Children's Home run by Considerate Care Limited in Liverpool

Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 1 SC059261 Registered provider: Considerate Care 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

The home is owned by a private company and it is registered to care for up to five young people. As outlined in the home’s statement of purpose, the service provides care for young people, aged 11 to 17 years, with emotional and behavioural needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since February 2016.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 13 to 14 December 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

23/08/2017 Full Good 13/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/07/2016 Full Good 29/03/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 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 helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to use monitoring systems to make continuous improvements in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(h)) 18/01/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI. (Regulation 16 (1)(2))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this should include details of the experience and qualifications of commissioned therapists; and, they should provide Ofsted with revised copies of the statement of purpose. 18/01/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should build a strong safeguarding culture in the home (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.8). In particular, this refers to strengthening safer recruitment practice, and internal investigations into allegations made against staff.  Any child who has been restrained should be given the opportunity to express their feelings about their experience of the restraint as soon as is practicable, ideally within 24 hours or the incident (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.60). In particular, this refers to providing the child with the opportunity to share their views of the incident with a person who was not involved in the incident.  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 4

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Recommendations

and resources to support their training needs (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11). In particular, this refers to evaluating with staff the quality of the training provided.  The registered person must challenge (under regulation 5 (c)) a placing authority’s inadequate response to assessing a child’s needs (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.5). In particular, this refers to ensuring that each child has a personal education plan and that the placing authority includes staff in the making and reviewing of these plans.  All staff must have their performance and fitness to carry out their role formally appraised at least once annually (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.5). In particular, this refers to the registered manager.

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Recommendations

 Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the home at least once a year. When conducting the review, the registered person must consult, and take into account the views of, each relevant person. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people feel valued, well cared for and settled. As a result, they make continued progress from their starting points. This is reflected in the young people’s comments: ‘I think I am on the right path now having made mistakes. I could only have done this with the help from staff.’ ‘I have lived here for nearly two years and staff have never given up on me.’ ‘You are free to do whatever you feel like (as long as it’s reasonable). Everyone is kind and sociable.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people make progress in their education, and school attendance, for most, is excellent. Staff’s strong partnership working with schools and colleges is helping to quickly identify and resolve any barriers to their learning, for example bullying and disagreements with friends. As a result, young people feel happy and settled in school and they are making recognisable achievements. However, staff do not always attend important education meetings to ensure that they are actively involved in the reviewing of all young people’s education plans.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff work tirelessly with young people to help them overcome any obstacles to good health, such as dental phobias. Furthermore, staff make sure that the young people have access to a range of health services, including sexual health clinics, smoking cessation clinics and bereavement counselling. Consequently, young people benefit from improved physical and emotional health. Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 5 Staff support young people to keep in touch with their parents, relatives and friends in a safe way. Additionally, staff encourage young people to take part in individual activities, to stay active and to follow their interests. Young people have lots of opportunities to try new experiences, make new friends and have fun.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people receive good levels of support to help them move into or out of the home. When necessary, staff have supported young people to access independent advocacy to ensure that the young person’s wishes and feelings are considered when their care plans are being changed. Transitions into adult services are well coordinated to ensure that young adults receive the right level of care and support during this significant change in their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have extremely positive relationships with staff and reported good experiences of living at the home. A young person described staff as ‘loving and caring’.

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

Carefully planned work undertaken by staff is reducing incidents of high-risk behaviour, such as going missing from the home. When young people do go missing from the home, staff’s diligent response ensures that the young person is quickly located and returned home safely.

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

Staff are skilled at building trusting relationships with the young people in their care. Young people feel valued, listened to and well cared for by their staff. Consequently, young people listen to staff and take on board their guidance and support, which helps young people to understand risk and to keep themselves safe.

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

Proactive behaviour management plans combined with positive incentive schemes are helping young people to improve their behaviour. The use of physical restraint is infrequent. When staff do restrain a young person, it is a proportionate measure. However, the debrief with the young person following a restraint can be improved by ensuring that the person undertaking the debrief is not involved in the incident.

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

Allegations made against staff are rare. When such incidents arise, all relevant safeguarding bodies are swiftly informed as required. However, the rigour of the manager’s investigation into the allegation can be strengthened, for example, by exploring the views of all potential witnesses and not just the views of the staff member accused.

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

The home’s location is assessed annually and provides a detailed overview of the local area, including potential risks, strategies for reducing risk and the range of support services available in the area. Nevertheless, this assessment can be further strengthened by consulting and considering the views of other relevant organisations, such as the probation service, local authority and the police.

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

The recruitment of staff can be improved by ensuring that references from all current employers are sought prior to staff starting to work at the home. Greater rigour to Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 6 recruitment practice will enhance young people’s safety.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is led by a suitably qualified and experienced manager. The manager is extremely child centred and makes sure that she is available to young people and staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home is suitably staffed by a dedicated, stable and consistent team. The team is supported well by the manager, and this is reflected in the care that team members provide to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Strong team working and effective communication between staff contribute to continuity of care. Consistent boundaries and routines improve young people’s outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff are good role models and advocate for the young people. As a result, the home is extremely settled, and the young people benefit from stability and a good standard of care.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Partnership working with other professionals and services is strong. A teacher described the manager as ‘fantastic’ and confirmed excellent communication between the home and school.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff are provided with a wide range of relevant training courses. However, the manager does not evaluate the quality of the training with staff to ensure that it satisfactorily equips them with the necessary skills and knowledge. Furthermore, the registered manager has not had her practice or performance annually appraised as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home’s statement of purpose does not provide sufficient details of the home’s therapeutic input. It omits the therapist’s qualifications and details of how the therapists are commissioned. Additionally, revised copies of the statement of purpose have not been provided to Ofsted as required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is committed to the ongoing development of the service. However, monitoring can improve to ensure that any shortfalls, such as those identified at this inspection, are swiftly addressed.

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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: SC059261 7 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: SC059261 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Considerate Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Millers Accountants, 69 Windsor Road, Prestwich, Manchester M25 0DB

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: William Aspinall

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Inspector

Marina Tully, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC059261 9 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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