Children's Home run by Children and Family Services Limited in Luton

Inspection report children's home: SC028599 1 SC028599 Registered provider: Children and Family Services 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 home offers care, in two houses, for up to seven children who have a learning disability and/or a physical disability. A private company owns and operates this provision.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since May 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 29 to 30 November 2018

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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 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: 18 December 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: SC028599 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2017 Full Good 24/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 11/08/2016 Full Good 04/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children's home: SC028599 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—

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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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, provide training for staff in safeguarding disabled children. 30/01/2019

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(c)) 03/01/2019

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Recommendations

 The review of the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the home should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 64 paragraph 15.1) Inspection report children's home: SC028599 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work proactively with other professionals to ensure that children’s complex health needs are met. Clear placement plans support the staff to meet these needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

A motivated team has built good trusting relationships with children. Staff understand children’s health and personal needs and how children enjoy spending their time. Staff have a good understanding of the children’s individual communication needs. This was evident throughout the inspection.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff involve the children in a wide variety of activities at the home and in the community. Children attend clubs, giving them the opportunity to meet with and make new friends. This helps children to build their social awareness and to have the same experiences as their peers.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff understand the importance of routine and structure for the children and incorporate them into children’s plans accordingly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff encourage and support independence according to the child’s age, understanding and ability. One young person has just started a weekly paper round, supported by staff, which is something that he and staff are very proud of.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children participate in regular house meetings. Staff sometimes prepare the agendas in advance using picture exchange communication, when discussing activities and reminding children how to make a complaint. This means that no child is excluded from the meetings.

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

Children spoken to said that they feel safe living at the home because they can talk to staff. A child was worried that people could get into the home at night and wanted to know how the police could keep him safe. The local police officer visited and the child was able to ask questions. This shows that staff listen to and act on children’s worries or fears to support them to feel safe.

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

Comprehensive risk assessments outline risks, concerns and strategies to keep children safe. The assessments are regularly reviewed and updated when necessary to provide accurate guidance to staff.

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

There has been one complaint since the last inspection. This was dealt with effectively by the home and the social worker. The complainant was happy with the outcome.

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

Medication is administered and stored correctly. All staff have undertaken medication training. A member of staff has become a trainer in medication management, which Inspection report children's home: SC028599 5 means that all new staff can be trained as part of their induction.

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

Safeguarding incidents or concerns are recorded and appropriately actioned. Staff have undertaken safeguarding training. However, they have not undertaken any training that is specific to safeguarding disabled children. This could mean that some of the additional risks for disabled children are not understood by the staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a clear vision for the home and clearly wants children to have the best experiences while living there. She has met the three recommendations from the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Effective monitoring systems mean that the manager understands the strengths of the home and areas for development, which enables her to make improvements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are up to date with their mandatory training. All eligible staff have achieved or are undertaking a relevant level 3 qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Feedback from social workers and parents is very positive. Those consulted during the inspection said that communication with the home is excellent.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working between the staff and other professionals is very positive. This enables all those involved with the children’s care to make sure that the children’s needs are met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Regular staff meetings enable reflection on practice and a focus on children’s needs. Staff receive regular supervision that supports their day-to-day practice. However, not all staff have an up-to-date appraisal. Consequently, formal opportunities to review professional development and identify further training may be missed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has not sought information from external agencies to inform the location risk assessment and has not included ways in which risks can be reduced, or the risks to children if they do go missing from the home. The impact is somewhat lessened by high supervision levels.

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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 Inspection report children's home: SC028599 6 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: SC028599 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Children and Family Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Prospero House, 46−48 Rothesay Road, Luton LU1 1QZ

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Inspector

Trish Palmer: social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC028599 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 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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