Children's Home run by New Start in Liverpool

Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 1 SC444411 Registered provider: New Start

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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 children’s home provides care and accommodation for one young person with mild to moderate learning disabilities, ADHD, and social and emotional difficulties.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/04/2018 Full Good 19/07/2017 Full Good 28/03/2017 Interim Not judged 10/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 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 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 has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(3)(b)) 07/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 07/06/2019

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person should have a workforce development plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that

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Recommendations

reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  All children’s case records 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. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 4 including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)  Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided to the young person is nurturing, responsive and helping him to have a positive experience and make good progress in his life. Staff support the young person to make changes in his life at his own pace. This allows him to develop in confidence, build on his self-esteem and trust the manager, staff and other professionals involved in his life. The young person said, ‘The manager and staff genuinely care about me and do their best for me. I have been in lots of other children’s homes and this is one of the best.’

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person’s health and well-being needs are met. Routine and specialist health appointments are attended as necessary. Medication is reviewed when necessary to ensure that the correct medication is prescribed for the young person. The manager and staff provide good information about the importance of a healthy lifestyle and encourage the young person to maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet; this is incorporated into his independence plan.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person has been out of full-time education for some time. However, the manager continually challenges professionals to address this, and as a result the young person is now receiving home tuition. There is no education plan in place and staff do not always provide sufficient structured educational activities when the young person is not having home tuition. This does not support and encourage the young person’s learning or secure his educational progress.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young person is supported and encouraged to develop relationships and maintain contact with the people who are important to him. He enjoys regular contact with family members and financial support is provided for the young person to celebrate special occasions and enjoy activities with family members. The manager is proactive and persistent in ensuring that the placing local authority undertakes suitable checks to make sure that contact is safe and in the young person’s best interest.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff know the young person well and have a positive relationship with him. They provide opportunities for the young person to give his views on his care. However, the young person’s views are not included in his placement plan. The young person can share concerns that he has with staff and he knows how to make a complaint.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home environment is warm, welcoming and nurturing. Home improvements are Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 5 continually made to ensure that the environment is well maintained, and the home is very much like any family home. The young person is supported to keep his bedroom clean and tidy and has a sense of belonging at the home.

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

The young person told the inspector that he feels safe living at the home. Risks to the young person have reduced since he moved in. For example, the young person has a history of being missing from previous placements and he has not been missing since he moved into the home. Furthermore, incidents of aggressive behaviour and causing damage have significantly reduced.

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

The manager and staff have established consistent boundaries, and they have successfully supported the young person to understand expectations, rules and routines. Staff utilise effective behaviour management strategies, such as de-escalation and rewarding positive behaviour, and as a result the young person feels safe and secure and responds better to difficult situations.

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

Risk assessments identify risks for the young person alongside strategies for staff to manage these risks. However, some information in the risk assessment is duplicated and the information relating to the risk of criminal behaviour is unclear. Although the assessments are regularly reviewed, updates are not shared with all staff. Consequently, this could place the young person at risk.

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

The young person receives advice and guidance on how to keep himself safe from harm. Staff spend time talking to him about the risks he may face, such as substance misuse, internet safety and missing from home. Furthermore, the young person is supported to take age-appropriate risks as part of developing his independence skills. For example, he has a travel card to use public transport and has limited time using the internet and online games.

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

The home’s location review contains limited information relating to the risks that the home’s location presents. For example, the review does not include sufficient information relating to the risk the nearby football club presents on match days and the strategies in place to manage the risk. There has been a poor response to the manager’s attempts to gain safeguarding information and intelligence about risks in the community from other relevant professionals.

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

Since the last inspection, there have been a number of changes in the leadership and management and staffing at the home. The new responsible individual and registered manager have worked for the company for several years in different roles and have a good understanding of the company ethos. Two new members of staff have recently been recruited and will start work when safer recruitment checks have been completed. The young person has managed the significant staff changes well. Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 6 The registered manager has vast experience of working with young people in various settings, including children’s homes, supported accommodation, education and early years. She is motivated and enthusiastic and has developed good relationships with the young person, staff and stakeholders. The registered manager has a clear vision for developing the staff team and the quality of care.

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

Changes to the staff team have resulted in staff from other homes and services within the company working at the home. One member of staff does not have recent experience of working within a children’s home setting and he has not received appropriate training and development opportunities for the role. Furthermore, he has not been given the opportunity to read important records and plans for the young person, such as his risk assessment and placement plan.

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

There are shortfalls in the frequency and quality of supervision for the registered manager and staff. The registered manager has only had two formal supervision sessions since she started working at the home in October 2018. The manager has not received the record of her last supervision session, which was completed earlier this month. Furthermore, some staff supervisions have not taken place regularly and records do not demonstrate that supervision sessions enable the staff to discuss the needs of the young person or reflect on practice.

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

Regular team meetings take place that enable the staff team to discuss the needs and progress of the young person, practice-related issues and the development of the home. However, bank staff do not always attend these meetings, which does not help to ensure that there is consistency in the quality of care provided.

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

The monitoring and review systems at the home help the manager to identify the strengths and areas for development for the home and the staff team. The manager takes effective action to address shortfalls and build strengths to improve practice and outcomes for the young person. There is a clear development plan for the home; however, the home does not have a workforce development plan.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 7 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: SC444411 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Job Bank, 4 Tunnel Road, Liverpool L7 6QD

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC444411 9 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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