improved their ability to self-regulate their behaviour. Some may now take themselves to their bedroom or the sensory room to calm down. One child has learned to recognise the impact of their behaviour on others and can apologise for this. Another shows a significant reduction in episodes of challenging behaviour.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children‘s communication skills have improved. For example, one can say more words and another is using more signs. This helps them to better express themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There are a reasonable number of activities, including bowling, trips to the cinema and restaurants. There is some slippage in planning activities on shifts. Occasionally, activities are restricted because there are insufficient permanent staff to accompany the children and agency staff. Some children enjoy bouncing on the trampolines in the garden but, as they are usually barefoot, the garden needs to be free of nettles and garden debris.

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

Parents said they trust the staff to keep their children safe. One said their child is ‗always happy there‘. No children have gone missing, because staff have kept them safe at home and on trips out.

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

Staff promote fire safety well, with monthly drills involving the children. This helps Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 7 children learn how to respond in an emergency, while reducing their possible distress at the noise of the fire alarm.

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

Children enjoy good general health. They are encouraged to be physically active, to attend any medical appointments and to eat a healthy diet. Medication arrangements are sound.

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

Behaviour management is good. Staff set clear boundaries and praise children‘s positive behaviour. Staff have not used restraint in this inspection year. They try to understand what children may be trying to communicate through their behaviour.

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

Staff recruitment is generally sound. The manager verifies references and makes checks with the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) to ensure that people are suitable to work in the home. On one file, the manager had not explored two gaps in employment history nor obtained copies of some checks conducted by an agency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The manager is suitably qualified and manages this home and one other. She has also been involved in setting up a third service. Parents and social workers described effective communication with the manager and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The recent departure of the deputy manager and two long-term members of staff has affected the completion of management tasks. For example, there has been a decline in maintaining important records, and delays in supervising and appraising all staff. While staff recruitment is ongoing, agency staff are used. However, occasionally more than half the staff on shift are agency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff do receive training and induction. However, the registered manager has not yet compiled a workforce development plan, so it is difficult to have oversight of staff training and development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Monitoring reports by an independent visitor provide a good overview of the home. Recently, however, the registered manager has not met all recommendations made in these reports, which limits progression.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Monitoring by management is reasonable. However, there is no evidence of using feedback from children, parents and social workers, which limits its effectiveness. Also, the manager did not supply her last review of the service to the regulator as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

The registered manager met three requirements and one recommendation made at the last inspection, improving the service. There is partial compliance with two further recommendations. This is because some behaviour management plans remain unsigned and the condition of the front and rear gardens is not maintained.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Some policies are weak and do not reflect the positive practice of staff. For example, the policy on children going missing from care does not focus on the needs and Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 8 vulnerabilities of children who have learning disabilities. Therefore, staff do not have entirely relevant, clear written guidance.

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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: SC466378 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Children Assisted in a Real Environment (care) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 144 Old Oak Road, London W3 7HF

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Inspector

Jacqueline Graves, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‘s home: SC466378 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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