Children's home run by Pebbles Care Limited in Leeds

Inspection report children's home: SC439535 1 SC439535 Registered provider: Pebbles Care

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company owns and runs this children’s home. It provides care for up to five children and young people. The experienced and appropriately qualified manager has held registered manager status since August 2013.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 July 2018 and 8 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/or 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

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

Inspection report children's home: SC439535 2 05/03/2018 Full Good 09/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/09/2016 Full Good 26/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC439535 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 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— help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child’s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be supportive or harmful; help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationships; (Regulation 11 (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) 21/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

*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— (i) 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; iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child's welfare; 16/09/2018 Inspection report children's home: SC439535 4 (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i)(iii)(vi)(b)) 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— manage relationships between children to prevent them from

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Requirement Due date

harming each other; (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(iv)) 21/10/2018

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (2)(c)(h)) 21/10/2018

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— 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; (Regulation 13 (2)(f)) 21/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; (Regulation 33 (4)(a)) 21/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children's home: SC439535 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children and young people are not protected from harm or the risk of further harm. The day-to-day care provided is nurturing and means that young people feel cared for. However, there is a lack of understanding and proactive response to safeguarding and risk management which has led to this judgement.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The staff know the children and young people well. However, responses to presenting behaviours and known risks are ineffective. Despite the frequency of direct work with children and young people, this is having little, or in some cases no impact, on the choices that they make. Records detail information about the day-to-day activities and movements of children and young people but there are no links made with known or potential concerns. This leaves children and young people at risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children’s and young people’s basic health needs are met, but records indicate there are underlying concerns, particularly in relation to mental health which are not linked to their care plans. There is a lack of proactive response to dealing with these issues. This means that the well-being of children and young people is dealt with superficially.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children and young people enjoy a wide variety of activities. They are involved in planning their activities and they have lots of choice. Activities are not always expensive ‘treats’, for example, exploring the local community beauty spots and attending free local events that do not require significant travel. This means that when children and young people do move back home or into independence, they can continue to enjoy their pastimes. There are examples within records of staff not making the link between the choice of activity made by children and young people and their experiences of trauma and presenting behaviours. For example, using toy guns having experienced violence and trauma in their past. This means that behaviours are not addressed effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

All of the children and young people engage in some form of education provision. Their attendance overall is good, and the staff continuously promote the importance of education. One young person credits the staff for their support. He is now focusing on his future career as he has gained a place at college to undertake his chosen course.

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

The risks to and from children and young people are known by the staff but there are no links between the children’s and young people’s presenting behaviours. The staff’s recording of incidents and information is of poor quality. It lacks detail and depth in terms of their analysis of children’s and young people’s behaviours and there is a lack of strategy to minimise risk. When incidents occur, even when information is known to the staff, there is no proactive planning to ensure the safety of children and young people.

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

The police were involved following a serious safeguarding incident and they have Inspection report children's home: SC439535 6 concluded their investigation resulting in no further action. However, there does not appear to have been any internal investigation addressing the shortfalls from the staff team. This means no that no staff members have been held to account and therefore there are no action or lessons learned for the home to prevent future incidents. This serious allegation was preventable had the staff and manager taken the appropriate steps when matching young people based on known risks. Young people have experienced a detrimental impact following this concern. One young person has moved on from the home without saying goodbye and another has been subject to a very serious allegation that could have criminalised them.

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

A further incident involving an agency member of staff left a young person vulnerable and at risk after a collision on the motorway following family contact. The member of staff was working with children and young people without appropriate checks being completed.

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

The majority of young people do not go missing from the home. However, when there are missing incidents, the staff know what to do. Their response is swift, and the missing procedure is followed correctly.

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

Physical intervention is used as a last resort and is only applied by trained staff members. When it is used, the intervention is appropriate and proportionate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is a lack of oversight by the registered manager that has contributed to the lack of proactive safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Recording of incidents and daily records show indications of poor practice and these are not picked up and followed through with staff. There have been no steps taken to look at the incidents from a learning point of view and there have been no links made between presenting behaviours and the known histories of children and young people. Decisions around admissions have been taken without due care and attention to detail leaving children and young people exposed to significant harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The supervision of staff is not regular. The manager is not proactive at addressing poor practice or incidents of concerns with the staff team and neither is she effective at making appropriate reflective records which can be used to enhance staff skills leading to better safeguarding practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Team meetings are held monthly but are business focussed with very little discussion about the individual children and young people living in the home. Incidents of concern are not analysed or evaluated to identify themes therefore staff do no prevent further occurrences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are gaps in staff training and in their development. Some of the mandatory refresher courses are out of date, such as safeguarding and child sexual exploitation. The manager is aware of this shortfall and is making efforts to rectify this. Inspection report children's home: SC439535 7 Three compliance notices and a restriction of accommodation have been issued following this inspection given the serious failures to safeguard children’s welfare.

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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: SC439535 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pebbles Care, 2 Wyther Lane, Leeds, Yorkshire LS5 3BT

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Inspector(s)

Abby Maspero, social care inspector Sue Atkinson Millmoor, regulatory inspection manager Inspection report children's home: SC439535 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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