Children's home run by Beaufort Care Group Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 1 Registered provider: Beaufort Care Group Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care for up to four children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home is operated by a private provider who has three other children’s homes in the area.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since December 2016.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

The children’s home is not yet delivering good help and care for children and young people. However, there are no serious or widespread failures that result in their welfare not being safeguarded or promoted.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: A monitoring visit was carried out on 8 August 2018, where the decision was made to suspend the registration of the home with immediate effect. The home remained closed for 12 weeks. Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

27/06/2018 Full Inadequate 05/12/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/06/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 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

6: The quality and purpose of care standard

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who–

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understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; and

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use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to–

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understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose, and ensure that staff–

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understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose;

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protect and promote each child’s welfare; and

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provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iv)) 30/04/2019

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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–

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the 30/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 4 registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child’s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

are provided with supervision and support to enable them to understand and manage their own feelings and responses to the behaviour and emotions of children, and to help children to do the same. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c), (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(x))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, identify ways to minimise police involvement in children’s lives. 12: The protection of children standard

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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–

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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Requirement Due date

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 30/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 5 are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. Ensure 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 harm. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that staff always take sufficient action to keep children safe from harm. Ensure that children are admitted to this home only if their individual needs can be met safely and are not compromised by risks in the local area. 13: The leadership and management standard

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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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helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to–

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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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ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and

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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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b)(c)(e)(f)) 30/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 6 33: Employment of staff

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that supervision and appraisal records are of good quality and provide evidence of input by both parties involved, and reflect the discussions held and any required actions to be completed. 30/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if–

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a child protection enquiry involving a child–

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is instigated; or concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry). (Regulation 40(4)(d)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the information provided to Ofsted in notifications provides a clear picture of events and the actions taken by staff. 30/04/2019

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35–39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up-to-date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. Children’s case records must be kept for 75 years from the date of birth of the child, or if the child dies before the age of 18, for 15 years from the date of his or her death. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3’)

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Recommendations

In particular, ensure that missing-from-home records and incident records provide a clear record of what led to the event, the event itself and after the event. In addition, ensure that risk assessments accurately correlate to other documents. Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 7

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improvement to be good

Children’s experiences are not yet good. Two children have moved into this home in short succession since it reopened in December 2018. Both children had positive experiences of moving in and early on they both made some progress with their education and in developing positive behaviour. Despite this positive start, children’s experiences have deteriorated and are not consistently good.

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improvement to be good

One child is in full-time education and their attendance and engagement is improving. The other child is receiving their education from three different alternative education provisions, and the child’s engagement is mixed. The manager has identified that the lack of structure from having three different provisions is not helping the child to engage positively with education. The manager is working with the placing authority to identify a more appropriate long-term educational placement.

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improvement to be good

The behaviour of one child has had an adverse effect on another child. At times, both children have left the home without permission, and incidents of poor behaviour have occurred which include them gaining access to the office, damaging property and hurting staff. Staff have been unable to manage two such incidents themselves and called the police. The children were taken to the police station, and this is a negative experience for them. At other times, staff have not kept one child safe from harm.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have appropriately identified that they cannot meet one child’s needs in this home and are working with the local authority to find the child a new home.

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improvement to be good

The home has been fully refurbished and now provides children with a cosy, comfortable and well-maintained home in which to live. Children’s bedrooms are personalised and kept clean and tidy by staff. The study is a good addition to the home and provides children with an additional social space.

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improvement to be good

Children are provided with a good range of activities that link well to their current interests, as well as giving them opportunities to explore new experiences. Children attend local youth and sports clubs, as well as going on trips and joining in activities with staff.

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improvement to be good

Children’s health needs are met. Staff support children to attend all required medical appointments. Staff ensure that children receive any additional support that they may need. This can include input from child and adolescent mental health services and substance misuse services. Children’s records show how staff work with other professionals to meet the needs of the children. Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 8

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improvement to be good

Further work is required to ensure that children are always kept safe. Despite clear direction from managers and risk assessments being in place, some staff have worked outside of these expectations and have not taken enough action to keep a child safe. For example, on one occasion staff did not take sufficient action to prevent a child from entering unknown premises that placed her at risk. This weakness was also seen and discussed at one of the inspections in 2018. Leaders and managers have acted to deal with this poor practice.

