Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Limited in Stockport

Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 1 SC068664 Registered provider: The Partnership of Care Today Children‟s Services

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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 provides short-, medium- and long-term care and accommodation for up to five children or young people who have emotional, social and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered since December 2013.

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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: 8 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: SC068664 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

08/11/2017 Full Good 21/02/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/09/2016 Full Outstanding 15/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 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 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 arrangements are in place to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child‟s placing authority. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) In particular, prior to the young person being admitted to the home, the manager is to ensure that full information is obtained from the placing authority so that they can undertake a thorough impact risk assessment, taking in to account the individual needs of the young people already living at the home.

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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. The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person‟s opinion as to whether— children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children‟s well-being. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b) 21/12/2018

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (“a quality of care review”) at least 21/04/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 4 once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 45 (2)(a)(b)(c))

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home offers a family environment for children and young people, who enjoy living at the home. The children and young people describe staff as „great‟. During the inspection, a young adult and her family returned to the home so that she could show her children where she used to live. She has maintained good relationships with the staff and was keen to share her memories of the home with her family.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some children make good progress from their starting points, particularly in relation to their self-esteem, confidence and self-care skills.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people who were on holiday at the time of the inspection told the inspector that they enjoyed the experience. The enjoyable time away from the home, engaging in positive activities and pastimes, helps them to build relationships with the staff and each other while they are having fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children and young people currently living at the home attend school and are making good progress in their education. This includes one child being prepared and supported by staff to sit their GCSEs through mock examinations when previously school attendance was poor.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children know how to complain, and they feel listened to by the staff and the manager. They say that they enjoy living at the home and spoke positively about their relationships with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff actively engage children and young people in appropriately focused key- working sessions that meet a range of needs. Good guidance is provided, and this helps children and young people develop resilience and self-care skills and supports the development of good health and well-being, for example improved personal and dental Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 5 hygiene. Children and young people take part in a wide range of social and recreational activities. This helps them develop existing talents and interests as well as providing new experiences, such as playing for a local rugby team. These activities promote good physical health and social skills, resulting in improved self-esteem and confidence. Contact is promoted well, and staff pay attention to organising positive family contact. Families who visit the home are welcomed and staff support parents to make the time they spend with their children enjoyable.

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

Young people are kept safe at the home. Sometimes decisions have been made for the children to move to different placements, due to concerns about risk management. The manager has made some good decisions in the best interests of children due to escalating concerns. Clear risk assessments on admission may have prevented the placement breaking down in the first instance.

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

The manager and staff have a good knowledge and understanding about issues linked to county lines and gang culture. They have worked with the safeguarding service for one young person where associated risks were identified.

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

Behaviour management strategies work well and restraints are very rarely used. There is good recording, and this tells a story of what was happening before the incident and leads to appropriately focused debrief sessions for children and staff. Staff display effective de-escalation techniques. They are patient with the children, who are helped to naturally calm down. Formal intervention from the police is low. Children are able to recognise the improvements in their own behaviour as a result of the work that staff do with them. One young person spoke about being able to manage their outbursts more effectively and walk away.

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

Risk assessments are detailed and are regularly updated so that staff are aware of children‟s and young people‟s current vulnerabilities and how to keep them safe. When the children or young people go missing from home, the staff follow procedures for working with the police to help find the children or young people. The children and young people have trusted adults who they can speak to about their concerns and who support them. Consequently, risk is reduced.

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

The manager has significant experience in residential care and has the required leadership qualification. She has been the manager at the home since 2013. When children and young people are referred to the home, peer-matching assessments lack detail. The assessments do not include the impact of the new child or young person on each of the already placed children and young people, and, as such, there have been some unplanned endings of placements. Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 6 The manager has a clear vision for the future outlined in the home‟s development plan. However, the six-monthly quality of care review report does not include consultation with children or the identification of any recommendations about how practice can be improved at the home. This makes it difficult for the regulator to monitor whether continuous improvements are being made. An independent person routinely visits the home and notes areas for improvement. Their

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

reports do not meet regulation in that they do not offer an opinion about whether children and young people are safeguarded and whether staff promote their welfare. This does not provide the regulator with an overview about the care and experiences of children and young people and whether the provider is addressing these appropriately. The manager has developed a book providing all staff with detailed guidance about procedures in the home. This helps maintain consistency of staff practice, for example recording expectations. Staff benefit from regular supervision, team meetings and training to support their personal and professional development. They have opportunities for progression to more senior positions. The manager makes sure that there is an effective level of reflective practice, so staff remain child focused in their practice. Feedback received from parents and external professionals is good. One parent said:

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

„Staff are fantastic. Communication is fantastic. We have worked as a team.‟

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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: SC068664 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector(s)

Tina Ruffles, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC068664 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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