Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 1 SC447930 Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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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 children’s home is operated by a local authority. It is registered for two young people who have emotional and/or behavioural problems. There was one child living in the home at the time of the inspection.

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Information about this children’s home

There is currently an interim manager in post. The responsible individual has resigned from his post. There are plans in place for another person to cover this position, while a permanent responsible individual is recruited.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 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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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home was judged inadequate at the last full inspection on 12 June 2018. Following this inspection, two compliance notices were issued in relation to regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 14, the care planning standard, of the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. These were both found to be met during a monitoring visit on 31 July 2018. Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/06/2018 Full Inadequate 23/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 22/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 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 children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

keep the children’s guide and the home’s complaints procedure under review and seek children’s comments before revising either document;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that an explanation is given to each child as soon as reasonably practicable after the child’s arrival about—

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Requirement Due date

the children’s guide.(Regulation 7(d)(i)) 01/11/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

that staff— 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child 01/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 4 from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) 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

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 01/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must 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)) 01/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children’s home at least once each month.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person to inspect the premises of the home and such of the home’s records (except for a child’s case records unless the child and the child’s placing authority consent) as the independent person requires.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(b) 5)) 01/11/2018

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Recommendations

 Staff should ensure that children understand what local leisure and other cultural or religious services are on offer for them, support them to access any leisure passes and encourage them to participate in activities in the community and wider if appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 31, paragraph 6.6)  It is good practice for a note of the content and/or outcomes of supervision sessions to be kept and to ensure that both the person giving the supervision and Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 5 staff member have a copy of a record. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’ page 61, paragraph 13.4)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including

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Recommendations

the quality standards’ page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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improvement to be good

The provider is now making more robust, child-centred decisions about how they admit children to the home. At the time of the inspection there was one child living in the home. They had been in placement for three weeks.

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improvement to be good

This transition was managed well. Staff visited the child in her previous placement and spent time with her before she moved into the home. The child also visited the home before she moved in. This approach ensured that she was well prepared for the move. As a result, the child has settled in well. However, staff need to ensure that on arrival at the home children receive a copy of the children’s guide.

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improvement to be good

The home is not yet up to full capacity. It is not possible to fully measure how staff have contributed to the child’s progress due to the limited time that the child has lived in the home. The child has started to build positive relationships with staff and described living in the home as ‘good’.

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improvement to be good

The child attends school regularly. Staff support her educational progress by communicating well with school staff and providing a routine in the home which promotes school attendance. Staff help the child to complete her homework. During the inspection, staff helped her to make cakes to take to school the next day.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that the child has an individual health plan in place, which details how staff will ensure that the child’s health needs are promoted. Staff have registered the child with the relevant health professionals. They ensure that the child attends health appointments, when necessary, to ensure that her health needs are met. Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 6 Staff spend time with the child, finding out her likes and dislikes. As a result, they engage her in activities that interest her, such as walking. Due to the short time the child has been in placement, she has not yet engaged in any community activities. This is an area that needs to be explored further by staff to ensure that the child can pursue her interests.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that the child lives in a homely environment. The home has been redecorated to a high standard and the child has personalised her bedroom to her choice.

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improvement to be good

The child is given good opportunities to express her views. She is consulted regularly in key-work sessions and her views are listened to and acted on.

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improvement to be good

Staff work proactively with professionals, such as the child’s local authority social worker, to support her progress. Professionals are complimentary about staff and how well staff communicate with them.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments identify the child’s known risks and include written guidance for staff to follow to reduce any known risks. However, not all staff spoken to during the inspection demonstrated that they understood the actions detailed in the child’s risk assessments to minimise risks associated with self-harm. As a result, all staff working with the child do not know the correct action to take to ensure that the child is kept safe.

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improvement to be good

The child does not go missing from the home. Staff ensure that the child has a missing- from-home risk assessment in place, but the manager needs to ensure that this reflects what actions staff are to follow should the child go missing from school.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote positive behaviour by using a reward ticketing system. The child collects tickets towards a gift in her reward box. This approach is understood by the child and is effective in promoting positive behaviour. Staff consult the child about what strategies will work best to manage her behaviour. As a result, there have been no behaviour incidents or restraints in the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager has ensured that all the actions identified in the independent fire risk assessment have been actioned since the last inspection. All staff have now had fire safety training.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not, however, acted to ensure that the environment is safe for the child who has been admitted. For example, there are no window protectors on the windows in the home, despite this being identified as an action in the child’s risk assessment. Staff acted to address this during the inspection.

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improvement to be good

Staff have all had safeguarding training. They understand and follow the required Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 7 safeguarding procedures, to ensure that children are kept safe.

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

There has been a period of instability of leadership and management in the home due to the registered manager leaving. There is an acting manager in post, who has made some improvements in the home since the last inspection. She has a clear development plan which identifies areas for improvement going forward.

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

The manager is taking steps to address the significant shortfalls identified at the last inspection, but these improvements are in the early stages. There have been some requirements made again at this inspection that were made at the previous inspection. Some of these areas had not been identified by the manager through internal monitoring prior to this inspection taking place.

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

The home is staffed by a stable and experienced staff team. The staff receive regular training for their professional development. Team meetings take place regularly and provide an opportunity to discuss practice and the children, to ensure a consistent approach.

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

Staff spoke positively about working in the home and about the changes the new manager has made since the last inspection. They spoke about looking forward to coming into work now and feeling well supported by the new manager.

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

Staff receive regular supervision, which supports them in their roles. However, sessional staff who work in the home do not always receive regular supervision. Furthermore, there is not always a record kept of supervision meetings and staff do not always receive a copy of the minutes from these meetings.

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

External monitoring of the home continues to be of inconsistent quality. It is not effective at identifying areas of improvement required in the home. None of the shortfalls identified during this inspection were identified through external monitoring visits.

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

Staff have worked hard to ensure that children’s case files are more reflective of their daily lives. However, some files do not contain the relevant paperwork, such as up-to- date local authority care plans and placement plans. This means that staff do not have the full information with which to plan the child’s care.

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

The home is now providing care in line with its statement of purpose. The staff team is providing a stable and nurturing home environment for the child in placement. The manager needs to ensure, however, that the home’s statement of purpose is updated with details of the sessional staff who are working in the home.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 8 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: SC447930 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Warrington Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Children’s Services Directorate, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, Cheshire WA1 2NJ

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC447930 10 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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