Children's Home run by United Children's Services Limited in Leicestershire

Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 1 SC489970 Registered provider: United Health Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This privately owned children’s home provides care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 February 2019

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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

Date of last inspection: 17 October 2017

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/10/2017 Full Good 22/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 04/10/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 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 registered person must ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification, the level 3 diploma for residential childcare (England) (‘the level 3 diploma’), or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the level 3 diploma, by the relevant date. (Regulation 32(4), (5)) 30/04/2018

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Requirement Due date

If the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(c)) 30/04/2019

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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 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;

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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

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) 30/04/2019

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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 requires the registered person to ensure 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. (Regulation 12(1), (2)(d)) 30/04/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 4

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improvement to be good

Children living at this home are not yet receiving good enough care to support them to make and sustain progress and experience positive outcomes.

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improvement to be good

For some children, there has been slow progress in achieving in education and training. Staff have worked with partner agencies to address this. Planning meetings have been convened to solve the problem, but the strategies put in place and actions taken have not been effective. Children are displaying risk-taking behaviours and are influenced by their peers. As a result, they are not consistently engaging with and responding to the work carried out with them by staff, social workers and specialist services. There is concern about how well the children will manage as they move into more independent settings.

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improvement to be good

There is also concern about the effect on children’s physical and emotional health as a result of their lifestyle choices and risk-taking behaviours. Children are not responding to the offer of therapeutic support. Staff are provided with consultation from the therapy team to inform their practice with individual children.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard at building positive relationships with children and provide child-centred, nurturing care. They do take account of children’s complex needs and the underlying causes of their needs and behaviours. As a result, children have shared information about past experiences that has helped staff and social workers to understand and meet their needs.

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improvement to be good

One child is very settled and is making very good progress. Staff have supported him to overcome barriers to progress because of negative experiences in education, and his attendance and progress are improving. He is enjoying hobbies and activities, and he is making positive relationships in the home and in the community.

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improvement to be good

There is good evidence of children being consulted about their day-to-day care and their care plans. Staff are listening to and acting on children’s views and wishes. Children do have the confidence to raise complaints and concerns. The complaints procedure is followed, and the outcome of complaints is shared with children in a timely way.

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improvement to be good

There is very good practice by staff in promoting and supporting positive and safe contact between children, families and friends. In some cases, this has helped to repair and develop relationships. Staff have supported social workers in assessing family relationships and progressing care plans.

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

Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 5

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection there has been an increase in going missing from home and education, for some children. There has also been an increase in incidents of violent and aggressive behaviours towards peers and staff and increasing concern about children being exposed to the risk of criminal and sexual exploitation.

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improvement to be good

One child moved from the home as a result of increased concern regarding sexual exploitation. Strategies and work with her to prevent her from going missing from the home were not successful. There was also an incident of concern about inappropriate behaviours within the home. Multi-agency meetings were convened, and child protection procedures were followed. Managers are reflecting on the learning from decisions about placements and consideration given to the needs of children living in the home, prior to new children moving into the home. This inspection found that, given the information known about the children’s needs, risks could have been predicted, more robust strategies put in place and informed individual work undertaken to reduce the risks.

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improvement to be good

A signficant concern is that substance misuse by some of the children living at the home has become routine. Strategies, individual work and consequences have not made a difference to its incidence and impact. As a result, children are not engaging with positive activities but are spending time out of the home with peers in the community.

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improvement to be good

There is a growing concern about some children’s exposure to the risk of criminal exploitation and the impact of substance misuse on their mental health and mood. It is likely that the routine use of substances is linked to some of the risky behaviours by the children. One child has physically assaulted a peer and two children have been subject to criminal justice processes. These are not good outcomes for children.

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improvement to be good

There is a need for a more robust, multi-agency response both to support children to change their behaviours and to influence their choices.

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improvement to be good

There is also a need to revisit policies and practice in respect of managing the risks relating to the use of digital technology. Children have access to mobile phones. It is likely that the use of social media has increased the risk of sexual exploitation, for one of the children. There have also been safeguarding concerns in respect of another child’s use of social media. Staff and managers require enhanced knowledge and skills and a consistent approach to managing this. This will enable staff to challenge placing local authorities when there is a difference of view about how children can manage these risks.

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improvement to be good

Managers have responded appropriately to the small number of allegations made against staff working with children. These investigations have been concluded.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There have been changes to the management team and the senior management team prior to this inspection. The provider will be recruiting a new home manager. There are also care staff vacancies, and managers are in the process of recruiting to the team. At Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 6 present, the staff team does not have a gender balance. Currently, consideration is given to ensuring that there are male role models in terms of other services and contacts with the children in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff are receiving supervision regularly. Supervisors receive supervision training, but the quality of supervision is mixed. Staff would benefit from having a consistent supervisor. The practice and development of staff would benefit from improved monitoring systems, including a review of the quality of supervision.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff have training as part of their induction, probationary period and ongoing development. There is a balance of online training and face-to-face training. This supports staff to understand and meet the needs of children living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Managers have monitored attendance and performance, using supervision and relevant procedures. They have ensured that there are enough staff who are familiar to the children by using staff from other providers’ homes. However, it is important that managers ensure that vacancies are filled in a timely way. This would support permanent staff, who are undertaking additional hours to provide cover within the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

One member of staff has not yet achieved the mandatory childcare qualification. They are undertaking the course, but they have been in post, requiring this qualification, for a number of years. Managers have provided support and guidance and are aware of this shortfall. A requirement is made, as it is essential that staff have the relevant qualification.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There are a range of monitoring mechanisms in place. The independent visitor’s reports are useful, and the managers and staff respond in a timely way to recommendations.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Professionals are positive about partnership working and the progress that children are making in some areas of their lives.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

One child has experienced delays in progressing his care plan. The home does not have an up-to-date pathway plan as part of the child’s records. This child is anxious about moving on, has complex needs and will require a level of support as part of the transition plan. The home managers have raised concerns with the placing local authority about the delays to the plan, but have not escalated this sufficiently.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

There has been a difference of view between the managers and seniors of the home about how best to respond to the challenging behaviours and complex needs of some of the children living in the home. Senior managers are in the process of reviewing practice, particularly safeguarding practice and the response to substance misuse. There is now agreement to implement more robust, consistent strategies and approaches. There is also a planned whole-team ‘learning lessons’ exercise. This means that managers recognise the shortfalls and are addressing them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Staff and managers require additional training and support so that they can respond well to some of the complex and challenging behaviours that children and young people are Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 7 presenting. They would benefit from additional safeguarding training regarding assessment and management of risk, the safe use of digital technology and the response to and impact of substance misuse. Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 8

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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: SC489970 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: United Health Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Old Coach House, Drinsey Nook, Lincoln LN1 2JJ

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Inspector:

Cathey Moriarty, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC489970 10 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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