Children's Home run by Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited in Hounslow

Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 1 SC409851 Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home provides care for up to four children. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home looks after children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private provider owns and operates the home.

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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: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/06/2018 Full Inadequate 11/12/2017 Interim Not judged 22/08/2017 Full Inadequate 26/09/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 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 enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32(7)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that all vetting information is obtained from employment agencies when they employ temporary staff to work in the home. 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

Fitness of workers The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

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 32(4)(b)(c)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 01/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 4 notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)) The protection of children standard

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is 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(2)(d))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, that children’s bedrooms be fitted with window locks and window restrictors. 01/01/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the quality of staff’s recording of children’s absences from the home, behaviour management plans, healthcare plans, consent forms and staff rotas. 01/01/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(e)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

Behaviour management policies and records

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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 01/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 5 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;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

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(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) Review of quality of care

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for 01/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 6 children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45(1)(2)(3)(4)(5))

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improvement to be good

This home provides children with an adequate quality of care. However, the overall judgement has been significantly influenced by the inadequate rating of its leadership and management. This is a direct result of the provider’s failure to appoint a registered manager to the home within the specified 26-week timeframe.

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improvement to be good

Children receive individualised care that meets their identified needs. Children make progress. A child said, ‘It’s OK here, I suppose, I’m doing alright.’ Professionals indicated, at this child’s recent child looked after review, that they are satisfied with the quality of care offered by the staff team.

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improvement to be good

The quality of the relationships between children and staff is good. Children say that they generally enjoy spending time with staff. Children benefit from the staff team’s commitment to meeting their needs. One staff member said, ‘The best thing about my job is working with the young people one-to-one. I take the opportunity to advise, speak with them and share experiences. I’m able to create a rapport with our young person. This is more than a job for me. I love working with young people, they are our future.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 7 Children said that they feel staff are interested in them and take their views and opinions seriously. Children attend residents’ meetings and engage in individual key-work sessions. Children know how to make complaints, but do not do so.

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improvement to be good

Children make improved educational progress from their starting points. Historically, children in the home have very low attendance at school and their educational attainment has been poor. Staff are aware of the learning needs of children and ensure that there are strategies in place to help children achieve, for example by securing new college placements and facilitating home tuition when young people are excluded from school.

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improvement to be good

Children have the opportunity to develop key practical skills. Staff support them, for example, to prepare meals, manage their laundry and attend to their personal hygiene. Children regularly take part in leisure activities that they enjoy.

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improvement to be good

Children’s identity needs are met. For example, Muslim children are offered Halal food, and children are able to attend their chosen place of worship if they so wish. Staff explore with children the risks posed by their involvement with gangs.

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improvement to be good

Children lead healthy lifestyles. They register with primary healthcare services and attend appointments. Staff provide nutritious food options, which promote healthy diets.

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improvement to be good

For children who smoke cigarettes and misuse substances, staff encourage their involvement in smoking cessation programmes and children’s drug and alcohol prevention services. Staff receive training in first aid and the administration of medication. This ensures that children receive appropriate medical attention as required.

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improvement to be good

Children have good contact with their family members and friends. Children say that they have their friends visit them at the home and that staff make them feel welcome. Staff encourage children to develop and maintain safe family relationships and staff have a flexible approach to working with parents.

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improvement to be good

Children said that they feel safe at the home. The staff team receives training and guidance about child protection. Despite this, however, some staff fail to demonstrate a good understanding of action to be taken if children make allegations against staff.

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improvement to be good

The home’s child protection policy documents require review, as different safeguarding documents contain conflicting information. This is particularly the case for the definition of missing children and when children are absent without permission.

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improvement to be good

Despite shortfalls in documentation, staff have a clear understanding of the action that they need to take when children go missing from the home. This helps keep them safe. However, records of such incidents are incomplete and do not include key information. Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 8 Risk assessments identify known and anticipated risks and staff keep these documents up to date. The assessments include strategies that help reduce risks. For example, staff are working with children to encourage them to take greater responsibility for keeping in contact with staff when they are absent from the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage children to adhere to house rules and boundaries that help keep them safe. They manage children’s behaviour well and since the last inspection, there have been no critical incidents or instances of staff having to restrain children. However, the home’s restraints log requires improvement as it fails to contain all the required information.

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improvement to be good

The home’s behavioural management plans fail to provide staff with clear and comprehensive guidance about managing children’s behaviour should their behaviour become challenging.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not impose sanctions as a method to promote positive behaviour, but instead make use of verbal praise and incentives. These are largely successful. One child is currently working towards a motocross bike lesson as a reward for his improved behaviour and other achievements.

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improvement to be good

The home’s staff vetting practices show improvement since the last inspection. These are generally in line with safe staff recruitment procedures. However, managers do not ensure that vetting information supplied by recruitment agencies is robust enough to confirm that staff are suitable to work with vulnerable children.

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improvement to be good

The home’s premises are generally safe and secure. Despite this, there are broken window locks in vacant bedrooms and not all bedroom windows are appropriately restricted. The security of the building is enhanced by the use of CCTV.

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improvement to be good

Staff maintain good communication with other professionals in order to keep children safe. This is particularly the case for children’s social workers, the police, ‘Prevent’ duty officers and substance misuse workers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of the home is poor. The lack of strong and effective leadership has contributed to the identified weaknesses. This situation requires prompt resolution if the home is to improve overall and positively influence children’s safety, progress and experiences.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager for a significant length of time. Since the last inspection, the director of the home has become the responsible individual and a new manager has recently been appointed. In line with revised Ofsted guidance, the provider’s failure to appoint a registered manager within 26 weeks results in an inadequate judgement for the leadership and management outcome area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s monitoring systems are not sufficiently developed, and several weaknesses Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 9 highlighted at the previous inspection remain unresolved. Monitoring systems do not highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the service that help improve the home’s quality of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers conduct regular service reviews, but these are not robust. For example, written records do not efficiently chart the progress that children are making. Monitoring systems do not highlight deficiencies in staff recording. This is particularly the case for records of children’s absences, the quality of behaviour management plans and healthcare plans.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The staff rota is inaccurate and does not reflect the shifts actually worked by individual staff members. The recording of key information requires close scrutiny to ensure that records are detailed, accurate and highlight work undertaken with children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

External Regulation 44 visits are conducted every month. The subsequent reports are detailed and provide an effective overview of the home’s operation and functioning. However, the provider’s completion of the regulation 45 quality of care review is overdue.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s statement of purpose is a detailed document, which outlines the aims and objectives of the service. However, the document requires revision, particularly in relation to the information about staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The children’s guide provides children with access to comprehensive information about the service, its expectations and what they should expect from the staff team. The registered provider is financially viable and there is a business plan in place that outlines areas for the home’s development.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The induction of new staff is good. However, there are significant gaps in the frequency of staff supervision and staff do not receive annual appraisals. These shortfalls do not support the development of staff or promote improvements to the quality of care that staff provide.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff training opportunities are adequate, with managers moving away from online training to providing staff with more face-to-face and group training. Recent staff training included child protection and the risk of radicalisation and child sexual exploitation. There is a wide-ranging staff training programme planned for the remainder of the year.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 10 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: SC409851 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 137 Waters Drive, Staines-Upon-Thames TW18 4RP

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Inspector

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 12 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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