Children's home run by City of Wolverhampton Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 1 SC378153 Registered provider: Wolverhampton City Council

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Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This short-break service provides care and accommodation for up to six young people. The home provides care for young people aged between 10 and 17, who have experienced adverse childhood experiences that have led to associated trauma and presenting complex behaviours. This home is owned by a local authority. The registered manager is suitably qualified.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 19 to 20 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 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

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/08/2017 Full Good 22/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 30/11/2016 Full Requires improvement Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 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 registered person must ensure 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. (Regulation 12 (2)(d)) 22/02/2019

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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

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)) 22/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character; 22/02/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 4 the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)) In the circumstances set out in paragraph (2), these Regulations apply in relation to a child with the modifications set out in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 5.

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Requirement Due date

the child is placed in a series of short term placements within children’s homes (‘short breaks’), and—

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Requirement Due date

no single placement is intended to last for more than 17 days; (Regulation 52 (1)(2)(b)(ii)) 22/02/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff have high aspirations for young people and provide an environment where young people can thrive and flourish. Staff are patient, nurturing and form positive relationships with young people. Young people look forward to staying at the home and feel happy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support and encourage young people to attend school. For example, the staff advocated for one young person’s school timetable to be reviewed to enable them to access more educational support. Staff facilitated another young person to receive their educational tutoring hours at the home outside short-break days when an alternative provision was not available.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The excellent matching skills of the manager and staff mean that young people are in groups that help them to thrive and to feel settled. Young people have fun and enjoy the things they love the most. They do a range of activities in the home and in the community. For example, young people enjoy participating in cooking and baking; going to the cinema; going bowling and going out for walks and meals. These varied activities enable young people to build their social skills, friendship groups, self-esteem and confidence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have various opportunities to express their wishes and feelings through key-worker sessions and young people’s meetings. Young people contribute to decisions Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 5 about their care, activities and menu choices. Consequently, they feel appreciated and listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

New young people are given a warm welcome. Staff and the manager invite young people and their parents to have a tour of the home before their first overnight stay. This allows young people to get a good feel of the home environment. If young people are not ready for overnight stays, staff encourage them to have a day visit and gradually increase visits to overnight stays.

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

The manager and staff are highly motivated and passionate in their care of young people. Young people receive specialist help around the risks of child sexual exploitation, self-harm, anti-bullying, radicalisation, knife crime, gangs and violence, county lines and sexual health. This multi-agency support helps young people to make safer decisions.

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

Allegations or suspicions of potential harm are responded to and managed appropriately. Staff demonstrate a sound understanding of safeguarding procedures and protocols and follow these. Responses are thoughtful and measured.

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

Staff see the use of physical intervention as a last-resort measure. Instead, they focus on de-escalation. As a result, staff use restorative practice instead to promote young people’s safety and to build positive relationships.

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

General maintenance jobs at the home are not always completed on time. This creates health and safety hazards and places young people at risk. For example, the manager did not identify some discrepancies within the home’s fire risk assessment.

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

The manager’s monitoring and reviewing of the service is ineffective in some areas. Risks identified in young people’s healthcare plans are generally cross-referenced in their risk assessments. However, one young person’s risk assessment does not have all the risks identified in their health plan. This creates a missed opportunity to have all the information and actions required to keep the young person safe.

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

The recruitment of most staff is safe. However, there is a lack of clear recording about enquiries made to chase up on staff members’ employment history.

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

The manager and senior managers breached their conditions of registration by agreeing to accommodate one young person to stay for more than 17 days in a single placement. It is acknowledged that this decision was made because of exceptional circumstances in order to safeguard the young person. However, the manager and senior managers failed to communicate this situation to Ofsted.

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

Staff speak highly of the manager. They feel supported by him and receive good-quality supervisions and appraisals. However, the manager does not always monitor whether Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 6 the staff are completing their mandatory training to ensure that their practice remains up to date. This shortfall has the potential to have an impact on the quality of care if this goes unaddressed.

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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: SC378153 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, St. Peters Square, Wolverhampton, West Midlands WV1 1SH

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Inspector

Rumbi Mangoma, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC378153 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 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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