Children's home run by Broadwood Residential Limited in Rossendale

Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 1 SC448598 Registered provider: Broadwood Residential 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

A limited company owns this home. Its statement of purposes specifies that it will provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have social and/or emotional difficulties. The home is part of a cross-regional project which is commissioned by six local authorities that includes other homes and a school. The home has not had a registered manager since August 2017. There is currently an application in progress for a registered manager.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 November 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 6 February 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/02/2018 Full Good 27/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 27/10/2016 Full Good 14/01/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 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 education standard The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to understand the importance and value of education, learning, training and employment; promote opportunities for each child to learn informally; help each child who is above compulsory school age to participate in further education, training or employment and to prepare for future care, education or employment; help each child to attend education or training in accordance with the expectations in the child‟s relevant plans; (Regulation 8(1)(2)(a)(iv)(v)(ix)(x)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The positive relationships standard The positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone; help each child to understand, in a way that is appropriate according to the child‟s age and understanding, personal, sexual and social relationships, and how those relationships can be 01/01/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 4 supportive or harmful; de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children; understand and communicate to children that bullying is unacceptable; and have the skills to recognise incidents or indications of bullying

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Requirement Due date

and how to deal with them; (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(iv)(vi)(xi)(xii)(xiii)) The protection of children standard * 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— assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child‟s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child‟s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home‟s child

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Requirement Due date

protection policies; that the home‟s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are located so that children are effectively safeguarded; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child‟s health; and that the effectiveness of the home‟s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 01/01/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 5 The leadership and management standard * 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

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Requirement Due date

registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home‟s statement of purpose; 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; understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home; demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(g)(i)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard 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; that the child‟s placing authority is contacted, and a review of that child‟s relevant plans is requested, if— the registered person considers that the child is at risk of harm or has concerns that the care provided for the child is inadequate to meet the child‟s needs; the child is, or has been, persistently absent from the home without permission; 01/01/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 6 (Regulation 14(2)(a)(e)(i)(ii)) Fire precautions * If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(1) applies to the home— paragraph (1) does not apply; and the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that

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Requirement Due date

Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. In this regulation, “the fire and rescue authority” means the fire and rescue authority under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004(2) for the area in which the home is located. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

Review of premises The registered person must review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the premises used for the purposes of the children‟s home at least once in each calendar year taking into account the requirement in regulation 12(2)(c) (the protection of children standard). When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46(1)(2)) 01/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 The children‟s guide should help children to understand: what the day to day routines of the home are („what happens in the home‟). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 24, paragraph 4.22).  Expectations of standards of behaviour should be high for all staff and children in the home. These standards should be clear and unambiguous. Children should be supported to develop understanding and empathy towards each other. Positive behaviour and relationships should be reinforced, praised and encouraged; poor behaviour should be challenged and discussed. The development of safe, stable and secure relationships with staff in the home should be central to the ethos of the home and support the development of secure attachments that, where appropriate, persist over time. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 39, paragraph 8.11).

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Recommendations

Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean young people‟s welfare is not promoted. Staff do not ensure that the home environment is maintained or managed to meet the required standard. There are significant weaknesses in how staff support and protect young people which has a negative impact on the progress they make. Young people‟s experiences of living at the home are poor, and young people do not make good progress. Staff do not consistently encourage or motivate young people to be involved in education, training or employment. Staff have not persevered in encouraging young people to establish or engage in daily routines and activities. Young people are dis-engaged, and they spend large periods of time in their bedrooms or out on free time. Staff have not been able to achieve the aims and ethos of the home as described in the home‟s statement of purpose. Staff support young people to explore and address their health needs. They encourage

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

young people to attend medical appointments. Staff help young people to overcome their fears and anxieties about healthcare. Staff have been unsuccessful in their attempts to help and encourage young people to prepare for their futures. Young people are „not signed up‟ to these plans and so do not engage in actions to achieve tasks identified in the plans. Young people avoid and refuse to attend activities that would assist them in preparing for their next steps into adulthood. Young people‟s views are gained at the weekly house meetings. Leaders, managers and staff listen to the young people‟s views and advocate on their behalf. The residents‟ guide, which is given to young people when they arrive at the home, lacks information about the house rules, routines and expectations of behaviour. Staff complete regular key-work sessions with young people. In these sessions, staff are beginning to gain young people‟s views about plans, but this practice is not yet embedded throughout the

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

home. Staff form good relationships with young people, but staff have not been able to use this to effect changes. They have not challenged and encouraged individual young people to achieve the best they can. Some young people seek staff support and guidance when needed. Staff have formed some good relationships with others outside the home which is beneficial to developing young people‟s plans.

