Children's Home run by Your Chapter Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 1 Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited

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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 privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was appointed to manage the home in June 2018 and has applied to Ofsted for registration.

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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

Date of last inspection: 20 February 2018

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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

20/02/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 2

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that any limitation placed on a child’s privacy or access to any area of the home’s premises is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 31/08/2018

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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— (a) Helps children aspire to fulfil their full potential; In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; understand the impact that quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and to use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (2)(c)(f)(h) In particular, that staff access training in a timely manner, that managerial investigations are fully recorded and that monitoring systems ensure comprehensive recording by staff.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs; 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 31/08/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 3 authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (b)(c))

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s life chances are improved through living at this home. Staff work hard at establishing healthy routines and boundaries that underpin all aspects of young people’s lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

From starting points of poor or non-school attendance, all young people attend every day and meaningfully engage with their education. Their learning is encouraged, supported and complemented through staff actively promoting their interests and hobbies.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Alongside the fun leisure activities that staff promote, young people’s individual talents are fully encouraged. For example, one young person writes lyrics and is given regular opportunities to record these in a studio.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people value the time that staff offer them. Over time, young people learn to manage their negative emotions in more acceptable ways and accept the boundaries and routines that promote their development.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people benefit from the support that staff offer to ensure that contact with their families is nurtured. As a result, young people learn to negotiate relationships in a more positive way and contact time and frequency increase. This supports their sense of identity and long-term care plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is frequent and detailed sharing of information from the staff with other professionals. Through this, care remains relevant and individualised for young people. However, the staff have not always followed up referrals to external agencies in a timely manner. This has led to a delay for one young person in receiving support from the drug and alcohol services.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home, overall, is relatively well maintained. However, there are areas in the home that detract from an otherwise homely feel, such as some carpets being noticeably stained. Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 4

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

The risks that young people face from drug misuse, incidents of going missing from home and criminalisation significantly reduce through living at the home. From their starting points, all young people make progress that is underpinned by the clear and consistent boundaries that staff maintain.

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

Staff are supportive towards young people; adults spend time talking to young people and encourage self-reflection. There is effective use of a mentoring service, which offers young people time to discuss pertinent issues such as drug use, knife crime and gang- related activities.

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

Since the last inspection, there has been a particular emphasis by staff on managing incidents of bullying. This has had a positive influence on young people’s behaviour towards each other and incidents of bullying have significantly reduced.

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

Incidents of going missing from home by young people are infrequent and for short periods of time. When incidents do occur, staff are active in following, searching for and locating young people.

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

It has been the practice of the staff to lock some downstairs rooms at night to ensure the safety of young people. These practices, however, have not benefited from clear risk assessments; nor have they been subject to managerial review. As a result, it is not clear whether this practice continues to be necessary or relevant to young people’s safety and unnecessarily restrictive in nature.

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

The manager was appointed to manage the home in June 2018 and has applied to Ofsted for registration.

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

She leads an enthusiastic and committed staff team. The staff are appropriately supported by her and supervision is both frequent and set at levels commensurate with their experience and needs. Although there are comprehensive training opportunities for staff, these are not always accessed in a timely manner. This reduces staff skills and knowledge base.

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

There are suitable systems in place that monitor and track young people’s progress. These systems are multidisciplinary in nature and cover all aspects of young people’s care. The manager uses this monitoring effectively and it is enhanced by her own relationships with young people. As a result, she fully understands the group’s individual needs and the progress they make.

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

The recommendations and requirements made at the last inspection have been met. As a result, there has been focused work with young people with regards to their relationships with each other. Consequently, incidents of bullying have reduced, and young people are fully supported to better resolve differences. Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 5 The manager has not always followed up the lack of detail in some staff’s incident recording. The recording shortfall reduces the level of insight into incidents by senior staff and limits the detail available for future reference.

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

Although incidents of a serious nature have been appropriately investigated, some of these incidents have not been notified to Ofsted. This limits the regulatory body’s oversight of the home. In addition, managerial review of investigations is poorly recorded and opportunities for learning have been missed.

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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: 1257739 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Care 4 Children, 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspector

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1257739 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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