Children's home run by Invested Childcare Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 1 Registered provider: Invested Childcare Limited

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home is run by a private organisation and is registered for the care and accommodation of up to three children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager was registered in August 2018 and is not yet qualified.

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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 good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

N/A Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 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— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the premises used for the purpose of the home are designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (2)(c)(i)) In particular, to repair the conservatory roof and make other repairs to the building, as necessary. 01/12/2018

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff— take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(vi)(vii)) In particular, to ensure that safe recruitment policies are followed so that all recruitment procedures and checks are robust and are carried out in every recruitment situation. 15/11/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in 01/12/2018 Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 3 relation to each child; are kept up to date; are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home opened in August 2018. The first few weeks since opening have been busy, and while the management team has made a good start, there have been some errors and omissions, with some work not being completed. The inspection was conducted at an early date following a number of safeguarding concerns being raised through notifications.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff have admitted children appropriately. Some of the children have not been at the home for very long. The staff have, however, made very good relationships with them and all the children told the inspectors that they liked the staff. The staff have supported them with appropriate individual work and have also achieved a good balance between nurturing and providing firm and consistent care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most of the children have made good progress since arriving at this home, with one making very good progress. However, one child remains unsettled and their progress, and experience is not good at present.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All of the children have made progress with their education. The staff have given this area a high priority and have been proactive in identifying appropriate education placements. The children have all had a poor experience of education prior to coming to this home and now have better attendance and are all starting to achieve more.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children’s health needs are being met well. One young person has done particularly well to lose weight and to start taking more exercise. The staff have also supported other young people to cut down on smoking.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are also being supported by staff to maintain family relationships where this is possible, and again one child has made good progress here.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have been referred to specialist workers for additional support where this has been appropriate. Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 4

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improvement to be good

A number of safeguarding concerns have been raised following notifications. Two children have made an allegation of inappropriate physical intervention against one member of staff. There is an ongoing child protection investigation into this allegation and the inspector has taken this into account. The member of staff concerned no longer works at the home.

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improvement to be good

There were concerns that the registered person had not recruited staff safely. The inspector found that some recruitment checks had not been conducted fully or thoroughly enough. A requirement has been made to address this.

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improvement to be good

There have been some additional safeguarding concerns at the home. Two children have been involved in some risk-taking behaviour. This has involved them going onto a nearby busy road and acting in a dangerous manner. Staff have dealt with this situation well and are continuing to do so, but the inspector felt the situation was volatile and that it may require further action. A requirement has therefore been made for the staff to take whatever action is needed to ensure that such incidents are safeguarded in a timely and appropriate way.

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improvement to be good

The staff have made good risk assessments and have put in appropriate controls. These, together with comprehensive behaviour management plans, do provide clear guidance on managing challenging behaviour. The staff have managed any challenging behaviour well. They have provided the children with appropriate boundaries and expectations and mostly the children have respected these.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children at the home have had some self-harming behaviour in the past, but this has reduced since they have lived at the home, which suggests they are more settled and that they feel safe. Children spoken to told the inspector that there was no bullying in the home and that they felt safe.

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improvement to be good

There have been no recorded physical interventions during the inspection period. However, clearly there is one alleged incident of this where the situation remains unclear. The staff have only used a few sanctions but have used a range of incentives to encourage positive behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and the responsible individual have worked well together to open the home and have generally made a good start. They are confident, skilled and, most of all, committed and enthusiastic. The responsible individual has had a hands-on approach for this initial period and this has been positive. They are child-centred and are creating an ethos and a culture where children are listened to, where they are supported to make good choices about their futures and where they are involved in the day-to-day running of the home. Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 5 The staff are complimentary about the management team and are appreciative of the good supervision, training and support that they have received. The managers have started to create a strong like-minded staff team which has a good deal of experience and enthusiasm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The management team is in the process of building links and relationships with external professionals and agencies. It has generally made a good start to this aspect of the work and has plans to further develop this in the near future. It has made good links with health services and mental health services.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and the responsible individual have clear ideas about the future development of the home and are making good progress with this. They have not yet created a robust recording system and this has led to some errors and omissions. Some documents and information are missing from the necessary records. This includes some consent forms and some education plans. Some documents are incomplete. This includes placement plans, which need further development to identify goals and targets. A system to measure progress also needs to be created. While these errors and omissions have not affected the care of the children they do need to be quickly addressed and so a requirement has been made to do this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A requirement has also been made to carry out necessary repairs to the building and to make the environment more homely. The first few weeks have been busy, and this work has not been completed as quickly as it should have been.

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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: 1276421 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Invested Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Acklam Hall, Hall Drive, Middlesbrough TS5 7DY

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Inspector

Colin Imrie, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1276421 7 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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