Children's home run by Altum Residential Care Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 1 Registered provider: Altum Residential 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

This home is registered to provide care for three children and young people. It is managed by a private company.

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Information about this children’s home

The home accommodates girls who may have complex psychological needs and present with associated behaviours such as self-harm. The service is also designed for children and young people who may be at risk of, or have been victims of, child sexual exploitation and self-harm issues.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since 1 September 2017. Although a number of managers have been employed, the registered person has failed to employ a suitable registered manager.

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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/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 6 December 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 2 Since the last inspection, two compliance notices have been issued in relation to care planning and leadership and management. A restriction of accommodation notice was imposed in February 2018 and lifted in May 2018.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/12/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 03/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that 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

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 30/09/2018

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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 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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This is with particular reference to ensuring that monitoring systems, including the monthly visits carried out by the independent visitor, are effective in identifying shortfalls and addressing these shortfalls. 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are 30/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 4 protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure ─

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Requirement Due date

that staff 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

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

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s 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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Requirement Due date

that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed;

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Requirement Due date

that the child’s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child’s relevant plans is requested, if—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child’s needs.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(a)(c)(e)(i)) 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

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— that staff— 30/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 5 help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;

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Requirement Due date

maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement;

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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 and training 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

(Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi)(viii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)(b)) 01/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if ─

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 01/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people’s needs are not being met. Young people are not adequately safeguarded, their progress is poor and their opportunities to reach their full potential are very limited. This can be attributed to the high turnover of managers and staff, ineffective leadership and management and poor matching of young people’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Admission processes are not managed well. The referral compatibility/impact risk assessments are not fully completed. Consideration is not given to the needs and behaviours of existing young people living at the home and the impact that all young people’s behaviours may have on each other. Consequently, more vulnerable young people are influenced into negative and risk-taking behaviours by their peers. Additionally, the manager has failed to obtain key documents as part of the admission process in a timely manner or, in some cases, at all. This means that care plans and risk assessments are not adequately informed about all young people’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care plans and risk assessments do not always give clear guidance on how to work with young people. For example, at the point of admission for one young person, managers believed that the young person was subject to deprivation of liberty safeguards. Staff had devised a care plan and risk assessment but there was a lack of clarity relating to the order and what it meant in practice. Following enquiries made during the inspection, it transpired that this young person was not subject to deprivation of liberty safeguards. This further demonstrates poor admission processes and the failure to ask appropriate questions to enable effective risk management. Risk assessments are not always updated when there is an incident or a change in a young person’s needs. This does not ensure that staff are working in line with current identified needs and risks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

From the commencement of their placements, young people have not had access to education provision. No education provision has been secured for the start of the new academic year in September. Young people have not been provided with a meaningful and structured education timetable by the home from the point of admission until the end of this school year. This means that they have lost opportunities to catch up on their education and reach their full potential.

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

Young people are not adequately safeguarded. Young people have complex needs and display high risk-taking behaviours. Some young people’s negative behaviours have been influenced by their peers. The staff team is struggling to keep young people safe, which can be partly attributed to the lack of relevant experience of the staff and poor management oversight. At least half of the staff team does not have experience of working with young people who have such complex needs.

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

Some young people are not making progress in changing their risk-taking behaviour. Managers do not provide clear direction to staff to help young people learn how to keep Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 7 themselves safe. Incidents are not effectively reviewed by managers, which does not inform future strategies. Managers have failed to be proactive in making arrangements with professionals to convene meetings to discuss and agree safeguarding strategies, in particular for those young people who self-harm. As a result, some young people have been harmed by their behaviours and are not being safeguarded.

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

Risk assessments are not always updated when there is a change in young people’s behaviours and/or there have been incidents where young people have come to harm. Key-work sessions do not always prioritise safety issues. For example, none of the key- work sessions for a young person who is engaging in self-injurious behaviour have addressed this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management in the home are weak. The home has been without a registered manager since the beginning of September 2017. There have been three managers since this time and none of them has successfully registered with Ofsted. This high turnover of managers does not provide consistent, clear leadership and direction. The new model of care introduced earlier this year has not had a positive impact on the care provided to children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers do not always prioritise young people’s needs. For example, young people who were admitted to the home at the end of May 2018 and beginning of June 2018 have not received any formal education. Managers have failed to adequately challenge relevant professionals in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management monitoring is ineffective. Shortfalls are not always identified in a timely manner, or identified at all. This does not ensure that young people receive the care and support that they need based on their current needs. Consequently, young people are not adequately safeguarded. Additionally, some records have conflicting information, which makes it difficult to ascertain a true and accurate picture of what is happening. For example, details of staff supervision in the monthly audit carried out by the responsible individual in June 2018 do not correspond with the staff supervision matrix completed by the manager. This makes it difficult to accurately assess if and when staff are receiving supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are not adequately supported by managers. They do not always receive supervision as detailed in the home’s statement of purpose. New staff are not receiving fortnightly supervision during their probationary period. This means that their performance is not being monitored by managers and that they do not have sufficient opportunities to discuss any difficulties they may be facing. This is particularly important given that many of the staff have not worked with children and young people before or in a residential setting.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

High staff turnover means that young people do not receive continuity of care from a consistent staff team. As a result, young people are cared for by staff they do not know and who do not know them. Young people do not have the opportunity to build trusting Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 8 relationships with staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has a detailed statement of purpose. Amended copies are not always sent to Ofsted in a timely manner as required. This inspection identified that practice is not in line with the statement of purpose. For example, shortfalls were identified in relation to the provision of education for young people, admission practices and staff supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Ofsted has not been notified regarding serious incidents affecting young people’s safety. This does not help Ofsted to monitor whether young people are being appropriately cared for and safeguarded.

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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: 1241656 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Altum Residential Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Altum Residential Care Ltd, 550 Valley Road, Nottingham NG5 1JJ

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Inspector:

Katarina Djordjevic, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1241656 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:

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

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