Children's Home run by Phoenix Learning & Care Holdings Limited in Devon

Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 1 Registered provider: Phoenix Learning and 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

The children’s home is operated by a regional provider. It is registered for four children.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

05/03/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 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 ensures that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to staff having training in self-harm, including ligatures, and record keeping. (Regulation 13 (2)(C)) 31/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person uses monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this refers to the importance of providing thorough oversight of all records and ensuring that they are up to date. (Regulation 13 (2)(h)) 31/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 31/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person must ─

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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 31/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 4 home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if ─

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Requirement Due date

the child’s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance. (Regulation 24 (1)(b)) 31/10/2018

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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

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 31/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16 (3)(a)) 31/10/2018

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improvement to be good

Young people live in a home that is safe and very homely. It provides them with space to grow and develop. Staff have paid attention to detail in respect of furnishings and design, which means that each young person has personalised space that they are proud of and that very much reflects their individuality.

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improvement to be good

Staff know the young people well. Young people are provided with a range of personalised activities that helps them to make progress, develop independence skills, improve their emotional well-being and, most of the time, learn how to keep themselves safe. Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 5 Young people speak fondly of the staff that care for them. They recognise that they have grown in confidence and that the support of the staff has helped them to understand risky and self-injurious behaviours. Because of this, serious incidents have reduced and young people are not choosing to go missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Assessment and planning documents are in place. They help staff understand the needs of the young people. However, they require updating to reflect the current needs of each young person. The inspection identified several records that are out of date, and the quality of recording, reviewing, monitoring and analysis is variable.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always record information accurately, sign records and complete tasks assigned to them by the registered manager.

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improvement to be good

Some young people make progress with their education. Individually designed learning packages are in place to meet the different learning styles of the young people. Records of this good work lack detail and leave it difficult to measure the progress made.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the young people to have regular visits with their family. These are positive and help towards improved relationships. This has helped one young person to return to live with their parent.

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improvement to be good

Most of the time, staff provide the young people with a safe place to live. Health and safety checks take place, but records are not always completed.

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improvement to be good

Staff understand the young people’s needs and use risk assessments to support the young people’s safety inside and outside of the home. Some risk assessments require updating.

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improvement to be good

Staff record incidents, but they are often incomplete. Some lack detail and do not aid learning for staff or young people. When the registered manager is absent, there is little monitoring of incidents.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of young people going missing from the home have reduced significantly. Following one incident of a young person going missing, the registered manager installed a monitoring device. This was not in line with the home’s statement of purpose and not ratified by all placing social workers. The registered manager recognised this, and the device was removed.

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improvement to be good

Staff and the registered manager undertake a range of training in safeguarding matters. This ensures that they have some basic knowledge of safeguarding practice. Despite this, on one occasion staff failed to follow the missing from home protocol.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, all staff have undergone training in self-harm, but this did not cover ligature training. This is now planned for August 2018. Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, the registered manager has made attempts to address the previous requirements. Some of them have been met, and some remain outstanding. The registered manager has not demonstrated a swift enough response to the remaining tasks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although the registered manager has made improvements in the monitoring and reviewing of records, there remain inaccuracies. Several records lack details and some have not been signed by staff. The registered manager failed to report one notifiable incident to Ofsted, and the statement of purpose and workforce development plan require updating.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Most staff receive regular supervision and training. However, the registered manager has failed to ensure that all staff receive annual appraisals, are supervised regularly and complete the training provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff spoke of leadership of the home ‘dipping’ since the last inspection. It is to be noted that during this period the registered manager has had a bereavement and understandably time away from the home. A lack of satisfactory leadership during this period resulted in staff not being given sufficient direction and support.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Internal monitoring by the responsible individual and the independent visitor highlighted many shortfalls. Fortunately, none of these impacted on the care and progress of the young people. An action plan is in place and the registered manager is in the process of addressing this.

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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: 1255407 7 Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Phoenix Learning and Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Phoenix Learning and Care Ltd, Rolle Quay, Barnstaple EX31 1JE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Stephen Nicholson

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Inspector

Linda Bond, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1255407 9 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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