Children's home run by Aurora Care Young People’s Services

Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 1 Registered provider: Aurora Care Young People’s Services

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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 registered to provide care for up to four young people who have social, emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. There were three young people in the placement at the time of the inspection. The home is part of a private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The new manager in place has applied to Ofsted to register.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 10 to 11 December 2018

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: This children’s home was judged inadequate at the full inspection on 29 August 2018. Following this inspection, Ofsted issued the provider with two compliance notices under section 22A of the Care Standards Act 2000. The compliance notices were issued in relation to regulation 12, the protection of children standard, and regulation 13, the leadership and management standard, of Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 2 the Children’s Homes (England) Regulations 2015. Ofsted carried out an unannounced visit to the home on 8 October 2018 to monitor the actions that the provider has taken to comply with the notices. The provider demonstrated at this visit that it had taken the necessary steps to ensure that the compliance notices were met.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/08/2018 Full Inadequate 06/03/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 18/01/2018 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(iv)) 23/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(ii)) 23/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard is that the registered 23/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 4 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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 23/01/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

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.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person’s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1)(2)(a)(5)) 23/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

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). 23/01/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 5 When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (Regulation 46 (1)(2))

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Recommendations

 The registered person must ensure that the behaviour management strategy is understood and applied at all times by staff, and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11)  The registered manager should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9)

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improvement to be good

There have been some improvements made to the quality of care provided in this home since the last inspection. Young people are making some progress because of the care and support they receive from staff. Young people feel that the home is now more settled, and they recognise the progress that they have made.

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improvement to be good

Young people now receive well-planned care, which supports their progress. Staff, however, continue to copy and paste documents, such as the placement care plans, from other young people’s plans. As a result, these documents do not always contain a record of each young person’s individual needs for staff to work from.

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improvement to be good

Staff are proactive at supporting young people with education. They attend education meetings and support young people to learn informally when they are not in full-time education. Staff work well with education providers to ensure that there is consistency across home and school. As a result, all young people in the home are engaged in some form of education.

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improvement to be good

Young people make progress in their emotional and behavioural development because of the input from staff. Behaviour incidents in the home have reduced because of the strategies Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 6 staff have put in place, and young people recognise that they are better able to self-regulate their own behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Overall, children’s experiences on a day-to-day basis are positive. They have good relationships with staff. Young people like living in the home and feel well supported by staff. As a result, young people are investing more in the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that young people are prepared for their futures. Young people have independence plans, which includes skills that they need to develop to prepare them for independence.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always obtain young people’s views and wishes on their plans. Young people said that staff do not explain their plans to them and they do not know what their plans are. Young people are not encouraged to sign their plans or other documents in their case files.

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improvement to be good

The manager has made improvements to the physical environment and it looks more like a family home. There are still some areas of the home which need improvement; for example, the walls need repainting in parts, and the home could be further personalised.

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improvement to be good

Staff have a good understanding of young people’s risks and vulnerabilities. Risk assessments identified young people’s known risks and actions that staff are expected to take to reduce these.

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that they follow young people’s risk assessments by completing welfare visits and checks when young people are out in the community. Young people are receptive to this approach and feel that it keeps them safe. This allows young people to take age-appropriate risks and mix with friends in the community in a safe way.

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improvement to be good

Staff are proactive when young people go missing. They search for young people and try to locate them as soon as possible. If young people cannot be located, staff follow the correct protocols by reporting them missing to the police. Staff ensure that return interviews are carried out when young people return to the home.

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improvement to be good

Staff manage challenging behaviour well. They de-escalate situations effectively, which means that physical restraint is not required. Behaviour has improved in the home, which means that the home is a more settled environment for young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote positive behaviour using reward charts, which young people understand. There is also an instant reward system in place. However, this is not used consistently by staff or reviewed for effectiveness by the manager. As a result, positive behaviour displayed by young people is not consistently recognised.

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improvement to be good

Staff have all had safeguarding training and, as a result, understand the correct processes to follow if a safeguarding concern is identified. Managers, however, need to ensure that staff have knowledge of current safeguarding issues, such as criminal Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 7 exploitation and county lines. This is to ensure that they have the most up-to-date knowledge to keep young people safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff undertake some direct work with young people on risks associated with being out in the community and stranger danger. Recording of this direct work, however, can be inconsistent and does not always reflect the work that staff are doing with young people to keep them safe.

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

There is a permanent manager in the home who has submitted her application to Ofsted within the required timescales. The home has benefited from having a permanent manager on site and this has resulted in some improvements made in the home since the last inspection. The manager is realistic about the strengths and areas for improvement in the home and recognises that there are still some areas for development.

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

The manager has a good understanding of the progress young people are making and has acted to ensure that there is more consistency and better communication in the staff team, which has improved the quality of care that young people receive.

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

Staff feel more supported in their roles. They all spoke about it being an improved place to work since the last inspection. Staff receive regular supervision and have regular performance appraisals. This ensures that they are well supported and that there is a focus on their professional development.

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

The manager has a clear plan in place for the training of staff. She has recently delivered training in medication and recording, and there is face-to-face self-harm training scheduled in. Despite some staff having received recording training, recording in young people’s case files is still poor.

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

While the manager has supported progress in some areas, there have been some shortfalls identified in her monitoring: she does not always sign relevant documents, which has meant that she had not identified some of the shortfalls highlighted during this inspection.

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

External monitoring is not robust. It does not identify areas for improvement and does not include consultation with parents or professionals. This does not support the manager in the continuous improvement of standards in the home.

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

The location risk assessment has not been updated with recent information from police and other agencies. This does not demonstrate how the manager keeps up to date with any known risks for young people in the local area. Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 8

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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: 1258770 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Aurora Care Young People’s Services

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Pendle Suite, Hawkshaw Business Park, Longsight Road, Clayton-le-Dale, Lancashire BB2 7JA

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Inspector

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1258770 10 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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