Children's Home run by New Horizons (Stockport) Limited in Manchester

Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 1 SC472680 Registered provider: New Horizons (Stockport) 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 privately owned children’s home is registered to care for up to five children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

There has been no registered manager since 19 September 2017.

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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: 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: SC472680 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2017 Full Inadequate 27/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 15/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 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 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— maintain regular contact with each child’s education and training provider, including engaging with the provider and the placing authority to support the child’s education and training and to maximise the child’s achievement; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(vi)(vii)) In particular, the registered provider should ensure that the personal education plans and Education, Health and Care plans (EHC plans) are understood and used as part of the planning to ensure that young people are provided with sufficient education to meet their needs. 30/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to— understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(a)(ii)) In particular, staff should understand the outcome of any statutory health assessment and ensure that any required actions are completed. 30/10/2018

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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— 30/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 4 that staff— understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(v)) In particular, staff should ensure that where child protection concerns are identified, the local authority undertakes a strategy discussion to consider how best to respond to those concerns. 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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for 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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(d)(e)(f)) 30/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)) In particular, staff should ensure that when considering the admission of a new young person to the home, needs and behaviours of existing young people are taken into consideration, as well as the skills and availability of staff. 30/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child. The following measures may not be used to discipline any child— imposing a financial penalty, other than a requirement for the payment of a reasonable sum (which may be by instalments) by way of reparation. (Regulation 19 (1)(2)(f)) 30/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home— the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 30/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 5 In particular, staff should ensure that all fire safety checks, including the completion of fire evacuation drills, are completed and recorded within the timescales specified within the home’s fire safety risk assessment.

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Recommendations

 Ensure that children are able to take up issues or make a complaint with support and without fear that this will result in any adverse consequences. Children must be aware of the complaints procedures and be reminded of it as necessary. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  A missing from care return interview should be carried out within 72 hours of the child returning to their home or care setting. This should be an in-depth interview and is normally best carried out by an independent person (i.e., someone not involved in caring for the child) who is trained to carry out these interviews and is able to follow-up any actions that emerge. (‘Statutory guidance on children who run away or go missing from home or care’, page 14, paragraph 32)  Ensure that at least once a year a review is completed of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and that strategies to manage

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Recommendations

any risks are recorded. Providers should refer to the non-statutory advice about the location assessment process (Children’s homes regulations amendments 2014: Advice for children’s homes providers on new duties under regulations that came into effect in January and April 2014). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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improvement to be good

The staff’s planning for young people’s admissions into the home is weak. In some instances, limited consideration is given to the compatibility of new young people with existing residents. This contributed to one young person’s placement breaking down after less than two weeks.

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improvement to be good

Similarly, the staff’s consideration of young people’s transitions out of the home is poor. For example, one young person who had been a resident for over two years was discharged into a bed and breakfast, as staff failed to work effectively with the local authority to put in place more appropriate discharge plans.

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improvement to be good

Although staff have some success in engaging young people in education, this is limited by the staff’s poor planning and lack of ambition for young people. For example, staff do not always make sure that personal education plans or Education, health and care plans are used or followed to ensure that appropriate education provision is in place. Furthermore, staff miss opportunities to promote informal learning such as reading Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 6 books with young people or requesting homework for them.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that young people access primary healthcare services such as doctors and dentists. However, when young people have statutory health assessments completed, staff do not ensure that they understand what the outcome of these assessments are. This is a neglected chance to promote young people’s health needs.

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improvement to be good

Staff have not ensured that the complaints procedure is understood by young people. Although staff do explain this to young people on their arrival at the home, young people are unclear on how they would make complaints should they need to. Reassuringly, young people said that they have no complaints.

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improvement to be good

Young people spoke enthusiastically about how much they like the staff and said that they enjoy spending time with the staff and feel that they are well cared for.

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improvement to be good

Staff have mixed success in keeping young people safe. For example, staff have a good understanding of young people’s vulnerabilities and review risk appropriately. This knowledge is used by staff to implement clear strategies to try to safeguard young people. Despite this, in one instance, insufficient staff supervision resulted in a young person being able to steal a vehicle belonging to the home. The potential for significant harm to the young person and others was high. Reassuringly, follow-up action taken by staff has reduced the likelihood of such an incident occurring again.

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improvement to be good

The staff’s knowledge of child protection procedures and the dangers of being online is not good enough. For example, a young person was able to gain access to the internet without the staff’s knowledge and used this to access inappropriate content. In response to the incident, staff took steps to safeguard the young person, restricting access to electronic devices. However, the staff’s poor communication with the local authority and lack of awareness of what actions the local authority should take in response to this incident have resulted in a delay in a strategy meeting being completed to agree the required follow-up action. As a result, the extent to which the young person may have been exposed to risk while online is not fully understood.

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improvement to be good

Staff respond swiftly when young people go missing from the home. For example, they complete searches of the local area and notify the relevant agencies, such as the police and local authority. However, return interviews are not always completed in the required timescales. Positively, steps have been taken to address this shortfall, and there are now suitable resources in place to undertake these interviews.

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improvement to be good

In most cases, staff are able to support young people to make positive behaviour choices. Consequently, young people’s behaviours have improved significantly during the period in which they have lived at the home. This has contributed to a reduction in both young people’s own vulnerability as well as their risk to others. Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 7 However, there have been isolated incidents in which staff have used financial sanctions as consequences for young people. These sanctions are not reflective of a restorative approach to behaviour management.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not fully considered the risks presented by the area in which the home is located. Specifically, the information used to complete a recent locality risk assessment is out of date. This limits the usefulness of this assessment in understanding and managing potential risks.

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improvement to be good

The manager’s monitoring of fire safety arrangements is not good enough. Specifically, the manager has not ensured that fire safety checks, such as fire drills, are accurately documented. This has an effect on the manager’s ability to review and improve fire safety arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager for over 26 weeks. This means that the home has not experienced stable leadership for a considerable period. This has contributed to the failure of the leadership team to address all of the requirements raised at the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last inspection, a new manager has been appointed who has applied to Ofsted to be the registered manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The new manager, who has been in post for nearly two months, has an awareness of the areas of improvement required. Although the manager has taken steps to improve the quality of care provided to young people, she has been overwhelmed at times by the scale of improvements required. This means that young people still do not receive consistent care to keep them safe and to help them achieve their potential.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The appointment of the new manager has contributed to the departure of a number of staff members. Although these departures were unavoidable, they have impacted upon the staff resource required to realise the improvements that are necessary.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Positively, new staff, including a deputy manager, are imminently due to start in post. Unfortunately, the current vacancies have required the use of agency staff. However, the potential impact of this has been minimised by the manager only using a small pool of agency staff. Young people appear unfazed by the recent staff changes, largely due to the fact that they are relatively new to the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has ensured that all staff receive monthly supervision. The quality of supervision is an area of strength for the new manager. Supervision sessions are now being used effectively to challenge, support and develop staff. The benefits of this improved supervision are likely to take some time to show in staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff benefit from a range of training opportunities, including safeguarding and behaviour management training. However, training in respect of young people’s Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 8 vulnerability to exploitation online and in the community is limited. Likewise, few staff members have completed planned training to care for young people who have sexualised behaviours.

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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: SC472680 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Horizons (Stockport) Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5 Bramhall Park Road, Bramhall, Stockport SK7 3DQ

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC472680 10 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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