Children's home run by Beaufort Care Group Ltd in Barnet

Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 1 SC046480 Registered provider: Beaufort Care Group

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

 The home is registered for up to four children.  The home provides care for children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.  The home is operated by a private provider who has three other children‟s homes in the area.  The manager has been in post since 25 June 2018, and has submitted an application to register with Ofsted.

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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 are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded. The care and experiences of children are poor and they are not making progress.

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Inadequate

Date of last inspection: 19 September 2017

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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: SC046480 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/09/2017 Full Good 14/12/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness 14/04/2016 Full Good 20/11/2015 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 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

5: Engaging with the wider system to ensure children‟s needs are met In meeting the quality standards, 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 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(c)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

6: The quality and purpose of care standard* The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff—  protect and promote each child‟s welfare;  provide personalised care that meets each child‟s needs, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans, taking account of the child‟s background;  provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably;  ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(ii)(iv)(vii)(c)(i)) 15/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 4 10: The health and well-being standard The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, ensure that children‟s sexual health needs are met. 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

8: The education standard The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—  understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers;  help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment;  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. (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(iii)(iv)(viii)) 10/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

11: The positive relationships standard The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff—  meet each child‟s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child‟s relevant plans;  help each child to develop socially aware behaviour; 31/08/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 5  encourage each child to take responsibility for the child‟s behaviour, in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding;  help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;  communicate to each child expectations about the child‟s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those

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Requirement Due date

expectations in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding;  help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship;  understand how children‟s previous experiences and present emotions can be communicated through behaviour and have the competence and skills to interpret these and develop positive relationships with children;  are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vii)(ix)(x)) 12: The protection of children standard* 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—

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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;  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 15/08/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 6 about a child‟s welfare; and  are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child protection policies.  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.  that the premises used for the purposes of the home are

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Requirement Due date

designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child‟s health; (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)) 13: The leadership and management standard 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. 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;  ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;  understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(h)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

14: The care planning standard The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

33: Employment of staff The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with 31/08/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 7 appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4(a)(b)(c)) In particular, records of the supervision and appraisal need to be of a good quality, reflect the discussion and any required actions to be completed. 36: Children‟s case records The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)) 31/08/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Three out of four children are making insufficient progress. Of these three, two children have lived at the home for two years. Staff are not taking sufficient action to help children, to nurture them or to provide basic care and attention to support children‟s development. Staff routinely allow children to live in unkempt and unclean bedrooms and do not ensure that damage made to the home is swiftly repaired. Broken items remain in the home and pose a hazard to children, especially those who are at risk of self-harming. In addition, poor food hygiene practices mean that children, staff and visitors are placed at risk of harm. Staff do not provide children with good routines and boundaries, and too few opportunities to join in with activities. During the inspection, most children spent the majority of their time in their rooms watching the television and playing on gaming consoles. Staff did not spend enough time with children while they were in their rooms,

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

leaving them unsupervised and inactive. Few activities are planned for the summer holidays. This leaves children with too much unstructured time. Children‟s healthcare needs, in particular their sexual health needs, are not consistently met. Staff do not take sufficient action to follow-up on health concerns, and this does not promote children‟s health and welfare. Not all children are engaged in meaningful educational activity. Plans to support children to return to education, employment or training are inadequate. In particular, staff have not been successful at helping two children with their education. These children are not in school and are refusing to attend the minimal amount of tutoring offered to them. Staff do not use creative strategies to engage these children in learning opportunities. Two other children are doing better educationally. Both of these children have good attendance enabling them to make progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 8

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

Safeguarding arrangements are inadequate and poor practices place children at risk of harm. Safeguarding events are not effectively identified by staff, which has led to one referral not being made to the appropriate authorities. Staff do not take effective action when children make a disclosure. Records of safeguarding events lack detail or are incomplete. In addition, these records are stored in various different places, making it difficult for leaders and managers to track patterns and trends effectively. Staff‟s response to children when they go missing from the home is inadequate and places children at risk. Staff do not physically follow children when they leave the home without permission, despite knowing that children are at serious risk of harm. Staff rarely search for children when they are missing and do not take enough action to return them to the home quickly and safely. Staff do not consistently follow the agreed

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

plans for keeping in touch with children when they are away from the home. One child spends the majority of time away from the home and often misses his curfew, regularly staying out late at night. Staff do not know where this child is or if he is safe. Despite these concerns, staff do not report the child as missing until after his curfew time. By then, the child has often been absent and his whereabouts unknown for many hours. On too many occasions, staff have refused to collect children when they are away from the home and have phoned asking for help. On one occasion, staff told a child to walk home despite knowing he had been in an upsetting situation. Staff‟s response to children smoking cigarettes and misusing substances is inadequate. Children often smoke in the home and two children‟s substance misuse has increased since living here. Despite being offered substance misuse support, children are not

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

engaging with this service. Staff have been unable to find additional ways to help children with their substance misuse, or to maintain boundaries. Too often, staff tolerate and accept this unsafe behaviour. Staff do not manage poor behaviour effectively or in a consistent way. Two children in particular are rarely challenged. Insufficient structure and boundaries contribute to poor outcomes for these children. Staff do not take effective action when they suspect children may be involved in criminal behaviours or consider whether these behaviours are an indicator that the children are being exploited. Staff are not ensuring that a child abides by state-imposed sanctions and do not have effective strategies to safeguard children who are at risk of tying ligatures on themselves. Risk assessments and behaviour support plans lack clarity and do not provide staff with clear strategies or guidance about how to manage poor or high-risk behaviours effectively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management is weak. Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff fulfil their role to care for children effectively. Children who have high-risk behaviours are Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 9 not kept safe. Staff do not have the strategies to help these children and are not receiving sufficient direction or support from leaders and managers. The failure to protect these children is neglectful practice. Leaders and managers do not have an accurate understanding of all of the weaknesses of the home. Monitoring of the quality of care is not effective. Leaders and managers do not scrutinise practices rigorously and analyse what is happening in the home. The new manager recognises some weaknesses in the staff team, but has not taken enough action to remedy these weaknesses quickly. This results in children receiving an inadequate standard of care and support. Staff are not receiving good-quality regular supervision. Records of supervision sessions

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

are poor, which does not make them an effective tool in the development of staff practice. Partnership work with other agencies is not strong enough, and this can place children at risk. Leaders and managers have not taken sufficient action to challenge poor decisions made by the placing authorities, despite identifying flaws in these decisions. Leaders and managers do not maintain good-quality records. Important records lack detail and, where required, evidence of follow-up actions.

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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: SC046480 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Beaufort Care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Lytton Road, New Barnet, Barnet EN5 5BY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jennifer Kendall

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Inspectors

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Paula Lahey, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children‟s home: SC046480 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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