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improvement to be good

Safeguarding records are of an appropriate quality. These documents confirm that the required professionals are contacted swiftly by managers when they have safeguarding concerns about children.

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improvement to be good

Staff are now following children when they go missing, and return-home interviews are carried out as required. Leaders and managers use the information from these visits to inform care plans. However, the records of missing-from-home incidents are not yet of a consistently good quality, as some lack clarity about what happened, including the actions taken by staff. There has been a reduction in their number of missing-from-home incidents since the children moved into the home.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments identify children’s known risks and provide strategies for staff to manage these risks. There are some minor inconsistencies in some of the risk assessments. Some risk assessments contradict each other where information has been updated after a review of the risk assessment. The manager has identified this weakness and is addressing it.

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improvement to be good

Since moving into the home, children are learning how to manage risk, including online risk. Further work is needed with some children to enable them to keep themselves safe in the community. This work is ongoing.

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improvement to be good

Restraint is rarely used. Records of these events are clear and confirm that children and staff have opportunities to talk about what happened and why.

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improvement to be good

Records of incidents are of varying quality. Some provide a clear picture of events, including the child’s behaviour and mood prior to, during and after the incident. Other records do not provide this same level of detail.

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improvement to be good

Children’s behaviour plans are kept under review and updated to consider incidents and events. These documents provide staff with guidance about how to manage children’s behaviours. Some staff are not always applying these agreed boundaries consistently. This leads to an inconsistent approach and confusion for children. Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 9

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following the last inspection, the registration of the home was suspended, and this suspension remained in place for 12 weeks. At that time, leaders, managers and staff were not keeping children safe. The home reopened six weeks prior to this inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

During the time that the home was closed, leaders, managers and staff worked hard to improve the home. Monitoring visits confirmed that managers and staff were challenged by senior leaders to reflect on their previous performance and identify by themselves ways to prevent poor practice from happening again. Staff were provided with training, roles and responsibilities were clearly defined and policies were revised. Additional work was undertaken with the local authorities to set out expectations for both agencies, although further work is required in this area.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Despite this positive work, leadership and management are inadequate at this inspection because some of the same weaknesses that were seen in this home prior to it being closed remain. Although leaders and managers recognise many of these weaknesses and have taken appropriate action in response, some of these responses are reactive. Leaders and managers have not yet identified ways to prevent these weaknesses from continuing to happen, and more work is required to avoid a repetition of the poor performance of this home that was seen last year.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers made a poor decision to admit a child into the home whose primary need is exacerbated by risks in the local area. Leaders and managers told the inspector that, moving forward, they will no longer admit children into the home who face substance misuse risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although monitoring of the quality of care by the manager is developing positively, further improvement is required. The manager is asking more questions about what happened during incidents and how staff responded. This reflection on staff practice has led to an improvement in the performance of some staff but not of others, and further work is required.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are receiving regular supervision and an annual appraisal. The quality of the supervision and appraisal records requires improvement to consistently evidence the discussions held and clarify the agreed outcomes.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Communication between the staff team needs to improve, as important information is not shared consistently among the team. An example of this is a member of staff not having information about a child’s friend to enable them to assess the appropriateness of visits to the friend’s house.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff members are not effectively or consistently supporting each other. For example, on occasions, waking night staff, who are predominately agency staff, have been left to deal with incidents on their own.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Feedback from external professionals is mixed. One professional said that the team is Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 10 good at communicating and keeping them updated. Another professional said that this was not the case, however there is evidence of the team keeping the placing authority updated. Another social worker praised the staff for the work that they are doing and the progress that their child is making.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The quality of information recorded in notifications sent to Ofsted requires improvement. These documents do not always provide a clear record of events, the actions taken by staff or the outcomes of these actions. Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 11

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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: 1246831 12

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Beaufort Care Group

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 42 Lytton Road, New Barnet, Barnet EN5 5BY

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Jennifer Kendall

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Inspector

Wendy Anderson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1246831 13 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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