Children's home run by Rushcliffe Specialist Schools (Mickleover) Ltd in Nottingham

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 1 SC463386

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Rushcliffe Specialist Schools (Mickleover) Ltd

Monitoring visit Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for children and young people who have autism spectrum disorder and associated communication and/or behavioural difficulties. It is registered for 24 children. The purpose-built building is split into a number of lodges. The home is owned and operated by a private company. There is a school on site. The home has been without a registered manager for 46 weeks.

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This monitoring visit

The home was judged as requiring improvement to be good in September 2018. It was judged to have declined in effectiveness at the subsequent interim inspection in January 2019. This led to a restriction of accommodation being served, preventing the admission of any new children. A compliance notice was served at the same time relating to shortfalls in leadership and management at the home. At the point of this monitoring visit, the home had been without a registered manager for 46 weeks. The home has experienced a decrease in staffing over the past year, and three members of staff have left since the last inspection. The reduction in staffing is creating instability for the children and staff. Some children’s activities have not gone ahead due to how staff are deployed, and there have been instances when children have missed opportunities to see their families. Sometimes, the problems have arisen due to the availability of transport, or staff who are able to drive. On other

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This monitoring visit

occasions, staff have been unable to agree arrangements with a manager in a timely way. This fails to prioritise children’s needs or recognise the importance of family contact. Inspectors raised the matter of contact with one child’s independent advocate to ensure that this child’s needs were recognised and met. Children are making variable progress. One parent said that they had lost faith in the service and had decided to keep their child at home rather than use the residential service. Another parent said that their child is doing well, but described Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 2 communication from managers as poor. A recent complaint from a parent referred to how a child’s move from one lodge to another was managed. Despite having very few children in residence, this move was managed badly. The views of children were not taken into account and there were insufficient staff deployed to manage the move. Complaints are not always

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This monitoring visit

responded to in a timely manner. Records of complaint were found to be incomplete and failed to detail whether the complainant was satisfied with the provider’s response or the outcome. Leaders and managers have not responded to the identified shortfalls effectively. There is a lack of understanding about the shortfalls and what actions are required to address them. This has led to the steps identified in the compliance notice not being met. The home’s independent visitor carries out monthly quality assurance visits. Some of the recommendations made following these visits are repeatedly unmet. Leaders and managers do not have robust internal monitoring processes. They have failed to carry out a six-monthly quality of care review. The home’s last quality of care review was for the period of June to December 2017. This lack of responsiveness to identified shortfalls, combined with a lack of internal monitoring, means that leaders

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This monitoring visit

and managers have not fully evaluated children’s experiences. Necessary improvements have not been sustained. Staff working directly with children are committed to their care. This is evident in the way that staff interact with children, and in the caring way that staff speak about them. The requirements made at the last inspection will be assessed at the home’s next full inspection. The restriction of accommodation will remain in place.

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Recent inspection history

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement 30/01/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 05/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 15/05/2018 Full Inadequate 08/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children, use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff— understand and apply the home’s statement of purpose; protect and promote each child’s welfare; treat each child with dignity and respect; provide personalised care that meets each child’s needs, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans, taking account of the child’s background; help each child to understand and manage the impact of any experience of abuse or neglect; help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live

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Requirement Due date

independently as an adult; make decisions about the day-to-day arrangements for each child, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans, which give the child an appropriate degree of freedom and choice. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(ix)) 23/04/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— 23/04/2019 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 4 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) This relates to the quality and accuracy of children’s risk assessments. The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to 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

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Requirement Due date

effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(b)) This relates to the home’s systems for the safe use of the internet. 23/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

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— 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; ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; 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

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Requirement Due date

of the quality of care provided in the home; 23/04/2019 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 5 demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home— the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) In particular, ensure that, where applicable, children have a

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Requirement Due date

personal emergency evacuation plan. 23/04/2019

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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— 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. The relevant date is— 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 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)(b)(5)(a)(b)) 19/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— ensure that each employee completes an appropriate induction. (Regulation 33 (1)(a)) 23/04/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children ("a quality of care review") at 23/04/2019 Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 6 least once every 6 months. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review ("the quality of care review report").

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must— supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home. The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 45 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(4)(a)(b)(5))

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) In particular, records must be clear.

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Information about this inspection

Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 7 The purpose of this visit was to monitor the action taken and the progress made by the children’s home since its last Ofsted inspection.

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Information about this inspection

This inspection was carried out under the Care Standards Act 2000.

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Rushcliffe Specialist Schools (Mickleover) Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 3rd Floor Butt Dyke House, 33 Park Row, Nottingham, Nottinghamshire NG1 6EE

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Inspectors

Sonia Hay, social care inspector Bev Allison, social care inspector Inspection report for children’s home - monitoring visit: SC463386 8 to 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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