Children's home run by Castle Homes Limited in North Northamptonshire

Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 1 SC419330 Registered provider: Castle Homes Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is registered to accommodate a maximum of three children who have complex difficulties. It is owned by a large private organisation.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since 2 May 2018.

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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

Date of last inspection: 29 November 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Two compliance notices were issued following the declined effectiveness judgement on 29 November 2018. The compliance notices were re-issued following a monitoring visit on 24 January 2019and a restriction notice was issued. The compliance notices have now been met, and the restriction notice is no longer in place. Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/12/2017 Full Inadequate 13/09/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 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— help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (2)(b)(vi)) 28/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 28/06/2019

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Recommendations

 The importance of understanding who we are and where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example, through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.14)  Staff should encourage children to share any concerns about their care or other matters as soon as they arise. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 22, paragraph 4.13)  Decisions about overnight stays with friends should be delegated to children’s homes staff by the placing authority for looked-after children. The level of delegated authority should be recorded in the placement plan. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 38, paragraph 8.9)  As with all the Quality Standards the responsibilities and accountabilities in this

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Recommendations

standard fall on the registered person. In practice, just as with other standards, those responsible for the day to day running of homes, including leadership teams in large homes and specialist advisers within other settings (for example, security advisers in secure homes) play a key role in enabling the registered person to fulfil the requirements of this standard (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards, page 52, paragraph 10.2). In particular, ensure that the responsible individual records any audits undertaken. Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 4

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improvement to be good

Significant concerns relating to the protection of children and the effectiveness of leaders and managers were identified at the interim inspection in November 2018 and the monitoring visit conducted on 24 January 2019. A restriction notice was issued during the monitoring visit. One child has remained in placement since that time.

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improvement to be good

Children’s past experiences, their understanding of why they are looked after and experiences of being cared for away from home have not been fully explored. A review of the experience of living at the home during an unsettled period has not been considered.

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improvement to be good

There has previously been a significant delay in accessing therapeutic assessments to equip the staff with the appropriate knowledge and guidance to meet children’s needs. This is now in place, and an assessment is booked.

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improvement to be good

A child is increasing his activities inside the home and in the community. He recently requested some vouchers for paintballing and a trampoline for the home. This was readily agreed in acknowledgement of his personal goal to be more active. The staff encourage him to socialise with his friends. He has recently had a successful overnight stay at a friend’s home. The staff visited the friend’s parents to ensure that it was a suitable place for him to stay. The manager has not, to date, put in place a delegated authority agreement with those who have parental authority, which would enable decisions to be made without any delay.

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improvement to be good

The child has made significant progress at school. The school staff reported that he is in the top 10% to have made progress at the school. This is an impressive achievement. The staff take him to and from school and work closely with the school staff to enable him to reach his potential, both academically and socially. They support him to attend breakfast club to increase his social opportunities.

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improvement to be good

Staff provide appropriate and agreed levels of support for family contact arrangements. This practice recognises the importance and significance of these relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff teach the children important messages such as internet safety and how to keep themselves safe when using social media. An agreement has been signed with regards to the expectations of the use of the games console. However, this was not in line with the care plan. The manager discussed this with the child, and new guidelines were Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 5 agreed. The manager is reviewing this agreement in preparation for when he can access an online game.

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improvement to be good

Staff listen to children and encourage them to express their views. Regular one-to-one meetings with children, staff and the manager are used to discuss a range of issues and explore the children’s feelings. The child living at the home contributes to any plans made in relation to his care. He has expressed some concern regarding a staffing issue but has not wanted to make a complaint. The manager has not further explored this with the child, and this is a missed opportunity to explore the child’s views.

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improvement to be good

Leaders and managers have instigated a rigorous approach in tackling the failures identified during the last inspection and monitoring visit. A programme of intensive training including safeguarding knowledge is currently under way. Individual staff members are able to speak knowledgeably about safeguarding topics, including whistle blowing.

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improvement to be good

Improvements have been made to the recording and reporting of safeguarding matters. One incident was not reported to the on-call manager at the time of the incident. During an internal investigation, the issue was found to relate to the language used, causing the matter to appear to be a safeguarding matter when in fact this was not the case. This has been addressed with staff in supervisions and team meetings.

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improvement to be good

Previously, risk assessments and care plans were not reviewed or updated in response to incidents. The current manager has undertaken a comprehensive review of these documents and simplified them. Staff have been trained in completing care plans and risk assessments. This has improved their knowledge about why these records are important. Staff are now more consistent in their care, and those spoken to reported that their confidence has increased. There is now more clarity regarding accountability. The overall responsibility for these records remains with senior managers.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

This home has been without a registered manager since May 2018. Significant concerns relating to the leadership of the previous manager contributed to the declined effectiveness judgement following a requires improvement judgment at the full inspection. The home has been without a registered manager for several months, and this has had a negative impact on the running of the home. The majority of the staff are new to the home. The current acting manager has identified that the staff had significant gaps in their training, skills and knowledge. Many of the staff have not had an adequate induction. Leaders and managers are addressing this, and all staff have undertaken mandatory training to increase their basic knowledge and ensure that they are all trained to the same level.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior managers undertake quality assurance checks and highlight strengths and weaknesses of the service. The responsible individual undertakes monthly audits but has not recorded these for the acting manager and staff to refer to. Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 6 The current manager has completed a workforce development plan and identified the strengths and weaknesses in the staff team. She is addressing these in formal supervisions, team meetings, training and one-to-one discussion. Reflection on how to put the training into practice has begun. The staff work at the sister homes where they have shown that they are able to manage challenging behaviour and use de-escalation techniques. The feedback from the managers and staff at these homes has been positive.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Senior leaders have reviewed and updated the home’s admissions policies and procedures. They have undertaken a learning exercise to reflect on the decision-making regarding children moving into the home and ways in which this process needs improving. This reduces the potential for the past failures to be repeated.

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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: SC419330 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Castle Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Fifth Floor, 80 Hammersmith Road, London W14 8UD

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Inspector

Suzy Lemmy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC419330 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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