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

Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 1 SC008600 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

This privately owned home is registered to look after up to six children. The young people may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered since April 2008.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 26 September 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: SC008600 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/09/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Good 24/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— communicate to each child expectations about the child‟s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding; (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(v)) In particular, staff should support young people to understand what is acceptable behaviour, and the consequences of their behaviour both online and in the community. In doing so, young people will be supported to understand and recognise situations in which they may be vulnerable and at risk of harm. 30/11/2018

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b) and (2)(h)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children‟s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children‟s home; if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that— 30/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 4 the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform; For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. The relevant date is— in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a

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Requirement Due date

home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32 (2)(a)(3)(b)(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) In particular, staff should ensure that copies of personal education plans and education, health and care plans are on file and used to inform care planning. 30/11/2018

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Recommendations

 When commissioning a placement in a children‟s home the placing authority must establish how the home will support the child‟s educational needs. In accordance with regulation 5 (engaging with the wider system to ensure children‟s needs are met), homes must have proactive relationships with local authorities, appropriate schools and educational support services. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 27, paragraph 5.7)  The registered person should ensure that, in line with their individual health plans and the ethos of the home, children are offered advice, support and guidance on health and well-being. Staff should have the relevant skills and knowledge to be able to help children understand, and where necessary work to change, negative behaviours in key areas of health including tobacco use. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 35, paragraph 7.18)

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Recommendations

 A record of supervision should be kept for staff, including the manager. The record should provide evidence that supervision is being delivered in line with regulations. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 61, paragraph 13.3) Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have excellent relationships with staff. Young people were consistent in their praise of the staff, who they said were nice, fun and kind. Young people feel able to talk to staff, even about sensitive topics. This is because young people trust staff and are able to open up to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff‟s nurturing and consistent approach is fundamental to the progress that young people make in respect of their social and emotional development. This means that young people grow in confidence and self-esteem.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people lead active and fun lives. For example, participation in football clubs and attendance at the gym are complemented by movie nights and computer game sessions. A recent holiday has provided young people with further opportunities to develop happy memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff show a commitment to promoting young people‟s contact with their loved ones. This means that even when families live a long distance from the home, staff come up with solutions to ensure that contact can be maintained.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff make certain that young people are able to access primary health services such as the dentist and doctors. In the main, young people are in good health. However, some young people smoke cigarettes. Staff‟s efforts to address this have been unsuccessful. Currently, there is no clear plan in place to support young people to reconsider and understand the impact of using cigarettes.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

When young people are first admitted to the home, there is not always a clear pathway to them being able to access formal education in a timely manner. This means that for some young people there can be significant delays in such education being offered. Despite this, once young people are in placement, staff work proactively with local authorities and local education provisions to identify placements for young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff lessen the impact for those young people who are not accessing formal education by offering education in the home through internally employed teachers. This means that those young people are able to access up to 15 hours of education per week.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The extent to which this internally offered education is meeting young people‟s educational needs is unclear, as staff do not always ensure that copies of personal education plans and education, health and care plans are on file. As these documents are not available, staff are unable to challenge local authorities effectively when these assessments and plans are in need of review.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Reassuringly, the number of young people accessing external educational placements is a swiftly improving picture. Furthermore, those young people who are already accessing Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 6 external education placements are making good progress.

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

The staff have a good understanding of young people‟s vulnerabilities. Strategies to keep young people safe are well established and understood by staff. However, in some instances the focus is on managing the risk rather than reducing the risk. For example, situations involving young people‟s potential use of substances and inappropriate online activities have been managed well by staff. However, the subsequent follow-up work has in some cases been limited. As such, it is not always clear how staff have educated young people about how to keep themselves safe both online and in the community.

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

The extent to which young people go missing is relatively low. This is because young people have a strong sense of belonging at the home and can talk to staff about their worries rather than running away. When young people do go missing, staff take decisive action. A social worker told the inspector, „The response to missing incidents has been fantastic.‟

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

The staff are successful at managing young people‟s behaviours. As a result, the use of physical restraint is low. Staff place a strong emphasis on promoting positive behaviours. For example, when one young person is having a difficult day, staff give the other young people lots of attention and praise. This ensures that one individual‟s negative behaviours do not have a ripple effect on others. As a result, the home is a happy and stable place for young people to live.

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

In most instances, staff manage the administration of medicines effectively. However, systems to manage the disposal of medication when young people no longer require it, or the medication is out of date, are not well established. This has not caused a direct risk to young people.

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

The registered manager is very experienced and leads an equally knowledgeable and stable staff team. The high retention rate of staff means that young people benefit from a staff team that is familiar and consistent.

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

The registered manager has a good understanding of the home, although her monitoring systems have not enabled her to address all the requirements raised at the last inspection. First, staff have not always maintained case records as required and second staff have been inconsistent in supporting young people to learn the strategies to stay safe online and in the community. This means that the home has also not met the requirement raised under regulation 13 to ensure that monitoring systems are used to make continuous improvements. However, overall, these shortfalls have not had a significant impact on the progress made by young people.

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

Staff benefit from a wide variety of training; this includes recently completed training to assess the risks presented by young people who may present with sexually harmful Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 7 behaviours.

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

One member of staff has not completed the required qualification to work in the home. Although there is an explanation for this, there is not yet a clear plan in place to ensure that this qualification is completed at the earliest opportunity. Staff benefit from regular supervision, which means that they feel well supported. However, copies of supervision notes are not always on file. Specifically, a record of the registered manager‟s supervision over the last four months is missing. It is understood that this is due to exceptional circumstances related to the supervisor. The leadership team is currently implementing a plan 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: SC008600 8

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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 inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC008600 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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