Children's Home run by Individual Specialist Care Limited in Sandwell

Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 1 SC481235 Registered provider: Individual Specialist Care 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 is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people who may have experienced childhood instability, resulting in trauma and associated complex behaviours.

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Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted on 28 December 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 September 2018

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

15/05/2018 Full Inadequate 22/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/04/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 03/01/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. Regulation 5(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager should escalate her concerns to ensure that a young person’s pathway plan is in place and on file. 29/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to—

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(c)(i)) 29/10/2018

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 29/10/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 4 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

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered manager will ensure that risk assessments contain up to date information and keywork sessions focus on key areas of risk including healthy relationships and sexual health. 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.

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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

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child.

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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

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)(e)(2)(f)) 29/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. (Regulation 32(1)) 29/10/2018

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Requirement Due date

 Staff should understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff should ensure that young people’s reports are a true record and accurately reflect their progress.

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Requirement Due date

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 5 manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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improvement to be good

Young people build trusted and secure relationships with some staff. However, they report that this is not consistent, and, in addition, some staff communication is poor. Previous staff sickness and high usage of agency staff has contributed to this issue. One young person told the inspector, ‘It can be hard for me when there are new staff.’ The registered individual has acted to address this issue by recruiting more permanent staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to participate in the day-to-day running of the home. For example, young people help to choose the décor of the home, contribute to menus and decide on activities. Young people are also involved in more complex aspects of their care such as reviewing their progress. In addition, staff have supported one young person to contact his social worker to share concerns about his future placement.

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improvement to be good

Young people know how to complain. A recent complaint was addressed appropriately by the responsible individual and resolved to the satisfaction of the young person. This provides young people with reassurance that their concerns will be taken seriously.

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improvement to be good

One young person has recently commenced college and has high aspirations for his future. Staff are ambitious for young people and want them to succeed. They form good relationships with their counterparts in college to help sustain the young person’s progress. Furthermore, the registered manager ensures that valuable information and training is provided to college staff in order to meet the young person’s needs.

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improvement to be good

Young people develop practical independence skills. For example, they undertake laundry tasks, cook, clean and learn how to budget. Furthermore, one young person travels independently to college. Unfortunately, uncertainty about his next placement has persisted for several months, causing him distress.

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improvement to be good

Staff support young people to deal with difficult behaviours and emotions. They respond sensitively and calmly, allowing young people time to make sense of their thoughts and feelings. As a result, young people learn new strategies to help them self-regulate their emotions. One young person told the inspector, ‘I’m much better at expressing my feelings. This has made me feel less angry.’

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improvement to be good

Staff benefit from regular consultations with a clinical psychologist. These valuable discussions enable the support staff to reflect upon young people’s progress and to gain an insight into their needs. As a result, young people benefit from well-informed care. Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 6 Staff work closely with local authorities to ensure that young people have frequent and safe contact with their families. They advocate for young people to make sure that contact arrangements reflect their wishes.

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improvement to be good

Most young people’s risk assessments are well informed and capture key information. However, some contain outdated information, which includes references to young people who no longer live at the home. As a result, not all risks are assessed appropriately to keep young people safe.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management and internal placement plans identify the significant areas of need for young people. However, key-work sessions lack focus on some key aspects such as healthy relationships and sexual health.

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improvement to be good

Staff reward positive behaviour and use consequences to help young people to understand and learn from incidents of challenging or risky behaviour. Young people respond well to this approach and over time there has been a significant reduction in incidents of restraint. However, there is currently one young person living in the home and as such, behaviour patterns should be seen in this context.

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improvement to be good

Staff benefit from a training package that equips them with the skills and knowledge to manage risk. This includes a focus on more specialist areas such as child sexual exploitation and social media use. In addition, staff receive in-house training workshops using the expertise of the registered individual and manager, clinical psychologist and local area designated officer.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment checks contain some gaps. For example, while the registered individual makes efforts to seek verbal references for new employees, the outcomes of these discussions are not recorded. This level of scrutiny is required to protect young people from unsafe adults.

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improvement to be good

The home requires some maintenance. There is currently no maintenance service employed to undertake the required work. In the interim, members of staff help to maintain the appearance of the home.

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

The staff team is increasingly stable after a challenging period of sickness and turnover. The registered individual is recruiting experienced and skilled staff to complement the existing staff group. Indeed, he is planning to ‘over recruit’ to ensure that the staff team is appropriately resourced in the future. A reliance on agency staff has significantly reduced in recent weeks.

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

The registered manager has introduced new monitoring and review systems to track key areas of care. They are in their infancy and continue to be embedded by staff. Inevitably Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 7 there have been challenges. For example, staff have not sent out weekly progress reports to social workers and parents on time. Information in a young person’s monthly progress report was copied from a previous report. The registered manager acknowledges these shortfalls and is working with staff daily to embed the new systems.

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

The registered individual and manager acknowledge the previous shortfalls in their leadership and management. In response, they have held a review meeting, facilitated by the home’s clinical psychologist. As a result, an action plan is in place to monitor staff performance and enhance their personal development.

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

Staff state that they feel supported by management and benefit from good, quality inductions. They take part in regular consultations with a clinical psychologist, which helps them to explore the emotional demands of the role. However, there are some gaps in supervision and the recorded sessions lack focus on the progress of young people.

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

Staff are not always able to articulate their understanding of the home’s ethos and statement of purpose. As a result, staff practice may be disjointed, and young people may receive inconsistent care. The registered manager acknowledges this shortfall and now discusses the home’s statement of purpose during each staff meeting.

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

Key documents are missing from one young person’s file, including a pathway plan. This is particularly important given his age and the uncertainty around his next placement move. Furthermore, the registered manager has not escalated her concern on this matter.

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

The home’s development plan has not been reviewed for a significant period. This is a lost opportunity to continually improve the experiences of young people. However, the registered individual has plans in place to address this shortfall.

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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: SC481235 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Individual Specialist Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 65 Lodge Road, Walsall, Staffordshire WS5 3LA

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Inspector

Gareth Leckey, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC481235 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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