Children's home run by Surrey County Council

Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 1 SC045408 Registered provider: Surrey County Council Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is owned by Surrey County Council. It offers a period of short-term assessment to determine the suitability of the next planned steps for children. The home provides care and accommodation for two children who are aged from 10 to 17 years old on admission. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since November 2017 and holds the level 5 qualification.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 17 to 18 December 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 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: 21 November 2017

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The home has been subject to three compliance notices issued in relation to the protection of children standard, the leadership and management standard and the continuing professional development of the registered person and responsible individual standard. A restriction of accommodation notice is in place. Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/03/2017 Full Good 06/06/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 30/11/2015 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 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– understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; 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– understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff– understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to– meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(c)(i)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

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Requirement Due date

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; help each child to understand how to keep safe; 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 protection policies; 03/02/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 4 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

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Requirement Due date

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)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(b)(c)] (d)(e))

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 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; 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 use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. *(Regulation 13 (1)(2)(a)(c)(f)(h)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

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 arrangements are in place to– ensure the effective induction of each child into the home; manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to 03/02/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 5 move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular the registered person must ensure that– medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them; medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(a)(b)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if– having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children– the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children. (Regulation 28 (1)(b)(i)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider is an individual, the individual must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the individual has the skills needed for carrying on the children’s home. If the registered provider is an organisation, the organisation must ensure that the responsible individual undertakes such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the responsible individual has the skills needed for supervising the management of the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered manager must undertake such continuing professional development as is necessary to ensure that the registered manager has the skills needed for managing the home. (*Regulation 29 (2)(4)) 03/02/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if– there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 03/02/2019

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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 03/02/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 6 protection of children standard).

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Requirement Due date

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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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Two compliance notices previously issued are being reissued, and a restriction of accommodation notice is in place.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the previous monitoring inspection of 11 June 2018, the type of care provided in the children’s home has changed to 14-day, short-term placements. Changes in the purpose and function of the home have not been well managed. The home’s statement of purpose has not been revised to detail on what basis the 14-day placements will occur.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The admissions process is flawed. On some occasions, the registered manager and the deputy manager identified that children’s needs could not be met at the home. However, the managers were directed by senior leaders to accept the placements. Children are placed in an emergency/crisis with no impact assessment conducted on the other children living at the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Prior to the changes, two placements were successful. One child moved to a long-term placement and another child returned to his parent’s care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home has undergone significant redecoration, and is now an attractive and inviting environment.

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

Children living in this home remain at risk of significant harm. Some have quickly established community links and engaged in risky or criminal behaviour, such as involvement in ‘county lines’ and substance misuse. Risk-management strategies are weak. Staff do not have the knowledge or skills to support children to reduce the risks that they are experiencing.

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

Children continue to go missing. On occasion, they have been able to leave the premises at night without staff’s knowledge. No remedial action has been taken to improve the safety of the home and garden or to reduce the risk of children leaving without staff being aware. Furthermore, risk-management plans fail to address all relevant factors relating to particular children or to include adequate measures to mitigate these risks.

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

Staff have suspected that children have possessed and used cannabis. Staff members did not take effective action to safeguard the welfare of a child by undertaking a room search. They believed that the child needed to be present and to give permission for such a search to take place. This passive approach fails to provide children with the protection that they need.

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

Children have taken medication prescribed for other children. This occurred twice in one Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 8 incident. Staff do not have the skills required to mitigate such behaviours. No learning arose from this incident, leaders and mangers failed to comprehend its significance and did not report it to Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has completed her level 5 qualification. She has also been provided with a mentor. However, she is failing to demonstrate the ability to apply this learning in practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following the change in purpose of the service, children are being placed with limited consideration of the home’s location and the potential risks to children arising from this. The location risk assessment is weak. It fails to consider known nearby issues such as substance misuse and ‘county lines’. Some children who have a known history of links to child criminal exploitation, drug use or gang affiliation have been placed without evidence to demonstrate that these serious risks have been considered and mitigated.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Concerns regarding safeguarding and the leadership and management of this home have been evident over a lengthy period. It is of serious concern that changes have not been made or sustained. The current oversight by the registered manager and responsible individual is not effective in ensuring safe practice and good experiences for children using the service. Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 9

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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 difference 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: SC045408 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Quadrant Court, 35 Guildford Road, Woking, Surrey GU22 7QQ

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Inspector

Sarah Olliver, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC045408 11 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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