Children's Home run by Radical Services Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 1 SC476083 Registered provider: Radical Services Ltd

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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 children’s home is run by a private organisation and is registered to provide care and accommodation for three young people with emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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outstanding

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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outstanding

The effectiveness of leaders and managers outstanding

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outstanding

The children’s home provides highly effective services that consistently exceed the standards of good. The actions of the children’s home contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people who need help, protection and care.

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outstanding

Date of last inspection: 22 November 2017

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outstanding

Overall judgement at last inspection: Outstanding

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outstanding

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

22/11/2017 Full Outstanding 26/10/2016 Full Good 11/05/2016 Full Inadequate 25/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 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

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (‘the Level 3 Diploma’); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or

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Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. (Regulation 32(4)(a) and 5(a)) 15/04/2019

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59) Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The home has remained settled since it was last inspected. There have been no changes to the cohort of young people residing in the home and few changes to the staff team. This provides young people with stability and consistency of care and the opportunity to form long-term trusting relationships. Evidence shows that young people have highly positive relationships with staff who know them well enough to meet their care needs to an exceptionally high level. Young people reported that they are happy in the home and that if they had the opportunity to make any changes there would be nothing they would change.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

All three young people attend mainstream high schools. Their attendance is good and, for some, this is a vast improvement on their attendance prior to coming to live at the home. Staff are good at supporting young people’s education. For example, they attend meetings with education staff and the virtual head when there are difficulties at school and are involved in making plans to prevent young people from being excluded. Staff communicate on a daily basis with one young person’s school, providing handover information in the morning when she is brought to school and receiving handover information from school staff when they collect her. One young person achieved a ‘bronze award’ from school for consistent exemplary effort and excellent achievement, outstanding commitment to school life and her own personal progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The progress that young people are making is well evidenced. One young person has progressed to having free time in the community and has a positive friendship group through which she spends time at her friends’ houses. Another young person is a keen member of a local football team, and staff attend and support her at weekly matches. A third young person has improved her capacity to regulate her emotions and is making progress in her life story work with the national society for the prevention of cruelty to children (NSPCC). There is a wealth of information that evidences young people making better than expected progress and the home having a significant and sustained positive impact on their lives.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

There are ample opportunities for young people to express their views and these are particularly well recorded in direct work sessions. The young people additionally have weekly meetings and key work sessions during which they consistently say that they are happy with their care and rarely ask for any changes to be made. A particularly good piece of direct work was reviewed in which a young person was sensitively supported to speak about some extremely personal issues. Not only was she given age-appropriate information and advice; she was also educated to become socially appropriate in respect of the questions she asked others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: outstanding

The quality of young people’s records and plans is very high. Their placement plans are clear and concise and inform staff of the best way to support them. This benefits young people, particularly those with very complex behaviours because staff understand what each young person needs from them in order to feel supported and cared for. Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 5 Young people are encouraged to participate in a wide range of activities. Staff know what interests young people and what they enjoy. They also encourage them to try new things. Young people are involved in community activities, which provide them with opportunities to form friendships outside of the home and school. One example is a young person who attends Guides and has made friends there who she has been on social activities with.

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

Young people are significantly safer than they were at the beginning of their placements. Risks to them in all areas reduce from their point of placement. Their risk assessments clearly identify the risks that are relevant to them and actions that staff must take to reduce or manage those risks. Additionally, young people have ‘All about me’ records that give a detailed description of behaviours which would indicate that risks were becoming heightened or increasing. There are a range of strategies in place to de- escalate the behaviours and prevent them from reaching the point at which they might pose a risk to the young people or others.

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

Staff spoken to as part of this inspection have a good understanding of the young people’s previous and current risks. They are familiar with risk assessments and the strategies they should use to mitigate risk. Because staff know young people very well and have developed trusting secure relationships, there are very few incidents when young people lose control and behaviours escalate to the point of being a risk. One young person has made especially good progress in learning to manage her emotions, regain control and de-escalate more quickly than previously. Additionally, staff understand that when young people are struggling in other areas, this may have an impact on their behaviours, and that they should continue to support with kindness and positivity rather than with firm authority. Staff are also careful to maintain consistency and are supportive of one another, should one member of staff be targeted by a young

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

Young people are safe at this home. There are very few safeguarding incidents or notifications to the regulator. There are very few missing from care episodes and few restrictive physical interventions. Young people do not misuse drugs or alcohol and are not involved in criminal or anti-social behaviours. External agencies spoken to as part of this inspection emphatically stated that young people are safe in this home and that care provided to them results in improved safety and reduction of risks.

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

One young person has begun to take free time in the community, and staff are careful to keep in regular contact with her to ensure her whereabouts and safety. The other young people are aged only 13 and so have limited, if any, free time and are supervised at all times by staff.

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

Access to the internet is closely supervised and monitored where necessary. Young people have contracts for their mobile phones and other devices that access the internet and understand that staff will do checks on these to keep them safe. Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 6 Staff are able to access training across a range of safeguarding issues, including current risks such as child criminal exploitation and county lines. This ensures that they are aware of the full range of risks that young people may be exposed to.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There has been a new manager appointed to the home who was previously the deputy manager. Although the manager is not yet registered with Ofsted, her application has been submitted well within timescales, and she is awaiting her registration interview. A new deputy manager has also been recruited and is in post to support the manager. The new management team has had a positive impact on the home and young people. Staff and external agencies consulted as part of this inspection all spoke in highly positive terms about the home’s management.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

The manager has an excellent understanding of the home’s strengths and weaknesses, and shows commitment to maintaining progression and making any changes that may improve the quality of care provided to young people. There is a realistic development plan in place, which identifies areas for continued improvement. The manager’s regular monitoring and use of independent visitor reports also serve to develop, progress and continually improve the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Staff are well supported through day-to-day guidance from managers, regular supervision, training and annual appraisals. There is a wide scope of training available, and staff reported that they are regularly released from their care duties to attend training events. Additional training can be sourced that is relevant to the young people’s needs. For example, one young person’s general practitioner has arranged to deliver trauma training which is relevant to that particular young person. Advice was sought from a psychologist to help staff provide more individualised care to another young person. The home also uses research-informed practice to improve the care it offers, although this is not yet well evidenced in the records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Most staff are either qualified to the required level or are on target to achieve the qualification by the relevant date. However, a requirement from the last inspection is repeated at this inspection because one member of staff has not achieved the qualification within the required timescale. This does not, however, detract from the high level of care provided by all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

Monthly staff meetings are held and are recorded in detail. These show that a range of issues are covered and that the young people’s needs and progression are considered in depth.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

In general, the home’s records are of a very high standard. They are detailed, contemporary, concise and relevant. Updates to records are clearly identified and communicated to the staff team and read and sign sheets are used to good effect so that staff feel accountable for keeping up to date. One minor issue was identified in respect of the recording of physical interventions where two incidents were recorded Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 7 within one record. A recommendation has been made to reflect this.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: outstanding

There is a wealth of evidence to suggest that the home works well with a range of agencies. During the inspection, the manager was observed to liaise with the NSPCC, young people’s social workers and their schools. Other agencies consulted as part of the inspection confirmed that joint working is an embedded and integral part of the home’s practice.

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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: SC476083 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Radical Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rouse House, 2 Wyther Lane, Leeds LS5 3BT

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Inspector

Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC476083 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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