Children's Home run by Active Ark Limited in Cumberland

Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 1 SC465634 Registered provider: Active Ark 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 is one of several children‟s homes run by a private company. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to children who may need support with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 16 October 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: SC465634 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/10/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/11/2016 Full Good 30/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 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 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— ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(c) and (e)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home‟s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)) 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. In particular the registered person must ensure that— medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them. 30/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 4 (Regulation 23(1)(2)(a)) A responsible individual must have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26(7)(b)) Specifically, this refers to ensuring that the registered manager is provided with regular professional supervision. 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

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 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 (4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 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)) 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home. The registered person must— maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; ensure that the records are kept up to date; and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)) This relates specifically to maintaining a register of children as detailed in schedule 4(1). 30/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant 30/11/2018 Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 5 person without delay if— an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)((b)(e)) The registered person must ensure that an independent person visits the children‟s home at least once each month. When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person— if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires; and 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

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Requirement Due date

requires. A visit by the independent person to the home may be unannounced. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(a)(b) and (3)) 30/11/2018

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Recommendations

 The registered person must specify the procedure to be followed and the roles and responsibilities of staff when a child is missing from care or away from the home without permission. The home‟s procedures must take into account the views of appropriate local services and have regard to police and local authority protocols for responding to missing person‟s incidents in the area where the home is located. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 45, paragraphs 9.28 and 9.29)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child‟s assessed needs as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have an existing group of children. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 56, paragraph

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Recommendations

11.4)  Any individual appointed to carry out a visit to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home‟s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home‟s care. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  The quality of care review should enable the registered person to identify areas Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 6 of strength and possible weakness in the home‟s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The home review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home has been mostly very successful in providing emergency and short-term care placements. Most young people share positive and trusting relationships with staff and make good progress in relation to their starting points. Most of these placements have resulted in young people successfully moving on to long-term foster care arrangements and back home to family members. Care planning is generally good and clearly captures young people‟s individual needs and how these are best met. The manager takes account of those young people in the home when considering new placements to be sure that they are well matched. Staff are good advocates for young people, and they listen and actively support young people to have their voices heard. Young people attend their reviews and make their views and wishes known. The home has achieved good links with local advocacy services to ensure that young people have access to an independent advocate should they

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

request this. However, one recent emergency admission has been less successful. This resulted in the young person moving out at short notice during this inspection. Information gathered prior to his admission failed to identify the full extent of risk-taking behaviours that would have deemed this home as unsuitable, taking account of both staff experience and its location. Staff value education and are committed to supporting young people to overcome any barriers to their learning. Consequently, young people regularly attend school and make good progress. Young people take pride in their achievements which significantly boosts their confidence and self-esteem. One headteacher commented, „I kid you not. It has been an absolute delight, transformational! Before going to this home, his social skills were limited. Now he is fully integrated in lessons and has a network of friends. He is doing well educationally. He has

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

had lots of certificates for achievements since returning to school. From where he has come from, the progress has been remarkable.‟ Young people are encouraged to take part in a range of activities of their choosing. For some, this has included both playing and attending football matches, while others have enjoyed activities such as go-karting and fishing. These provide fun and good opportunities for young people to develop their interests and hobbies. Young people‟s health is clearly prioritised. Staff work in good partnership with the Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 7 children‟s looked after nurse and local health practitioners to ensure that young people‟s routine healthcare needs are met. Staff are proactive in following specialist advice and promoting healthy lifestyles. For one young person, support in following dietary advice meant a significant but healthy weight loss during his time at the home.

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improvement to be good

Generally, staff are successful at making young people feel safe, and keeping them safe from harm. A parent commented, „They were patient and took time to find out his needs. He was cared for very well. He felt more secure, and staff were good role models for him. They provided him with the structure he needed. I had no safeguarding concerns.‟ Young people‟s positive behaviour is encouraged with a lot of praise, small incentives and rewards. Staff follow a restorative approach to deal with unacceptable or challenging behaviour. This helps young people develop empathy and an understanding of how their behaviour affects others. There are no recorded occasions of physical intervention being used. Risk assessments provide staff with the information they require to understand young people‟s vulnerabilities and areas of risk. They provide staff with guidance to know how to reduce and minimise those risks. However, staff have struggled recently to manage a young person who has a high

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improvement to be good

frequency of missing episodes. This had been a significant concern in previous placements also. The delay in the placing authority sharing this information failed to immediately identify the unsuitability of the placement in terms of its location and staff experience, compromising the young person‟s safety. During these missing from home episodes, despite good communication between the manager and police, local missing from home protocols were not routinely followed. Although this has not had an immediate effect on the young person‟s safety, good practice has not been promoted. Good arrangements for the safe storage, management and administration of medication exist. Staff are familiar with the home‟s procedures and training is provided to inform staff of safe practice. However, during a recent audit it was identified that some medication was missing. This was investigated by the manager, but despite a thorough

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improvement to be good

review of records he was unable to identify how the shortage arose. Unaccounted for medication has the potential to compromise young people‟s safety. Recruitment practice is robust. All staff are suitably checked and vetted prior to appointment. This helps to prevent the appointment of adults that may pose a risk to young people‟s safety.

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

The home is managed by a qualified and experienced registered manager who has Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 8 worked in other home‟s operated by the company. He is knowledgeable about the young people in his care and the progress that they make. He has good oversight of practice in the home and staff identify him as being very supportive. However, during this inspection it was identified that staff are not receiving regular supervision despite reporting frequent conversations with their manager. This includes the registered manager‟s own supervision with the responsible individual. Additionally, staff have not received an annual appraisal and are unsure when this last occurred. These shortfalls hinder both the registered manager and responsible individual in being able to assess staff performance and competence. This includes failure to identify developmental needs, such as completion of essential qualifications. The inspector noted

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

that, contrary to regulation, one member of staff has not completed the diploma qualification within the required timescale. Staff seldom participate in staff meetings. These are not regularly scheduled, and written accounts of any meetings that may have taken place are not available to staff. This reduces staff‟s ability to work together as a team, sharing their knowledge and good practice, as well as having an opportunity to raise any issues of concern or uncertainty. Although staff have access to a range of training, a significant gap is identified in their knowledge of county lines and the exploitation of young and vulnerable people in trafficking drugs. Although the home‟s location is deemed unsuitable for young people exploited in this manner, it is essential that staff are kept up to date with current practice and issues that concern children and young people. During this inspection, it was identified that Ofsted had not been notified of several

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

events occurring, such as the shortfall in medication and occasions when police had to assist staff at the home. In these instances, transparency with Ofsted was reduced. Prior to this inspection, Ofsted received an evaluative quality of care review report identifying good practice and the progress young people were making during a six- month period. However, this did not provide any plan for the six-month period going forward and, therefore, did not make a significant contribution to the home‟s overall development planning. The success of external monitoring arrangements has declined. All visits are announced and take place during a weekend when the manager is not available to assist the independent person. Reports tend to be rather repetitive and regularly fail to take account of stakeholder feedback. Consequently, arrangements are insufficiently robust and fail to offer the manager the guidance and support that he desires.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 9 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: SC465634 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Armstrong Watson, Birbeck House, Duke Street, Penrith CA11 7NA

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Inspector

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC465634 11 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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