Children's home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Westmorland and Furness

Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 1 SC442401 Registered provider: Roc Northwest 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 home is one of a number owned and managed by a private organisation. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or physical disabilities and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2016.

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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

Date of last inspection: 19 January 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: outstanding

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/01/2018 Full Outstanding 18/01/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 26/04/2016 Full Good 13/01/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 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 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—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 05/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to meet the leadership and management standard the registered person must enable, inspire and lead 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—

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Requirement Due date

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;

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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)(2)(h)) 05/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)) 05/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only employ an individual to work at the children’s home if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3). The requirements are that the individual is of integrity and good character. 05/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 4 (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(a)) The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which are kept up to date. (Regulation 36 (1)(b)) In particular, records should include relevant and accurate information. 05/04/2019

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided by the staff is very nurturing, responsive and focused on the needs of the young people, and this is helping to improve young people’s outcomes. The registered manager and staff know the young people very well. Consequently, the young people have a positive experience and make good progress living at the home. The registered manager and staff prioritise the education needs of the young people. When young people move into the home and do not have suitable education provision in place, the manager liaises with and challenges education professionals effectively to secure education arrangements at the earliest opportunity. Staff help young people to plan and prioritise homework and revision.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff help the young people to adopt healthy lifestyles by encouraging them to eat healthily and to engage in physical exercise. Young people are well supported with their individual health needs and have good access to routine and specialist health services. Healthcare plans are incorporated into young people’s placement plans. However, these do not provide sufficient information to demonstrate the development and progress in relation to the young people’s health, such as visits to the optician and dentist and a required referral for speech and language therapy.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager and staff help to maintain and nurture young people’s positive relationships with their families. Staff are proactive in promoting and arranging contact and supervise it when necessary. Contact arrangements result in the young people maintaining meaningful and safe contact with people who are important to them.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Relationships between the young people and staff are trusting and nurturing. The young people know that the staff care about them, and this makes them feel valued. Consultation with the young people is a strength, and their input is sought in all aspects of work undertaken. Records for young people include their views, wishes and feelings. The young people are generally happy and settled, and the inspectors observed positive interactions between the staff and young people during the inspection. The home environment is warm and welcoming, and improvements are continually being made to the decoration and furnishings. It feels like a family home, and there are photographs of the young people around the home. Young people are supported and encouraged to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy, and this has developed their Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 5 independence skills.

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

Safeguarding practice at the home is generally good. However, it is compromised due to poor recording of some safeguarding incidents. The records for two serious safeguarding incidents include inaccurate information about the actions taken by staff to safeguard two young people from the risks relating to self-harm. Furthermore, the manager failed to identify the significant shortfalls in the records. However, despite the records being poor in this area, staff have taken appropriate action.

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

When young people are missing from home, the registered manager and staff do their utmost to ensure their prompt and safe return home. The missing-from-home procedures ensure that young people receive an independent return home interview to allow them to talk about the reasons why they were missing and the risks that they may have been exposed to. Consequently, action can then be taken to help and protect young people.

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

Behaviour management strategies used in the home support the young people to present with age-appropriate, positive and safe behaviour. This is helped by the detailed and child-focused behaviour support plans completed in collaboration with the young people. Consequently, the staff provide a consistent approach to every young person, so that they can promote positive behaviour and manage poor behaviour effectively.

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

The home’s location review includes sufficient up-to-date information about the risks in the community. The manager has liaised with relevant professionals to gather information to enable her to undertake a thorough assessment of the home’s location. This demonstrates that all risks in the community have been adequately identified and that there are sufficient strategies in place to manage the risks that will help to keep the young people safe.

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

Alarms on young people’s bedroom doors are routinely activated without due consideration about whether this promotes their welfare or compromises their privacy, or whether the risk factors are such that they warrant such monitoring. This does not promote the individual needs or circumstances of young people or ensure that monitoring systems are only ever used for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of individual young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager leads a consistent staff team that has high aspirations for the young people and a good understanding of their needs. Staff are motivated to provide a good quality of care and improve outcomes for the young people. Staff feel valued and supported by the registered manager and the deputy manager. Consequently, experiences and outcomes for the young people are good.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff benefit from regular training and development opportunities to further enhance Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 6 their knowledge and skills. All staff either have their level 3 or equivalent qualification or are working towards it. Team meetings and supervision sessions enable the staff to discuss and reflect on the needs of and plans for the young people. However, shortfalls in supervision records do not demonstrate that supervision occurs within the agreed timescales, and the manager does not have copies of her supervision records. Furthermore, some dates on supervision records have been altered and do not provide an accurate account of the discussion that took place.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Recruitment practice at the home is safe and usually results in only the most suitable staff working at the home. However, managers have not taken sufficient action to address the concerns relating to a member of staff. Furthermore, they have addressed concerns individually and have not linked a number of concerns. This potentially compromises the quality of care provided to the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager and staff work collaboratively with other professionals and family members to ensure that the young people receive the best possible care and intervention. The manager and staff effectively challenge other professionals when they feel that they are not doing their absolute best for the young people. This constructive challenge helps to ensure that outcomes are improved for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Independent monitoring and review systems and the manager’s quality of care reviews help the manager to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the home and the staff team. Action is quickly taken to address shortfalls identified and to build on the strengths. However, the monitoring and review systems need to be strengthened due to the shortfalls in the management oversight of records and safeguarding incidents at the home.

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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: SC442401 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Caretech Community Service Ltd, Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspectors

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC442401 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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