Children's home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 1 Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is privately owned. It provides care and accommodation for one young person at any time. The young person will be aged between 10 and 18 years and have emotional, behavioural and social difficulties. The manager was registered with Ofsted for this service in November 2017.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 September 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 widespread failures that mean young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: this is the first inspection since registration

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 2

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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

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

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Requirement Due date

(iii) have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; (v) understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; (vi) take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare. And (b) that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(iii)(v)(vi) and (b))

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Requirement Due date

These requirements are made in response to a number of significant incidents at the home that have placed both the young person and staff at risk. These incidents have included the young person having access to and using cannabis, and becoming involved with local gangs. Staff and managers have failed to manage these incidents effectively. 27/11/2018

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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— 27/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 3 (b) promotes their welfare and

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Requirement Due date

(2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to-

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Requirement Due date

(a) lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 3(1)(b)(2)(1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is made in response to the poor management of incidents and ensuring staff work to procedures and protocols in place to keep the young person safe. The manager has failed to ensure this home has been operating in accordance with the statement of purpose.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purpose of the children’s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46(1) and (2))

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Requirement Due date

This requirement is made because the manager has not consulted with partner agencies, particularly the police, in completion of the location risk assessment. The assessment does not pay sufficient reference to the protection of children standard. 27/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person’s overall progress has been significantly impaired because he has not been protected by staff or managers. Staff have not managed the young person’s behaviour, risks and vulnerabilities effectively. He has become at increasing risk as a result of cannabis use, aggressive behaviour towards staff and involvement with local gangs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

At the point of inspection, the young person was residing temporarily at a seaside holiday home with staff. He is unable to return to the home because managers have stated that they are unable to guarantee his safety from local gangs. Consequently, the young person is not receiving the support from agencies that he needs, and his future living arrangements remain uncertain. Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 4 The regular use of drugs has jeopardised the young person’s health. For example, on one occasion he used cannabis in his room for several hours and became ill. Although staff were aware of the smell of cannabis for some time, they failed to take quick and decisive action. Furthermore, when the young person became ill, staff failed to secure prompt medical attention.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff have had regular individual key-work sessions with the young person, especially following worrying incidents. Unfortunately, these do not lead to measurable improvements in how difficult situations are managed, nor in the overall behaviour of the young person. Because there is insufficient analysis following key-work sessions, learning is not gathered to help the home improve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person has made some limited progress in education. Prior to coming to the home, he was not attending any educational setting. He now attends the school belonging to the organisation. His attendance has been sporadic, often only attending for afternoon sessions. The young person has been hampered from making improved educational attendance because staff have not established good daily routines for the young person. He is often up very late at night and so refuses education in the morning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The young person has benefited from living in a well-maintained and comfortable home that is nicely furnished and decorated to a good standard. Any damage caused to the home is quickly repaired.

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

Staff and managers have failed to ensure that the young person uses social networking sites and the internet safely. The young person has contacted individuals involved in gangs via social media in order to gain access to cannabis. He has also accessed a social network site of an adult nature. This has proven counter-productive to trying to improve his behaviour.

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

The young person has been increasingly vulnerable because staff have not worked to agreed protocols, plans and safe working practices. There have been numerous serious incidents that have placed the young person and staff at risk. The safeguarding practice of staff has been poor on many occasions. At times, staff appear to lack the knowledge and skills to identify risks or to act quickly and decisively when the young person is at risk.

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

The efforts of staff to manage the young person’s behaviour have been ineffective. The young person’s routines have become poor. He is often awake until late at night. At times, he is awake all night. When staff have suspected that he is in possession of cannabis, they have taken minimal action. The young person has confronted and intimidated staff with few consequences. The young person has not developed an understanding of how to behave in an acceptable manner. Staff practice has been focused on containing his behaviour, rather than improving it. Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 5 The safety of the young person and staff has been compromised because managers and staff have not ensured that correct staffing levels have been maintained. For example, when the young person has been agitated and disruptive, staff have taken him out of the house on their own. This is contrary to agreed protocols and places the staff

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

When undertaking the location review, the manager failed to obtain and consider the views of partner agencies. Consequently, the manager and staff did not have access to important information from police and other agencies regarding local gang activity.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager was away from the home for a prolonged period. During this period, the home had two interim managers. The registered manager has now returned to work. She has a level 4 qualification in leadership and management and is currently undertaking the level 5 diploma.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders of this organisation failed to act decisively following a staff member making anti- Islamic remarks to a young person. Leaders did not take firm action in relation to this member of staff. This contributed to the fact that the member of staff went on to make further inappropriate and potentially racist comments to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leaders of the organisation have not ensured that this home is well organised. Some important information is hard to locate or not available. In respect of one serious incident, there is no recording available that would enable managers to review and evaluate the actions of staff. Poor oversight prevents the manager from understanding deficits in practice and taking action to put matters right.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

New staff to the home benefit from a good induction. This includes the completion of mandatory training and spending time on shift observing the practice of more experienced colleagues. Unfortunately, this good induction is not translating into good and safe practice because of a lack of management oversight.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 6 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: 1259419 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Manaktala & Co. Ltd, 17 Leeland Mansions, Leeland Road, West Ealing, London W13 9HE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector

Phillip Morris, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1259419 8 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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