Children's home run by Halliwell Homes Limited in Staffordshire Moorlands

Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 1 SC470224 Registered provider: Halliwell 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 is a private children‟s home registered for up to 10 children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home offers education on-site at a registered school.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2015.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Date of last inspection: 10 October 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

10/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 14/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/11/2016 Full Good 25/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 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 protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child‟s health. (Regulation 12 (1) and (2)(a)(i)(iii)(d)) 01/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered person must enable, inspire and lead a culture in relation to the children‟s home that— promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure 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 (1)(b) and (2)(c)(h)). With particular reference to staff training in managing self-harm, ligature training and awareness training in child sexual exploitation. 01/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1)) In particular, ensure that the address for the company head office is correct. 01/10/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 4 The registered person must ensure that— the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children‟s home‟s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the use of alarms on bedroom doors is kept under review. 01/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children‟s home; and the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it.

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure; 01/10/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 5 the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii) (b)(i)(ii) and (c) 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; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 01/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; and ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)) In particular, ensure that copies of the planned staff duty rota and a record of the actual rotas worked, and a record of any persons who work at any time at the home are maintained in the home. 01/10/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child‟s day to day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children‟s home an environment that supports children‟s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home‟s Statement of Purpose. („Guide to the children‟s home regulations including the quality standards‟, page 33, paragraph 7.3) Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 6  When a child returns to the home after being missing from care or away from the home without permission, the responsible local authority must provide an opportunity for the child to have an independent return home interview. Homes should take account of information provided by such interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 45, paragraph

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Recommendations

9.30)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. („Guide to the children‟s home regulations including the quality standards‟, page 46, paragraph 9.36)

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improvement to be good

The children are at differing stages of their placement. For example, one child has only lived at the home for three months, while the other children have lived together for more than a year.

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improvement to be good

Children who live at the home have often previously experienced trauma and neglect, resulting in emotional and behavioural difficulties. Consequently, they take time to settle and develop trust in those who are looking after them. Over time, most children become more settled and less anxious.

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improvement to be good

Most of the children attend the organisation‟s own school. However, staff advocate for children to attend mainstream school if they can. One child does attend a mainstream school. The children are making good educational progress from their initial starting points.

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improvement to be good

Children‟s health needs are adequately promoted. Clinical input is provided through monthly clinical consultation meetings with the staff team, at which children‟s progress is discussed. However, staff do not always make good use of the therapeutic support. For example, it was identified during this inspection that important information pertaining to a child‟s emotional health was not shared with the clinical team following a self-harm incident. In addition, only four members of staff have had training in the management of self-harming behaviours. This does not promote confidence and competence in their practice.

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improvement to be good

Individual placement and healthcare plans outline the care and support to be provided to each child. However, not all plans are current and up to date. For example, a child‟s behaviour management guidelines refer to them having a heart murmur, but there is no record of this in their healthcare plan. Therefore, it was difficult to assess whether this is a harmless condition or a more serious heart problem. Another child‟s placement plan referred to the use of creative play, but this was not understood by the staff. Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 7 Staff encourage children‟s individual interests and hobbies. For example, one child is learning to play the guitar and another child is a member of a local football club. The children also enjoyed a two-week holiday together recently. This helps to improve the children‟s social skills and integrate them into the local community and wider society.

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improvement to be good

Overall, the home is clean and tidy. Soft furnishings and photographs of the children give a homely appearance. However, some staff smoke at the back of the home and leave their cigarette ends as debris on the ground. This detracts from the quality of the home and grounds and does not set a good example to the children.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding practice does not consistently promote the safety and welfare of children. One child‟s access to an online gaming site is not well supervised, despite their risk assessment stating they should be supervised at all times. The child has internet access from his bedroom and speaks to other gamers online, but it is unclear how staff are monitoring this.

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improvement to be good

The blanket policy of using door alarms on all bedroom doors to monitor children does not take into account the individual needs of each child. Permission is sought from placing authorities for their use. There is no immediate impact for children from this shortfall. However, their right to privacy is not being appropriately considered.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are not sufficiently robust. For example, the safe area risk assessment identifies the close proximity of the home to the motorway nearby. A strategy to minimise this risk is to keep the gates at the entrance of the home closed during the day. However, the gates have been removed. The manager told the inspector that the gates had been removed due to cars getting damaged.

