Children's home run by Castle Homes Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 1 SC489414 Registered provider: Castle Homes 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 a residential provision for up to four young people who have behavioural difficulties and complex associated difficulties. The children‟s home is run by a private organisation. The manager has the level 5 qualification diploma in leadership and management for residential childcare.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 July to 1 August 2018

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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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/07/2017 Full Good 02/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/09/2016 Full Good 08/12/2015 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 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

*12 The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)

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Requirement Due date

*13 The leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children‟s home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; 05/10/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 4 ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(b)(c)(e)(h)) *14 The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that arrangements are in place to— manage and review the placement of each child in the home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b), (2)(b)(ii)) 05/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

16. 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)) 05/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

*33 The registered person must— ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction; ensure that each permanent appointment of an employee is subject to the satisfactory completion of a period of probation; The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(1)(a)(b), (4)(b)) 05/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

40 If there is a referral of a person working in the home pursuant to section 35 (Regulated activity providers: duty to refer) of the Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006(a), the registered person must without delay notify— HMCI. (Regulation 40(3)(a)) 05/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

45(1) 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. (Regulation 45(1)) 05/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Significant concerns relating to the protection of children and the effectiveness of leaders and managers were identified at this inspection. Due to the serious nature of these concerns, Ofsted will issue a restriction of accommodation notice and four compliance notices.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Poor initial planning on moving children into the home and subsequent care planning have resulted in children having negative experiences of moving in or out of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Impact risk assessments fail to identify known risks from which to devise strategies to prevent harm to the child or other children living in the home. Information about children at the point of referral was not sufficiently considered by the manager when making decisions about whether to offer children a placement. One child was at high risk of child sexual exploitation and had a history of absconding. The manager failed to take into account that the home had already given notice on another child because the team could not safely manage similar risks. There was no review of the experience, training needs or ability of staff to manage children who present with a high risk of child sexual exploitation and absconding. The staff were unable to prevent the child from continuing to be at significant risk of harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The processes for children moving into the home do not ensure that the likely impact of children who already live in the home on the children moving in is effectively evaluated. One child presented a risk of physical harm to younger children. Despite being considerably younger than the children living in the home, and at risk due to their vulnerability, two children subsequently moved into the home. The potential risk was not identified when the children moved in and no strategies were put in place to protect them. Staff were unable to prevent one child from being physically assaulted and both children‟s emotional welfare being affected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

For another child, the risk of sexually inappropriate behaviour was not included in impact risk assessments or care plans. Consequently, no guidance or strategies were in place for staff to implement to ensure the child‟s or the other children‟s safety. An allegation was made against this child by a peer and concerns were raised about their relationship. No updates to risk assessments or care plans were made in recognition of the changing dynamic between these two children. This demonstrates further the manager‟s inability to recognise changing risks and to introduce appropriate strategies to address these.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff were already failing to keep children safe when another child moved into the home. They were unable to manage her relationship with her peers or to prevent her from absconding and putting herself at risk. Staff resorted to calling the police for support to manage the children. The risks escalated until police powers were used to prevent a child from returning to the home. The child‟s experience of living in the home was negative and her move from the home was traumatic. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 6 The decisions regarding two children being temporarily moved from the home to another of the organisation‟s homes were not child focused. Two children were moved to another home because staff were unable to protect them from being emotionally and physically harmed by the other child living in the home. This led to the two children, as the victims of bullying, moving out of their home. No consideration was

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

given, in either case, to alternative actions. Previously, another child was moved to another home „for respite‟, because staff were unable to prevent her being bullied by her peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Poor planning caused further disruption for the two children in terms of their return to the home. An allegation made by one child against a peer was not handled well enough. Planning was disjointed, and it resulted in confusion and disruption for the children. Such practice creates instability and fails to adequately include children in the plans for their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care plans, risk assessments and behaviour plans were not updated prior to the children moving to another home. The health and safety risk assessments were similar for both children and did not include the impact that the children may have on each other. Staff did not update children‟s care plans or individualised risk assessments on their return to this home. An allegation made was not included, neither, therefore, how this would be managed. Staff were not given information and guidance to keep the children safe.

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

Weak safeguarding practice and a lack of detailed care planning guidance undermine the ability of staff to manage children‟s behaviour safely. Consequently, staff were unable to minimise the risks to children and keep them safe.

