Children's home run by Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council in Walsall

Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 1 SC464762 Registered provider: Walsall Metropolitan 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 local authority short-breaks service provides short periods of residential care for up to six young people who have physical and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in April 2013 and is suitably qualified and experienced.

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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: 20 November 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: SC464762 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

20/11/2017 Full Good 23/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/11/2016 Full Good 09/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 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

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how the child’s views, wishes and feelings have been taken into account and give the child reasons for decisions in relation to the child;

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Requirement Due date

regularly consult children, and seek their feedback, about the quality of the home’s care. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 03/12/2018

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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—

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(c)) 03/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered 03/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 4 person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it. 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 (2)(b)(5))

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) This specifically relates to supervision arrangements for waking night care staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have trusting and safe relationships with staff who know them well. Staff provide young people with warmth and attention that reassure them during their stays. This means that young people enjoy their short breaks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know each young person exceptionally well. Staff make sure that each young person feels welcome. Bedrooms are personalised with toys and the young people’s favourite bedding in preparation for their stays. Young people feel valued and well cared for during their short breaks.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help young people to use and develop their own methods of communication. However, it is unclear how young people’s views are followed up by staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff ensure that individual placement plans have realistic achievement targets for young people. For instance, one young person is being encouraged to use cutlery to eat meals, and another has learned to dress themselves.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between staff and parents are strong. Staff provide reassurance and practical advice to parents or carers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff have developed strong working relationships with social workers, healthcare professionals and teachers. The managers and staff are particularly good at sharing information that enables good decisions to be made for the benefit of young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 5

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

Staff understand the risks and vulnerabilities of young people who have complex needs and disabilities. Risk management plans reflect these risks accurately.

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

Staff manage challenging behaviour with patience and understanding. Behaviour management plans are effective. These plans set out the triggers to challenging behaviour and the actions that staff should take. As a result, physical intervention is rare.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been no complaints from young people, parents or professionals.

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

There have been no significant safeguarding incidents. Staff understand how to safeguard young people and are confident about how to follow child protection procedures.

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

The home environment is very well maintained, safe and secure. The home’s location risk assessment is completed to a high standard. The manager receives regular neighbourhood alerts from a local community app which he uses to update staff to inform activity planning. This ensures that young people are kept safe.

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

An experienced, knowledgeable and qualified registered manager leads this service. He is assisted by an experienced care manager.

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

Since the last inspection there has been significant improvement in the regularity and quality of staff supervision, which helps staff to reflect on their practice and the progress of young people. All staff now have annual performance appraisals. However, gaps in supervision remain for some waking night care staff.

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

Staffing is stable. All staff are appropriately qualified to a level 3 in residential childcare. The registered manager ensures that all staff stay up to date with mandatory training. However, staff have not had the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge to meet the specific needs of current young people receiving short breaks. For example, staff have not received training to increase their understanding of self-harming or to develop their understanding of autistic spectrum disorder. In addition, although staff have refreshed their manual handling training online, their practical lifting skills have not been reassessed. This leaves both young people and staff vulnerable to injury.

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

The registered manager has completed a review of the quality of care that the home provides. He is aware of the strengths and weaknesses of the service and can demonstrate areas where improvement has taken place. However, he has failed to ensure that views of children, parents and other stakeholders are considered. This shortfall, identified at the last inspection, continues to limit the development of the service and the effectiveness of the registered manager. Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 6

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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: SC464762 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Walsall Metropolitan Borough Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Darwall Street, Walsall WS1 1TP

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Inspector

Anne Daly, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC464762 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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