Children's Home run by Pathway Care Solutions Ltd 04004053 in Nottinghamshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 1 Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Limited 04004053

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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 is registered to care for three young people who have emotional and behavioural difficulties. It is owned and managed by a private organisation.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/08/2017 Full Good 20/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 10/05/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 2

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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

Engaging with the wider system to ensure that children’s needs are met.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans.

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to the need for children’s plans, such as pathway plans and personal education plans, to be in place and up to date. The provider should also challenge the placing authority in relation to completing appropriate checks. 23/08/2018

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Recommendations

 When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30) Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, the progress made by young people is good, and there is some evidence of excellent progress for one young person.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff are passionate about offering a supportive and nurturing environment. They achieve this through supporting young people to form trusting relationships. This, combined with a comprehensive understanding of young people’s individual needs, contributes to good outcomes for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff stability and teamwork are key strengths of this home. A social worker said: ‘Staff have gone above and beyond their role to support the young person.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are consulted regularly and they are central to their plans. Key working sessions are taking place, but require greater planning and evaluation.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people are engaged positively in education. One young person has made exceptional progress in their educational attainment. Staff have supported another young person to maintain their educational provision during challenging times.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people are supported with family contact arrangements. In some cases, young people have been successfully supported in their planned return home. Staff have also supported young people when contact plans have not been successful. Staff have managed this sensitively, being mindful of the effect on young people’s emotional well- being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A key strength of the staff team is its resilience and capacity to offer secure placements to young people. A child and adolescent mental health worker said: ‘Staff have been able to implement a nurturing and stable environment.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Pathway plans and personal education plans were found to be out of date. It is acknowledged that it is not the responsibility of staff to complete these. However, it is their responsibility to be aware of these plans and challenge placing authorities if there is a failure to provide these plans. A requirement has been made to address this.

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

Young people are supported to reduce their risk-taking behaviours. Some young people are drawn into risk-taking behaviour through their association with peers. This is well understood by the staff team and staff work collaboratively with young people and with other professionals to try to reduce the risks associated with these connections. Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 4 A police community support officer said: ‘Staff jump through hoops here to keep young people safe. They have tried all sorts to keep young people engaged.’

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

Staff work with other agencies to implement behaviour management plans and reduce risk-taking behaviours. Staff understand the triggers for young people’s behaviour.

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

Relationships between peers in the home are positive with no evident risks. A system for rewards and consequences is utilised, but this is not always effective.

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

For some young people, incidents of being missing from the home have progressively increased. Staff understand and follow missing from home procedures. They ensure that they offer nurturing support to young people. Staff keep in regular contact with young people during periods of absence, and young people are supported to return home in a timely manner. However, return interviews are not monitored, and information from return interviews is not used to inform risk assessments and plans. A recommendation is made in respect of this.

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

One young person was staying away from the placement, but checks on the address that the young person was staying at had not been completed by the placing authority. This shortfall in safeguarding practice had not been escalated by staff. A requirement is made in relation to this.

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

Young people’s emotional health and well-being needs are well supported. There has been a reduction in self-harmful behaviours. For one young person, this progress has been exceptional.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager is a passionate, inspirational leader. She leads a stable staff team that is experienced and committed. Relationships in the home are positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has successfully worked to address the requirement and recommendations made at the previous inspection. The manager is well established in her role and continues to seek to develop the service and improve outcomes for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff have access to a good range of training, team meetings and supervision. Managers are accessible and available to staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Excellent teamwork and support networks are in place, and there is evidence of effective communication between team members. Most staff are qualified or working towards relevant qualifications. Staff turnover is low at this home, providing young people with stability and consistency.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Systems are in place to monitor progress and areas for development. This is evidenced in young people’s plans. This oversight and monitoring by the manager assist staff in Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 5 looking at potential triggers for young people’s behaviours.

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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: 1212117 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pathway Care Solutions Limited 04004053

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Merchant’s Place, River Road, Bolton, Lancashire BL2 1BX

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Inspector

Bev Allison, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1212117 7 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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