Children's Home run by East Riding of Yorkshire Council in East Riding of Yorkshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 1 SC035543 Registered provider: East Riding of Yorkshire Council

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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 local authority operates and runs this home. It provides care for children and young people and its plan is for them to live in medium- to long-term residential care.

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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 failures that mean children and young people are not protected, or their welfare is not safeguarded, and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor.

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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: SC035543 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2017 Full Good 28/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 02/08/2016 Full Good 10/03/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(a)(c)) 04/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

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 positive responses to other children and adults. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff— encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding; 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 supportive or harmful; and help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iii)(vi)(vii)) 04/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected 04/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 4 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; 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; 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)((vi) and (vii)) This specifically relates to:  Managers to have a robust oversight of all children’s and young people’s risk management plans to ensure they are

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Requirement Due date

accurate, up to date and safe with clear strategies to reduce identified risks.  carry out room searches when concerns come to light about risks to children’s and young people’s health, well-being and safety.  improve the quality and frequency of individual work on risky behaviours with children and young people and include the child’s voice. 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 registered person to— 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)) Specifically:  review the missing from home policy, individual missing person action plans and risk assessments to make it explicitly

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Requirement Due date

clear how children and young people who return home under the influence of alcohol and substances will be monitored 04/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 5 through the night.  implement the guidance to prevent children and young people from leaving the home to ensure that staff clearly justify the rationale for not preventing young people from leaving the home without their agreement.  produce a management monitoring review report that provides an accurate picture on how the home has been operating during the review period.  review sanctions and complaint records to ensure that children’s and young people’s views are consistently accounted for.  ensure that all physical interventions are recorded in the restraint documentation and promptly monitor the interventions to ensure they are safe and proportionate. The manager’s oversight should be included within required timescales.  improve staff supervision records to ensure clarity of

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Requirement Due date

information and clear action points.  ensure that all staff understand the safeguarding procedures in relation to allegations against staff and that outstanding actions relating to whistleblowing are followed up so that staff practice safeguards children.  ensure that all repairs around the home are identified and addressed. The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if— a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation; an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious; there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there; a child protection enquiry involving a child — is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered

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Requirement Due date

person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii) and (e)) 04/03/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 6 The independent person must produce a report about a visit (‘the independent person’s report’) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether— children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44(4)(a)(b)) Specifically, ensure that the independent visitor has been informed about any safeguarding concerns to enable them to make an informed judgement about children’s and young people’s safety and well-being. 04/03/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Weaknesses relating to risk management and management oversight have resulted in the experiences and progress of children and young people being inadequate overall. Although some children have made some good progress and the deficits in practice are not widespread, some children and young people have not received a consistently robust response to reducing risk. Some of the children and young people say that they do not always feel safe in the home. Multi-agency partnerships are strong and there are some effective joint strategies to address complex and high-risk behaviours. However, not all of the home’s risk assessments are sufficiently up to date or comprehensive to reduce known risk, and there is not a shared understanding between staff of all current risks. Subsequently, children do not always experience an appropriate and consistent response to meet their needs. Staff actively support the children’s and young people’s education. They work closely with

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

education providers to ensure that individual education plans are implemented. Some children and young people do not engage in their learning despite the best efforts of staff to engage them. This has resulted, for example, in increased risk on occasions and a deterioration in predicted grades. The manager is working with the virtual head and educational providers to counter the risk of underachieving. Young people preparing for transition are well supported to learn life skills in line with their independence plans. Most children and young people benefit from attending health appointments which promotes their health and emotional well-being. Young people who show a reluctance to engage in their health have, due to staff encouragement, attended some appointments to meet their specific health needs, such as sexual health screening. Not all children and young people who have longstanding and poor eating habits are referred in a timely way

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

to the relevant health services. This does not promote good health outcomes. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 7 Some children and young people refuse to work with specialist services to address their substance misuse. However, the staff are tenacious in their approach to encourage and support young people to engage in the relevant support services. Evidence of children and young people smoking and the impact of the smoke on others’ health remains a concern, as does the continued risk of fire. Smoking is not permitted in the home and staff use incentives and sanctions to encourage young people to stop smoking. Children and young people feel cared about and speak favourably about their home life overall. They enjoy positive relationships with the staff, who understand them and show affection and interest in them. Staff and young people enjoy doing activities together, such as camping, outdoor pursuits, meals out, horse riding, visiting the gym and cinema.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

This is supporting children and young people to develop positive relationships and to talk to staff about their feelings. Positive relationships between staff and families is supporting good partnership working and promoting contact arrangements.

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

Current risk management strategies and practice are not consistently robust and effective in reducing the identified risks to children’s and young people’s safety and welfare. This has exposed some children and young people to harm. Some children’s and young people’s risk assessments do not always inform staff about the extent of their current risks and, as a result, there is not a shared understanding of risk and how to manage and reduce risk. Individual risk assessments do not make it explicitly clear how children and young people returning home under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol are to be monitored through the night. The missing from home policy is not clear about how this should be achieved.