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improvement to be good

Incidents of children going missing from the home are rare. However, on the two occasions that this did occur the local authority did not fulfil its duty to ensure that the child was seen by an independent person. While, this was challenged at the time by the manager, the authority was not subsequently chased for the completion of these return home interviews.

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improvement to be good

Children know how to make a complaint. However, poor record-keeping of complaints means that it is unclear if a child was informed of, and satisfied with, the outcome of their complaint.

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improvement to be good

In addition, incidents of bullying are not clearly logged. For example, the last bullying incident recorded in the bullying log was in January 2018. This is despite other records, such as incident records, referring to children using insults, personal comments and racial abuse towards each other. Although some positive work has been done with the children in relation to bullying, the lack of clarity in the records does not provide the managers with a clear picture of how often this is happening. Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 8 There have been a total of 87 physical interventions since the last inspection. Staff record information in the physical intervention log and then record more detail on an incident sheet. Consequently, the information recorded in these documents varies in detail and does not provide a clear audit trail. Some records also lack detail, such as the duration of the hold. On occasions, a member of staff involved in a physical intervention

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improvement to be good

has completed the debrief with the child. This prevents the manager from robustly monitoring the behaviour management strategies used to ensure that only safe and effective measures are applied.

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improvement to be good

As part of the home‟s ongoing development, the manager should continually review the use of physical intervention against alternative measures. This will help staff to improve their own practice and increase children‟s ability to regulate their own behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The home‟s system of reparation is not clear. For example, there have been occasions when children have had their pocket money deducted for the purposes of reparation. However, this has not been recorded in the consequences book. The lead therapeutic parent explained that the independent person recently highlighted this during one of their visits and that staff plan to address this practice.

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

There is a suitably qualified and experienced manager in place. However, she is also the safeguarding lead for the organisation, which limits the time she can spend at the home. The manager is well supported by a lead therapeutic parent and a deputy therapeutic parent. The registered manager informed the inspectors that there are plans for her to de-register with Ofsted and for the lead therapeutic parent to apply to Ofsted for registration.

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

The management team demonstrates a commitment to the children and to delivering a good standard of care. The senior team members acted on some of the identified shortfalls during the inspection, which indicates their motivation to improve practice. However, the shortfalls identified at this inspection had not been identified earlier as a result of the home‟s own monitoring systems. Therefore, the requirement raised regarding monitoring systems raised at the last inspection is repeated at this inspection. In addition, the requirement raised at the last inspection in relation to the recording and de-briefing sessions for children after incidents of restraint is raised again at this inspection. One of the previous requirements is partially met. While, the home has developed their risk assessment procedures as required, the skills and abilities of staff to act upon presenting risks, such as self-harm and ligature use, still require attention.

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

A number of new staff have joined the home since the last inspection. Six staff members out of 18, are currently working through their probationary period, and will commence the requisite level 3 training upon completion of their probation. An additional five staff already hold the required level 3 childcare qualification.

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

Staff confirmed that they feel supported by the managers. The supervision matrix Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 9 indicates that staff are receiving regular supervision. Records show that team meetings are being held regularly and are well attended by the staff team. Training includes safeguarding and positive behaviour management. However, a number of staff have gaps in their knowledge in relation to managing self-harm, ligature training and awareness training in child sexual exploitation.

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

The home is adequately resourced and is meeting the aims and objectives of the statement of purpose. However, the head office details recorded in the statement of purpose do not match those on the registration certificate.

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

Any shortfalls in the rota are covered by the staff team, and this ensures continuity of care for the children. However, duty rotas fail to accurately reflect the actual staff on duty. For example, a member of staff who is rostered to work in the home has been working from home or at head office. This inaccuracy prevents a clear audit trail of who is working with children in the home.

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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: SC470224 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Halliwell Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tape Street, Stoke-on-Trent ST10 1BB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Karen Mitchell-Mellor

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Inspectors

Michelle Bacon, social care regulatory inspector Paul Robinson, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC470224 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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