Children's Home run by Benjamin UK Ltd in Bedford

Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 1 SC412953 Registered provider: Benjamin UK Ltd

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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 privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for four children and young people, irrespective of gender, aged between 12 and 18 years, who have complex needs. The manager was registered with Ofsted in April 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 25 to 26 September 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 18 December 2017

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2017 Full Good 27/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Good 24/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 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

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and 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)) 02/11/2018

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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.

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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 (4)(a(5)) 31/12/2018

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Recommendations

 Ensure staff provide a welcoming environment. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7) In particular, ensure that the high level of decor and cleanliness is consistent throughout the home.  Staff should keep and encourage children to keep appropriate memorabilia of the time spent living at the home and help them to record significant life events. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5)  The registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) In particular, ensure that all known risks within the home’s location and

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Recommendations

Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 4 strategies to manage these are recorded on the document.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that is safe and provides them with space to grow and develop. Children make good progress educationally, emotionally and socially. Interactions between the staff and children are warm and nurturing and enable attachments to allow the children to develop. This means that the children are confident to discuss their feelings and concerns with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between staff and children are supportive and respectful. Staff spend good-quality time with children, and this enables the staff to have an in-depth understanding of the children’s individual needs. Staff seek and listen to children’s views, through meaningful one-to-one sessions, and children’s meetings. They praise children on their achievements, no matter how small. Children’s self-esteem and confidence increase and they begin to make positive plans for their futures.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage, where appropriate, children’s relationships with their families, friends and others who are important to them. Staff help children to maintain existing relationships and re-engage with other family members in a safe manner.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff members’ enthusiasm and passion in their care for the children encourage children to be motivated and engage in the home. Children are actively involved in weekly activities in the community, including attending a recording studio, gym with a personal trainer, strategy games and football. The home provides activities, for example it has a trampoline, table tennis and a large garden with various choices of use open to the children. Through this engagement, children learn new skills, their horizons are broadened, they reduce risk-taking behaviour and enjoy new opportunities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children’s health improves while living at this home. They receive support to attend and engage in health appointments, which supports children in their mental, physical and emotional well-being. Staff are proactive in ensuring that the children are informed of the risks to their health. Children engage in key-work sessions, referrals and appointments to external agencies, including children and adolescent mental health services and substance misuse agencies. The organisation’s assistant psychologist’s weekly visits provide staff and children with further support to meet the children’s needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children live in a home that has a good level of decor and furnishings. A variety of rooms downstairs enable children to participate in different activities within communal areas. However, some aspects of the home, such as the carpet on the stairs and the cooker splashback, require improvement to bring them to the standard of the other areas in the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 5

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

Staff take their responsibility seriously for keeping children safe, and there are effective arrangements in place. When concerns or allegations occur, the manager takes appropriate and swift action to safeguard children. As a result, children feel safe and are safe.

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

Children are comfortable and relaxed around the staff who care for them. Staff are calm and consistent in their approach to supporting children in times of anxiety and challenging behaviour. Through the staff team’s in-depth understanding of the children’s backgrounds, effective training, and insightfulness to look beyond the presenting behaviour, staff provide the support the children require. Good-quality reflection with children following incidents helps to identify effective strategies to reduce the risk of recurrence. In addition, this supports children to begin to manage their behaviour appropriately.

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

The organisation’s assistant psychologist attends the home weekly, providing support through formal and informal meetings with the staff and children. Individual therapeutic plans support staff to meet the needs of the children. This inter-agency working helps to meet children’s emotional and psychological needs, and incidents reduce.

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

Some children do go missing from the home. This behaviour has significantly decreased for all children from their starting points. For some children who live a considerable distance from the home, this appears to be due to them wanting to be in their home area, as opposed to not wanting to be at the home. When incidents of children going missing from the home do occur, staff are proactive in searching for them, contacting their family and friends and encouraging them to return.

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

The manager has completed a location risk assessment. However, this document is not updated when new information or concerns become known. This could lead to staff who are new, or covering from another home in the organisation, not being aware of potential risks to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has registered with Ofsted since the last inspection, and has infused the home with enthusiasm, nurture and passion for achieving the best outcomes for children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager values the staff, who feel supported and motivated as a result. The manager is approachable and has a supportive deputy whose role and management style complements the manager. While there is a current staff gender imbalance at the home, the manager is mindful of this, and incorporates male staff wherever possible to ensure that the children have time with positive male role models. There are plans in place to address this imbalance.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose is embedded throughout the day-to-day practice in the Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 6 home and staff are clear about the aims and objectives in their care of the children. However, the manager has not provided Ofsted with the most up-to-date statement of purpose. While there is minimal impact on children, this is a breach in regulation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff spoke with positivity about the carefully selected training they receive, to meet the children’s needs. They described some of the training as ‘inspirational’. This change in the training offered by the provider has, positively, resulted in staff who have a better understanding of the needs of the children they provide care for. Therefore, children make good progress and have positive experiences living at this home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External monthly monitoring contributes to driving improvements. The manager completes internal monitoring and has a strong awareness of the strengths and areas of improvement regarding the quality of care provided. However, although the manager completed a six-monthly review, this was not sent to Ofsted. In addition, the document does not provide for consultation with parents, placing authorities and staff. This does not ensure that all parties are able to provide their view of the service.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Children’s records are individualised and provide staff with clear information and guidance about the child. Children can access what is written about them. Staff provide photographs for children on their time at the home when they leave, providing them with memorabilia that they can keep. However, for other children who are not keen on having their photograph taken, staff do not consider the different ways they can create memorabilia for the children during their stay, or the different kinds of memorabilia they can collate for all children.

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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: SC412953 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Church Farm House, Station Road, Aldbury, Tring HP23 5RS

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Claudette Deysel

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Inspector

Natalie Burton: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC412953 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 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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