Children's home run by Tab Care and Support Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 1 Registered provider: Tab Care and Support Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately-run children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted for this home since April 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: not applicable

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the first inspection since the service was registered. Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; protect and promote each child’s welfare; and provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)) 09/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans; support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete the independent study; understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and 09/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 3 take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers; help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child’s learning. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(viii)(b)) 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

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; ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; and understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(a)(b)(f)) 09/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)(c)) 09/11/2018

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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 purposes 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). 09/11/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 4 When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2))

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Recommendations

 Ensure that records are kept detailing all individual incidents when children go missing from the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.31) In particular, the records should detail the actions taken by staff and the support provided to young people on their return home.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record-keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications). The plan should be updated to include

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Recommendations

any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and be used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff, including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  Ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risks to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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improvement to be good

This is the first inspection for this children’s home since it was registered in April 2018. Progress for young people is mixed, with young people doing well in some areas and not progressing so well in other areas. Similarly, experiences are varied, with young people living through some difficult experiences but also enjoying some positive experiences and developing constructive relationships with the staff team.

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improvement to be good

When young people are not in full-time education, there are no arrangements for young Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 5 people to have structured educational activities. Furthermore, there are no education plans in place to support and encourage young people’s learning and educational progress. The lack of effective planning and structure does not help young people to achieve positive outcomes in education, and their educational needs are not sufficiently met. However, the registered manager is consulting appropriately with education professionals to address the gaps in the educational provision.

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improvement to be good

Placement plans do not include all the information about the young people’s needs or how they are to be met. For example, they do not include the arrangements for each young person’s contact with their friends and family or how the staff are to facilitate and support this. Healthcare plans lack sufficient detail about young people’s health needs and how they are to be met. Furthermore, the home does not have statutory healthcare assessments or personal education plans for all young people. Consequently, the manager and staff are not fully aware of each young person’s needs and are unable to offer the necessary support and intervention.

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improvement to be good

Consultation with young people is a strong feature at the home. The views, wishes and feelings of young people are a central part of the home’s functioning and are sought regularly through day-to-day discussions, weekly young people’s meetings, young people’s consultation forms and key-work sessions. Young people said that they feel supported, valued and listened to.

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improvement to be good

The home environment that young people live in is warm and welcoming, and improvements are continually made to the decoration, furniture and soft furnishings. It feels like a family home, and the young people are consulted about any home improvements. For example, the young people are working on personal wall art for the lounge area. Young people personalise their bedrooms and are helped and encouraged to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy. There is also a daily incentive for young people to encourage them to help with chores. The inclusive approach helps young people to feel valued.

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improvement to be good

Good safeguarding practice helps to keep young people safe from harm. Young people say that they feel safe and that the staff do all that they can to help and protect them.

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improvement to be good

The procedures for when young people are missing from home are generally good and help to protect them by providing good guidance to staff in how to respond should an incident occur. In most cases, young people have a thorough debrief with staff and an independent return home interview in line with statutory guidance. This helps to identify why young people have been missing and the potential risks that they may have faced during the time that they were missing. However, on one occasion, when a young person was missing from home, the staff did not follow the procedures or complete a missing from home record. Consequently, the young person did not receive the most appropriate support and intervention, in a timely way, to help and support him and keep him safe. Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 6 The registered manager has not liaised with relevant professionals to gather information to help him to undertake a thorough assessment of the home’s location. This lack of

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improvement to be good

consultation does not sufficiently demonstrate that all risks in the community have been identified and that strategies are in place to manage the risks that could arise.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff use their professional judgement and knowledge of young people to decide if or when physical intervention should be used. Physical intervention is only ever used to keep a young person or others safe from harm. Young people are given the opportunity to discuss their views, wishes and feelings following the use of restraint. The staff involved are also given a chance to discuss and reflect on the intervention. As a result, the registered manager is able to complete a thorough review of the intervention to identify practice that was effective and to respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management is good and promotes positive behaviour from young people. Rewards and incentives encourage young people’s positive behaviour and engagement. Sanctions are fair and restorative and help the young people to change negative behaviour for the better.

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

The registered manager is suitably qualified and experienced to undertake his role. Staff feel valued and supported by the registered manager and the responsible individual. Regular team meetings take place at which the staff can discuss the young people’s needs and share information, including research and guidance on good practice. This helps staff to deliver a consistent level of care to the young people.

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

Not all staff have completed mandatory training. Therefore, not all members of the staff team have the necessary knowledge and skills to meet the needs of the young people. However, arrangements are in place to address training deficits soon.

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

Overall, good-quality supervision is in place for the staff where they can discuss the needs of the young people and reflect on their practice. However, during a particularly unsettled time for one young person, the staff did not receive supervision. This shortfall meant that the staff did not receive suitable support from the registered manager at a crucial time.

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

There are some shortfalls in the recording at the home. For example, a self-injury log was not fully completed and was not reviewed or signed by the registered manager. The daily log book lacked the detail of the circumstances of when a young person was missing from home. Furthermore, young people’s records and plans require improvement to ensure that they are up to date and demonstrate the young person’s journey.

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

Collaborative working with other professionals and family members who are involved in each young person’s care supports improved outcomes for young people. Feedback from Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 7 professionals is positive, praising the management and staff’s commitment to the young people and the progress that young people make. A social worker said, ‘The home has worked exceptionally hard on unpicking the young person’s behaviours in a child-centred way.’

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

Monitoring and review systems are thorough and help the manager to identify themes and trends and areas for development. There is a detailed development plan that demonstrates the registered manager’s vision for the home. However, there is no workforce plan in place that fulfils the workforce-related requirements of the regulations for children’s homes.

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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: 1270731 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tab Care and Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Tab Care and Support Limited, St Nicholas House, Old Churchyard, Liverpool L2 8TX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anthony Willmore

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 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 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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