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

A potential ligature risk in the bedroom of one young person who had recently attempted to self-harm in this way has not been risk assessed. The manager had not considered if there was a risk of harm because he was not aware about the hook in the ceiling until the inspector highlighted this. Staff did include the child’s ligature risk in the risk assessment following an incident, but it was removed prematurely from the subsequent update. This is concerning, given the ongoing risks. Staff did not have a shared understanding of the current risk to this young person.

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

Individual work with some children and young people around their risky behaviours is not always leading to positive change in their overall safety. This includes the need for further individual work with children and young people to address issues of consent, and drug and alcohol misuse. The management oversight of this is not supporting staff to maintain a sufficiently clear focus to keep children and young people safe.

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

Room searches are not always carried out in a timely or consistent way. For example, searches have not been conducted when children and young people have returned home under the influence of drugs and alcohol or when there have been concerns about them smoking in their bedrooms. Strategies relating to room searches are not identified in the children’s and young people’s risk management plans. This does not support a consistent response to these risky behaviours. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 8 When children and young people go missing, the effective and strong relationships with partners, including the police, have led to the disruption of some places and activities identified as high risk in the local area. This, along with some responsive and appropriate action being taken by staff, is having a positive impact on reducing the length and frequency that some young people spend away from the home. Missing incidents remain

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

relatively high risk for some young people and they continue to be at risk from exploitation, alcohol and substance misuse. A serious incident is subject to ongoing police investigation and monitoring. Return home interviews take place consistently and provide young people with opportunities to discuss the reasons for going missing. However, this information is not consistently well used to inform risk management strategies. The new guidance intended to support staff in preventing young people from leaving the home, when they are deemed at risk of immediate harm, is not fully embedded. For example, when young people leave the home without permission, staff are not always recording a rationale for not preventing their departure. This is contrary to the guidance. Restraints are rarely used to manage children’s and young people’s behaviours. On one occasion, a physical intervention led to an allegation against a member of staff. This

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

incident was not recorded in the restraints log. The manager has not consistently reviewed these records in the timescales identified in the regulations to ensure appropriate support to staff and children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management oversight is not sufficiently robust. The manager has missed opportunities to identify and address shortfalls in practice. The registered manager’s oversight of the children’s and young people’s risk management is not sufficiently responsive, self- reflective or challenging. This does not reduce known and arising risk in all cases and facilitate consistency of safeguarding practice for all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager has not notified Ofsted about several serious safeguarding incidents that have impacted on children’s and young people’s safety, progress and experiences. Similarly, not all allegations against staff have been notified to Ofsted. In one instance, the correct safeguarding procedures were not followed, and action has not been taken to address the shortfall in staff practice through supervision and training. The impact of not reporting the safeguarding incidents has impeded Ofsted from accurately monitoring and progressing lines of enquiry about the home’s safeguarding practices. The management monitoring review of the home does not provide a full and accurate picture of how the home has been operating. It has not evaluated and reported on all of the serious incidents during that period or provided a considered response to these issues to assure and improve the quality of care in the home. Not all repairs in young

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

people’s bedrooms have been identified for remedial action. Children’s and young people’s views relating to their complaints and sanctions are not consistently evident in the records. Regulation 44 reports undertaken by the independent visitor are not sufficiently robust. Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 9 It is not consistently clear in the regulation 44 reports whether the independent visitor has been informed fully about all safeguarding incidents and risk management practices. The regulation 44 visitor’s monitoring of missing incidents does not explore or evaluate these incidents effectively. This does not provide a true understanding about risk to the children and young people and their safety and well-being. Although the report identifies the independent person’s opinion on whether children and young people are safeguarded, the basis for this evaluation is not clearly articulated. Some of the shortfalls

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

highlighted at this inspection have not been identified by the independent person or the registered manager. Subsequently, there has been a decline in the quality of care provided to the children and young people, particularly in relation to the management of risk. The home is led by a qualified and experienced registered manager and deputy manager and there is a stable staff team. New suitably recruited staff are settling into their role. Staff are confident, approachable and speak positively about the children. They express good relationships with the managers and colleagues. Staff are regularly supervised which enables them to reflect on their practice and the young people. However, the supervision records do not provide a true reflection of the extent of the discussions and the follow-up actions are not consistently recorded. Records are not sharply focused to ensure consistency and action in staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There is not a consistently robust response to learning from practice shortfalls relating to staff not following safeguarding procedures. However, managers have used learning about placement disruption and set up an admissions and monitoring forum to improve the scrutiny of placements.

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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: SC035543 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: County Hall, Cross Street, Beverley, North Humberside HU17 9BA

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Inspector

Jacqueline Malcolm, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC035543 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 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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