Children's home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group 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 home is operated by a private provider. The home can accommodate up to three children or young people. The home offers short-, medium- and long-term placements for children and young people aged between eight and 18 years. The home aims to provide a period of stability to allow children and young people to reflect on their difficulties and make plans based on a comprehensive assessment of their social, emotional, behavioural, physical and educational needs. The registered manager left in December 2018. The acting manager is not registered with Ofsted.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

There are serious failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded, and the experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 14 November 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/11/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 3

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There are shortfalls in safeguarding practice that leave the children at risk of harm when they go missing from the home. The staff do not have a clear understanding of their responsibilities in relation to looking for missing children. There are delays in finding children who are missing, because there are no formal plans for staff to follow that highlight individual risks or that identify the resources that are required to support a response. As a result, staff do not always go out and search for missing children. There are examples where poor practice in this area has had a negative effect on the child’s physical and emotional well-being.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Children have not experienced a settled home environment because the staff have not been successful in managing children’s competing needs or understanding fully their vulnerabilities. A lack of appropriate oversight, on occasion, has placed children at risk of harm. The manager has addressed this by making sure that the staff are aware of their responsibilities in relation to keeping the children safe. The manager has changed the group dynamics of the children living in the home to create a more stable and safer environment for the children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Not all children have their health needs met appropriately. For example, there have been delays for children undergoing essential medical tests, and there have been some missed medical appointments. Although staff do try to encourage the children to attend medical appointments, it is not always successful. Other children’s health needs are met and supported effectively.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children receive support from staff to manage their emotional well-being. The staff access specialist mental health services. The staff receive advice to help support them to meet the children’s complex needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children are making good progress with their learning. Prior to living at this home, the children did not access education at all or had limited attendance at school. The children now engage in their individualised study sessions. One child is proud of sustaining 100% attendance and is working towards accreditation awards.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children enjoy a range of activities. Some of the activities include first-time experiences, such as going to the seaside, watching films at the cinema and trampolining.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children learn a range of skills which help them to improve their independence. The skills they learn include improving their personal hygiene, cleaning their rooms and cooking a range of meals.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The children are included in the running of the home. The children are regularly Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 4 consulted about their care planning and activities they would like to undertake.

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

When the children go missing from the home, the staff make phone calls to try to locate them. The staff do not always follow the children’s missing-from-home protocols. Limited numbers of staff mean that the strategies and measures to keep children safe are ineffective. Some children’s missing-from-home protocols do not contain known addresses and other places that the staff should look when children go missing from the home. There is no contingency plan if staff do not drive or there are insufficient numbers of staff to respond safely and locate the children quickly. This does not promote safe working practice.

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

The response to support children when they are under the influence of substances is inadequate. Although the staff ask the children how they are feeling and offer medical attention, they do not monitor the child’s welfare throughout the night to ensure that there are no adverse reactions.

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

On one occasion, staff did not prevent a child in crisis from leaving the home when it would have been appropriate to do so. This practice increased risk for the child. Subsequently, the manager has addressed with staff, through supervision and staff meetings, the need to act if the staff feel that the child will be at immediate risk of harm. It is too soon to see the impact of this on staff practice.

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

The procedures for reporting a serious disclosure made by a child have not been followed. A member of staff failed to report a disclosure made by a child immediately, leading to a delay in the child receiving emotional and medical support. The managers have acted appropriately to address the child’s needs and the failures in staff practice.

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

Records of the actions taken to safeguard the children and young people vary in quality. Reporting is not sufficiently clear to provide an accountable audit of events and demonstrate the actions staff have taken to safeguard the children when disclosures have been made.

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

The staff have not always been able to implement effective guidance and boundaries for the children. The behaviour management strategies that the staff have used have not been effective. As a result, the staff have resorted to phoning the police to help them manage the children’s behaviour. This has a negative impact on the children’s relationships with staff and the children’s understanding of appropriate boundaries. The manager has taken steps subsequently, to help the staff manage better children’s risky behaviours and complex needs.

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

Some children are receiving a better quality of support in relation to risk and health management, and outcomes for them are improving. Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 5

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

The acting manager was appointed in January 2019, following the departure of the registered manager in December 2018. During her time in the home, she has been focused appropriately on improving the quality of care for the children and of staff practice, which had declined in recent months. She has established positive relationships with the children quickly and leads her team by example when working with the children.

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

Arrangements for monitoring the quality of care in the home are not sufficiently robust or supporting the manager to gain a comprehensive understanding of the areas for development. While poor practice is robustly addressed, not all the shortfalls identified at this inspection were fully understood, for example poor practice relating to children going missing from the home. The independent visitor is not providing a robust check and balance to support the manager in her role.

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

The permanent staff receive regular supervision which helps them undertake their roles and ensures effective monitoring and challenge of their practice. The staff are regularly updated on events in the home and they receive additional learning through team meetings. The staff all feel well supported by the acting manager. Supervision for an agency member of staff was not taking place and this reduces oversight of practice.

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

The staff have undertaken some basic training which helps them to support the children. However, some specialist training in relation to sexual health had been delayed and had not taken place in a timely way to help the staff meet some of the children’s needs.

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

There are some effective working relationships with professionals to support children’s needs and, generally, communication is positive.

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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 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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account 9 June 2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 6 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

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) 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— that staff—

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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;

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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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi) and (vii)) 9 June 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)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This specifically relates to ensuring that agency staff receive regular and reflective supervision in line with company policy. 9 June 2019

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Requirement Due date

The health and well-being standard is that— the health and well-being needs of children are met.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that staff help each child to—

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Requirement Due date

understand the child’s health and well-being needs and the options that are available in relation to the child’s health and well-being, in a way that is appropriate to the child’s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

take part in activities, and attend any appointments, for the 9 June 2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 7 purpose of meeting the child’s health and well-being needs; and

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child’s well-being. (Regulation 10 (1)(a) and (2)(a)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(h))

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Requirement Due date

This is in specific relation to ensuring that staff record all safeguarding concerns in a way which enables the management and the regulator to monitor safeguarding concerns, including any disclosures and missing-from-home records. 9 June 2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5) This specifically relates to evaluating in detail all missing-from-home incidents and outlining any shortfalls clearly to assist the manager in addressing any issues.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 8 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: 1257073 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Inspectors

Jamie Richardson, social care inspector Rachel Holden, Her Majesty’s inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1257073 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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