Children's Home run by S P Homes Limited in Lambeth

Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 1 SC065535 Registered provider: S P Homes 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 privately run children’s home caters for up to six young people who have emotional or social difficulties. There is an acting manager in post who is not yet registered.

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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

08/08/2017 Full Good 16/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 13/07/2016 Full Good 02/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 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

Ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each young person;

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Requirement Due date

and that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each young person. Regulation 13 (2)(c)(d)) 08/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. Regulation 33 (1)(a)) 08/10/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure that each young person is provided with support to communicate their views, wishes and feelings, and participate as fully as possible in all aspects of their care planning and daily care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.6) This particularly relates to involving young people in weekly shopping, fire drills and their risk assessments.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive a good standard of personalised care, based on their needs and preferences. Young people who have lived in the home for some time are making solid progress, in spite of the negative impact of a large number of key staff leaving unexpectedly. New staff are focused on building new relationships, and most young people like this and are willing to engage. Most young people are making clear progress in improving their emotional and social well-being. They are generally happy and more confident, and have trusting relationships with their carers. Progress in other areas, such as education and health, is more mixed, with some young people making good progress and others staying much Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 3 the same. On an individual level, young people’s views are listened to and taken seriously. For example, decisions about activities are very much led by young people. However, there

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

is scope to involve some young people more in the daily life of the home, for example in health and safety checks and weekly shopping. Staff prioritise spending time with young people on a daily basis. This may be going out with them to planned events or relaxing at home listening to music or playing table tennis together. Young people clearly value and benefit from this shared time. The transition of staff moving from one staff team to another was well managed. Considerable thought and care were given to the possible adverse impact on young people, and this successfully minimised emotional distress. Young people are encouraged to practise the skills required for them to live independently. For example, all young people have a weekly chore of keeping their bedrooms clean, most young people do their own washing, and some will shop for and cook their own basic meals.

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

Each young person has individualised risk assessments that reflect their particular behaviours. These are routinely updated and provide staff with a sound basis for their work with young people. Young people generally feel very safe in this home. If there is something that threatens their feelings of well-being, staff take appropriate action to resolve this and actively support young people to restore harmony. There is zero tolerance in the home of any level of bullying. Staff have an appropriately robust response to any young people who go missing from the home. They do their best to engage with the young person, usually by repeated texting or telephone calls, they inform appropriate agencies and they contact the young person’s family and friends. These individualised strategies are showing early signs of a positive impact in that some young people are now keeping in touch much more, while others are missing for shorter periods of time and less frequently.

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

The home has good working relationships with the police. The police have briefed all staff on missing from care protocols and given them some insight into the risks for young people of gangs and child sexual exploitation. This useful local knowledge has been supplemented by staff’s recent safeguarding training. Staff are now equipped to be aware of, and respond appropriately to, such risks. The home very rarely uses restraint, although most staff are trained in its use and are aware of the restricted circumstances under which it can be used. Generally, staff use de-escalation techniques effectively, such as simply waiting for the young person to calm down before trying to resolve the issue. Staff are beginning to consistently use incentives to reward desired behaviours, but this is still at an early stage so its effectiveness is yet to be proved. Allegations of harm to young people are dealt with well. The appropriate agencies are

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

contacted swiftly and outcomes are decisive and robust. Safe staff recruitment practice Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 4 is also carried out thoroughly, and so also helps to keep young people safe. Young people benefit from living in a safe environment, where appropriate health and safety checks are routinely carried out. Maintenance is an ongoing task, and the organisation employs its own maintenance person who can attend the home regularly and quickly to do minor tasks. This helps to keep the home in a safe condition for young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

There has been a change in manager since the last inspection. The current manager has been in post since May 2018, and has previous experience as a registered manager. Her application to be registered for this home is currently underway. In the short time the manager has been in post, she has demonstrated her commitment to the young people in her care. Local authority colleagues feel that she has shown willingness to ‘go the extra mile’ and to ensure that young people have the best service. In addition, young people like and trust her and feel ‘she pushes things forward’. The manager has formed strong relationships with those young people who have been in the home the longest. They frequently seek her out, and she will intervene on their behalf if they are not making progress, for example at college. The manager has successfully advocated to the local authority for an alternative resource for young people

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

who may be putting others in placement at risk. A major factor in the recent life of the home is the large number of staff who left unexpectedly when the previous manager resigned. This left the home with a shortage of staff overall, and with new staff who lacked the required knowledge and expertise. Leaders and managers in the home then compounded the negative impact of this by admitting a new young person. With hindsight, leaders and managers acknowledge that the home did not have the staff capacity to deal with the additional high level of needs the new young person presented with. Leaders and managers have taken robust action to minimise the adverse effect on other young people in the home. In addition, experienced staff have been recruited and will be starting work imminently. The manager has prioritised getting appropriate training for staff, and this is well underway. Staff spoken with said that they feel supported and are confident that others,

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

especially the manager, will help and advise them as necessary. However, because of overall shortages, new staff have been left in sole charge on unplanned occasions, and they have had insufficient formal opportunities to reflect and learn from their new experiences. The manager is actively auditing all aspects of the home’s paperwork. This has produced some positive changes to young people’s files, and enabled the manager to track each young person’s progress. She is well supported in this by effective external scrutiny from the independent visitor. Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 5

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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: SC065535 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 163 Manor Road, Mitcham, Surrey CR4 1JT

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Inspector

Bridget Goddard, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065535 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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