Children's home run by PIC Children’s Services in St. Helens

Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 1 SC022437 Registered provider: PIC Children‟s Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children‟s home is run by an independent company that has a number of children‟s homes. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to two children and young people who have experienced adverse childhood experiences which have led to associated trauma and complex behaviours. The home offers short-, medium- and long- term placements for children and young people. It prepares children and young people for the next step in their lives, whether it is a return home, a move to another placement or the transition to independence.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered since 2014.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

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

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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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.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/06/2017 Full Good 29/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 22/11/2016 Full Good 30/12/2015 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe – in particular that staff

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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 harm to the child

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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. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(i)(iv)(v) 08/09/2018

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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-

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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 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(h)) 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children‟s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. (Regulation 23(1), (2)(c)) 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(b)) 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child 30/09/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 4 in the home a record is made which includes –

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”) has spoken to the user about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iv)(vii)(b)(i)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, monitor the effectiveness of any sanctions made to help the young person to understand and learn from their behaviour. The registered person must ensure that the independent person produces a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person‟s opinion as to whether children are effectively safeguarded and the conduct of the home promotes children‟s welfare.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person‟s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person‟s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b), (5), (7)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the reports are received within the specified timeframe and that the registered manager challenges any inaccuracies in the report. 30/09/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff are familiar with the home‟s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. Staff should record information in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes fact, opinion and third party information. Information must always be recorded in a way that is helpful to the child. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, ensure that the records in relation to missing from home, sanctions, medication and decisions made in relation to restrictions implemented to safeguard the young person are recorded in such a way so as to be helpful to the young person.

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Inspection judgements

Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 5

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improvement to be good

The young person has experienced some inconsistency in staffing over recent months. He has built positive relationships with some staff. However, he says that some staff do not explain things well and he does not always understand why decisions have been made about his care. The manager has spent time with the young person explaining things, and the young person feels that communication has improved recently.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to access and attend education. This support has resulted in a positive outcome for the current young person, as it has enabled him to plan to attend college or to take up an apprenticeship at the start of the academic year. The staff ensure that there is access to a computer. However, this is the home‟s computer and contains confidential information that can be accessed by anyone using it. This arrangement compromises the safe storage of records.

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improvement to be good

There are good systems in place to prepare young people for independent living. These include completing bronze, silver and gold workbooks to support the young person‟s learning. This approach includes learning practical skills, such as budgeting, shopping and preparing meals.

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improvement to be good

The current young person has been fully consulted about his healthcare needs and is registered with a doctor, dentist and optician. However, he has refused to attend medical appointments that have been made for him. Staff have completed key-working sessions about the importance of attending appointments and continue to offer support to enable him to make better decisions about his health and lifestyle. For example, this has meant that he now has a greater understanding and awareness of the impact that smoking cannabis can have on his future.

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improvement to be good

Some friendship groups of the young person have impacted on his making of positive choices. Incidents when several friends have been in the house have involved increased displays of negative behaviour. Consequently, a restriction has been imposed on which friends he can have to visit. However, there is no clear guidance for staff or the young person on how long this restriction is for. The young person is keen to understand the rationale behind the restriction and when it might be lifted.

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improvement to be good

The manager holds a weekly meeting with the young person to discuss his future plans and any concerns that he may have. However, his comments and contributions to his records at these meetings are added only retrospectively, not at the time. This does not adequately demonstrate that the young person‟s views are accurately portrayed.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of family contact arrangements and support the young person to attend these. However, where there are restrictions on contact with friends, these are not fully understood by staff or the young person.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 6 Risk management strategies in the home are not always effective. This is because some staff are unclear about the current approaches to follow or the agreements that are in place to manage individual risks. The staff regularly defer to the manager for advice and guidance, which may not only delay the response provided to the young person but prove frustrating to the manager when staff do not follow the agreements.

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improvement to be good

The young person has had a high number of incidents of missing from this home and previous homes where he has lived. When there have been incidents of the young person being missing from the home, staff follow the missing from home protocol. They work in partnership with other agencies tasked with safeguarding young people, including the police and the local authority. As a result, missing from home incidents have decreased. However, the information regarding these incidents is not always adequately captured by staff, for example by recording the times and date of incidents. This has not been identified in the manager‟s monitoring of the records.

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improvement to be good

Staff are aware of the risks associated with substance misuse and offer support and guidance to the young person. Additional external support from specialist agencies has been sought, but the young person has not wished to engage with them. The manager is seeking further training from these agencies to equip the staff with the necessary knowledge to work with the young person in key-working sessions.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management strategies are in place to help the young person to manage his behaviours. However, these are not always effective. For example, records of sanctions made do not contain all relevant details and fail to evaluate the impact that they are having on supporting the young person to reflect on and address his behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Further improvement is required in relation to the health and safety practices in the home. There are some inaccuracies in the records relating to medication. For example, the quantity of medication has not been accurately recorded. Records are confusing and do not demonstrate how the medication is administered safely to the young person. Records of accidents are unclear and are not robustly monitored. The young person has returned to the home on several occasions with cuts and abrasions when he has been out with friends. He does not tell staff how they have happened. The lack of clear recording means that the staff are unable to identify any patterns or trends when he is returning with minor injuries.

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

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced. He has been a registered manager since 2014 of two single-bedded homes that are in close proximity. The home has a deputy manager and a core staff team. However, staff from other homes in the organisation have been required to work at the home to cover some shortfalls in staffing. Some of these staff do not fully understand the individual care needs, risks and the strategies in relation to the young person. This impacts on the consistency of support and care provided.

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

The manager has implemented monitoring systems, although these have yet to be fully Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 7 embedded. The manager works as part of the care team, and this impacts on the hours that are dedicated to the management and monitoring of the home.

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

The external monitoring of the home, conducted by an independent visitor, is not sufficiently robust. This is because reports are not sent to Ofsted in the required timeframe. For example, the report for November 2017 was not received until March 2018 and the most recent report received covered the period from February to April 2018. Three-monthly reports do not meet the requirements of the regulations, as they do not enable the regulator to have oversight of the home.

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

Staff have not received regular supervision in recent months. The lack of regular supervision does not enable staff to reflect on their practice and identify any further training that they need to support their continued professional development. Some staff do not have up-to-date training in safeguarding, including domestic violence and sexualised behaviours. This does not demonstrate that they have the current knowledge and skills to support young people in these areas of safeguarding adequately. The manager is requesting some additional training for staff and is sourcing training from external agencies to enhance staff‟s skills and knowledge base.

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

The quality of the records maintained in the home varies significantly. Some records are difficult to read and do not demonstrate the progress or experience of the young person.

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

The requirements and recommendations made at the last inspection have not been met. The previous requirements have been repeated as a result of this inspection, and the recommendations have been raised to requirements. The manager was made aware of the shortfalls at the inspection and is required to implement a clear action plan to demonstrate how they will be addressed. Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 8

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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 difference 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: SC022437 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: PIC Children‟s Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 North Street, Haydock, St Helens, Merseyside WA11 0TW

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Inspectors

Sarah Oldham, social care inspector Michelle Edge, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC022437 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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