Children's Home run by Pilgrims Corner Limited in Kent

Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 1 SC390156 Registered provider: Pilgrim’s Corner 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

The home provides care for up to three children. The provider states in its statement of purpose that it provides care for children who have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered since April 2018.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

31/07/2017 Full Good 15/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 08/11/2016 Full Good 21/03/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 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—

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Requirement Due date

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

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 30/09/2018

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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)) 30/09/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and 30/09/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 4 have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b))

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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. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Specifically, review how staff bedding is stored in the lounge and information displayed in communal areas, maintain all areas of the garden and ensure that the bathroom is clean.  Ensure that the children’s guide is age appropriate and provided in an accessible format. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.21)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the

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Recommendations

workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20) The plan should: detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the home’s Statement of Purpose; detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications); detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4) (b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience stability. After two years in the home, two children moved on in a planned way at the beginning of this inspection year. One child now lives in the home. They have experienced their first positive placement after previous placement breakdowns. Staff are supporting the child towards having a positive transition from the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children develop independence skills. For example, they help staff to chop vegetables in preparation for meals and learn how to look after their bedrooms. Children have learned budgeting skills to help them for independent living. Some, who have moved on, keep in touch with staff. Children take part in decision-making about everyday matters in the home and about which activities they would like to try. Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 5 A social worker feels that the child they placed has had a good experience and has ‘done fantastically well’. The relationships some staff have built have been instrumental in building the child’s self-esteem and trust in adults. Staff have supported the child’s improved sense of belonging and feeling secure.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help children to establish good routines around bedtimes, taking medication and getting up in the morning. Staff support children to attend education. When children are not in education, staff encourage them to engage in activities and help them to learn.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have been encouraged to take part in varied activities in the community, such as sports clubs and cadets. Children benefit from short breaks away in a caravan. Friendships are encouraged; this includes with the children living in another of the provider’s homes close by.

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

Staff assess risks and have kept the child safe. Incidents are low, as is the use of physical intervention. The manager’s close monitoring of behaviour management has ensured that staff review the appropriateness of the sanctions they give.

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

Leaders and managers have not accepted any further placements into the home. This has protected the child currently placed and helped them to feel safe.

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

The recruitment of staff is thorough. By undertaking the checks required by regulation, the service helps to ensure that only suitable people work with vulnerable children. The registered manager is improving the induction process to help new staff settle into their roles.

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

The building is maintained safely and is mostly homely. Some aspects detract from the homely appearance, including the cleanliness in one area of the bathroom, notices, storage of staff bedding and poor maintenance in a few parts of the garden.

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

The home has not received any complaints during this inspection year. Staff give children information about how to complain. This and other matters are also included in a children’s guide. However, this document is quite complex and not in a format suitable for the age of the child currently living in the home. The registered manager has plans to develop different versions of this document.

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

Leaders and managers have not met two requirements and one recommendation made at the last inspection. The statement of purpose still contains inaccuracies and does not provide all the information people need. There are still gaps in some staff members’ training and a workforce development plan is not in place. As a result, staff training does not reflect what the statement of purpose describes. Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 6 Some staff have opportunities to do online training while at work. Others find they struggle to do training in their own time and would welcome further training on children’s specific needs, such as attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, to help them better understand children’s individual needs.

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

Staff supervision is not consistent and staff do not always receive supervision at the frequency described in their supervision agreements. Although the staff can approach the deputy or manager regarding everyday matters, they do not all receive frequent, formal supervision.

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

Staff work across the provider’s other homes in the area. Although there is a core team in this home, other staff make up their hours in the home. While this positively avoids the need to use agency staff to cover shifts, staff changes can be difficult for the child, who has to build new relationships.

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

External monitoring is good. The independent visitor makes useful suggestions about how to improve the service. However, leaders and managers do not always meet actions in a timely manner, resulting in repeated actions in subsequent reports.

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

The registered manager advocates well for children, for example when local authorities propose moves which are not necessarily in the child’s best interests. This has enabled the child to experience a longer, planned transition period.

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

Communication between staff and professionals is good. This ensures effective information sharing in the child’s best interests. A social worker said that staff supply ‘robust safety plans, assessments and monthly reports’.

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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: SC390156 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Pilgrim’s Corner Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Suite 5, The Links, Herne Bay, Kent CT6 7GQ

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Inspector

Jacqueline Graves, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC390156 8 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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