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

During this inspection period, three children have been given notice to end their placements. One child had lived at the home for over a year, and another for over four years. One child regularly absconded overnight and was at high risk of child sexual exploitation. Records show that staff were unable to manage children‟s escalating behaviours, resulting in serious incidents.

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

Managers have failed to take decisive action to protect children. One child regularly absconded from her family home. However, staff were taking her there on demand. On two occasions, her behaviour was highly challenging directly prior to staff taking her to her family home. This undermined the child‟s safety plan. The registered manager could not evidence any agreement with the social worker or parent about these arrangements and practices. On one occasion, a child returned from being missing intoxicated, but no medical advice or support was sought. The inspector was told that this child was checked every half an hour during the night, but no records were provided to evidence that this had happened.

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

Managers have failed to respond to changing risks. Consequently, care plans and risk assessments lack accurate and up-to-date information. This compromises the ability of Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 7 staff to provide consistent care that protects children. Serious concerns about the dynamics within the relationship between two children have not been adequately assessed or reviewed to ensure that sufficient safety measures are in place. These children have not been supported or guided to manage their relationship with each other safely. An allegation made by one child against the other was not notified to Ofsted. This reduces the opportunity for external agencies to assess the risk to children.

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

Staff fail to recognise and respond to safeguarding concerns consistently or in a timely way. Some staff, including senior members of staff, failed on several occasions to report safeguarding incidents in line with the home‟s safeguarding policy and procedures. The delays in reporting safeguarding issues to the manager meant that she was unable to take decisive action to investigate and act upon these concerns. The manager did not act against staff who failed to report incidents. On one occasion, no formal investigation was conducted.

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

Staff cannot demonstrate a consistently high regard for the safety of the children. Failures in reporting and responding to safeguarding issues have compromised children‟s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has failed to address poor practices and inconsistent approaches by staff. This has affected the ability of staff to work as a team to provide adequate care to the children. Low morale and difficult staff relationships have impacted on the staff‟s ability to work as a team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Supervision records show that the manager did not have an adequate induction to support her in her role within the organisation. Poor planning meant that she did not have sufficient shadowing opportunities to enable her to learn about the processes that were in place prior to fully taking on the role of manager. In addition, she did not have a probation meeting or any formal recognition that she had passed her probation period. This poor induction practice has been repeated with a staff member seconded from the sister home. No formal induction record was produced for this staff member either, when requested by the inspector.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager told inspectors that she has had four supervision sessions since taking up her post in August 2017. Records of these supervision sessions are insufficient, and the most recent two sessions were not recorded at all. This is an unacceptable level of support for the manager, particularly during such a turbulent time in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring by leaders and managers is poor: it has failed to identify that staff have not followed the home‟s safeguarding policies and procedures. Records demonstrate that safeguarding topics are not regularly discussed in team meetings or staff supervisions. Staff‟s knowledge of how to protect children is not reviewed to identify any gaps in their knowledge. Some staff attended the organisation‟s own „arena of safety‟ training in May 2018, but no evaluation or evidence of the impact of this training was provided Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 8 to the inspector.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Two staff have not been trained in physical intervention methods, but there is no risk assessment to account for this gap and how it affects their ability to intervene, should the need arise. These staff have worked together on two occasions without the back up of trained staff being present. This increases the potential for children to be restrained by unsafe holds.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Neither the registered manager nor the deputy manager have received designated safeguarding lead training, although they are routinely on call to staff, who report safeguarding matters to them. This gap in the managers‟ knowledge has not been sufficiently considered by senior leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager stated that the electronic recording system is unreliable, difficult to use and that not all staff have been trained to use it. The manager attributes the poor auditing and reviewing of incidents that were found at the inspection to weaknesses in the recording system. Staff have resorted to recording incidents on paper records, which the manager is unable to access while working away from the home. This results in delays in the monitoring and review of these records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A high turnover of staff and the appointment of new staff at a time when children were in crisis increased children‟s difficulties and poor experiences. Since the last inspection, 11 staff members have left and 15 have been recruited. Some staff say that their induction has been put on hold. This means that these staff have not been sufficiently prepared for their role in caring for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Systems for monitoring the quality of care provided to children have failed to identify serious shortfalls in the standard of care. This is being addressed by the responsible individual and quality assurance team. The registered manager has not completed a quality of care report within the timescale. The statement of purpose has not been reviewed since July 2017, despite extensive changes to managers and staff. This document does not give an accurate account of the leadership and staffing at the home. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 9

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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: SC489414 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector:

Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC489414 11 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:

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

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