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

Managers and staff have not acted to ensure that all young people are kept safe and protected from harm. Relationships and situations of conflict between young people have been poorly managed. A young person experienced bullying while living at the home. Staff did not consistently intervene or act as required to de-escalate these behaviours. Staff did not ensure that these behaviours were effectively managed. Staff did not follow the home‟s policy and procedures to manage these behaviours or fully consider the Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 8 impact of this behaviour on the victim and perpetrators. Staff report, refer and act on safeguarding concerns. However, one allegation was incorrectly referred as the manager was not aware of the local processes and procedures. The records of this concern lack information, clarity, detail of actions, outcomes and further work required. The home did not internally investigate the matter,

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

and therefore it has not considered if any lessons were learned or if any changes to practice were required. Staff did not intervene or act when the incident occurred, which also raises concerns regarding their knowledge and understanding of their roles and responsibilities about safeguarding matters. Staff are trained in the home‟s preferred method of behaviour management. They use de-escalation strategies rather than physical intervention to manage behaviour. When physical intervention has been used, it has been to de-escalate situations and the restraint has been applied for short periods of time. Records provide clear evidence that staff explore and review each incident. Children are spoken to about their feelings following an incident and staff encourage them to consider what they might do differently next time. Some of the older young people have intervened to manage another young person‟s behaviour. Young people openly state that they are more

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

effective in managing negative behaviours and they feel staff are not listened to. The home displays house rules in the kitchen area but these are not consistently applied, known, understood or followed. Young people are not clear about what staff expectations are of them. The rules, boundaries and expectations are not detailed in the residents‟ guide. Episodes of missing are well managed, and staff actively seek and locate young people. Plans, risk assessments and protocols have not been updated to reflect the current required response to manage missing episodes. Managers work with other agencies to consider, plan and review appropriate ways to manage risk. Risk assessments do not fully explore or consider all risks. One risk assessment viewed did not detail how risk will be managed or minimised. Staff regularly inform, advise and guide young people about the impact of their risk-taking behaviours to encourage them

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

to make informed choices. Staff have formulated some protocols to manage risk-taking behaviours, but the impact of these is not yet evident. The home environment is poor, as staff have not acted swiftly to manage and maintain it. Staff have not ensured that the home is well maintained or that damage is repaired. Work identified in the most recent fire assessment has not been completed, even though records have been signed off to show that the work has been completed. Not all fire doors close as required and are not of a good standard. A cupboard which stores the home‟s chemicals has a broken lock and staff had not made this secure or moved the chemicals to a safe, secure area. During inspection, staff were not providing a positive role model to young people. They were observed to be smoking in sight of young people and not in the staff designated smoking area. The home‟s location risk assessment contains information about complex risk, but it

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

lacks the basic information and consideration of risks in the community. Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 9

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since 22 August 2017. The current home manager applied to become the registered manager on 23 August 2018. There has been a lack of a stable registered manager for a significant period and this has directly negatively impacted the quality of care provided in the home. Leaders and managers have not been effective in identifying areas of weakness in the home. They do not have clear systems in place to assist them in reviewing, monitoring and evaluating the quality of care provided by the home. Due to this, the home development plan is weak, out of date and not individualised to this home. It does not explore all the weaknesses that are present. Nor does it state what is required to improve weaknesses or detail by when. The requirements and recommendations set at the previous inspection have not all been addressed. The ethos of the home as described in the statement of purpose is not consistently

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

evident throughout the home. Staff have not routinely shared their expectations and aspirations with young people. They fail to encourage young people to engage in daily meaningful activities. The home lacks evidence to show that staff regularly challenge and support young people to develop their skills. Staff have not ensured that the home remains a safe, homely and secure place. Leaders, managers and staff have not acted swiftly to ensure that all young people are safe and are making progress within their individual capabilities. They were slow to review, monitor and evaluate plans to ascertain if they could meet all the young people‟s needs. Staff have accessed regular effective supervision, but prior to the arrival of the new home manager this was not routinely occurring. Staff practice has been appraised at least annually. Staff access a wide variety of training, but weakness in staff skills have not been

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

identified and addressed. Staff have not been equipped to meet the needs of those in their care. Managers have not reviewed or assessed staff knowledge and skills about managing safeguarding concerns. The home development plan is not up to date or regularly reviewed. The plan is not sufficiently focused on the home, and neither does it include clear deadlines to enable the plan to be reviewed or monitored.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 10 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: SC448598 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Broadwood Residential Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Maybrook House, 2nd Floor, Queensway, Halesowen, Worcestershire B63 4AH

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Post Vacant Louise Campbell

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Inspector

Amanda Maxwell, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC448598 12 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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