Children's Home run by Beacon Childcare Ltd in Birmingham

Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 1 Registered provider: Beacon Childcare

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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 home is registered to provide care for three young people. The home offers care for young people who have social and emotional difficulties. The home is privately owned.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since September 2018. The registered manager is undertaking a level 5 diploma in leadership and management, with an expected completion date of October 2019.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has not been in day-to-day charge of the home since 1 March 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 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: 12 September 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 2

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Since the last full inspection, a compliance notice was issued twice relating to the safer recruitment of staff. Inspectors judged the notice to be met at a head office monitoring visit on 4 April 2019.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

12/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 07/06/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 12/03/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6(1)(2)(c)(ii)) 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that each child has access to appropriate equipment, facilities and resources to support the child‟s learning. (Regulation 8 (1) (2)(b)) 21/06/2019

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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 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. (Regulation 12(1) and (2)(a)(i)) 12/07/2019

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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.

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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)) 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The leadership and management standard requires the registered person to ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child and ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13(2)(c)(e)) 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively 12/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 4 planned care in or through the children‟s home. (Regulation 14(1)(a)) The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. (Regulation 16 (1)) 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the home. (Regulation 23(1)) 12/07/2019

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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)) 26/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in schedule 4. (Regulation 37(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

This includes a copy of the staff duty roster of persons working at the home, and a record of the actual rosters worked. 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response and the outcome of any investigation. Regulation 39 (3) 12/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a quality of care review by establishing and maintaining a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it. In particular, the system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (2)(b)(5)) 26/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Commissioners and providers (organisations that directly provide health or social care services) should review their policies, processes and local governance arrangements, making sure that it is clear who is accountable and responsible for using medicines safely and effectively in care homes. („Managing medicines in care homes‟ (2014), paragraph 1.1.1)  Children should have access to a computer and the internet to support their education and learning, unless there are specific safeguarding reasons why this would be inappropriate. In such cases, the home should consider whether and how it can support the child to access a computer and the internet safely. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 29, paragraph 5.19)  Registered persons have a key role in seeking to develop the home‟s effective working relationships with each child‟s placing authority and with other relevant persons which

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Recommendations

may include services, individuals (including parents), agencies, organisations and establishments that work with children in the local community, e.g. police, schools, Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 5 health and youth offending teams (regulation 5 – engaging with the wider system to ensure children‟s needs are met). These working relationships will also be key to success in delivering the care planning standard (regulation 14). („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 52, paragraph 10.3)

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improvement to be good

Staff ensure that referrals for specialist health services are made in consultation with GPs and social workers. As a result, one young person has been able to access bereavement services and another young person has attended an appointment to help them to stop smoking. This focus on health helps young people to receive the support they need to improve their physical and emotional well-being.

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improvement to be good

All young people attend school or college. Teachers describe positive communication with staff. One teacher told the inspector that staff have a „relentless approach‟ to encouraging young people to get up and ready for school. This support has helped one young person to attend school regularly and to make new friends. Staff have supported another young person with his GCSEs revision. However, an issue with transport has negatively impacted on his ability to maintain good school attendance at a critical time when he is preparing for his exams. His social worker told the inspector, „I feel he could be supported to get there more. Issues about the car or turnaround of staff should have been sorted.‟ In addition, there is no computer for the young people to use at the home. Shortfalls in resources mean that young people do not have all the necessary support they need to help them with their ongoing learning.

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improvement to be good

Young people have established daily routines in the home. However, the internal planning for young people is weak. For example, despite living at the home for five weeks, one young person does not have a plan for her care. This means that it is unclear if the young person is achieving the best that she can.

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improvement to be good

Staff help young people to stay in touch with family and friends. However, one parent told the inspector that staff had not been in contact with her. A lack of partnership working reduces the opportunity for parents to understand and contribute to their child‟s care.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage young people to develop their independence skills. Young people are routinely involved in menu planning, cooking and doing their laundry. Older young people have the opportunity to manage a budget, including taking responsibility for purchasing their own food. This supports young people to gain the skills needed for adulthood.

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improvement to be good

Managers have responded to a requirement of the last full inspection and have made improvements to safety within the home. Staff now ensure that food is stored safely and Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 6 the punchbag in the garden has been cemented into the ground. However, there are still some aspects of the physical conditions that require improvement. For example, the hallway carpet is marked with glue and salt, the light in a young person‟s shower room does not work and the shower is leaking, causing marks to the ceiling below. Handbasin taps in both communal bathrooms are faulty. These shortfalls all impact on the home being a comfortable and inviting environment for young people to live in.

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improvement to be good

Young people say that they like living at the home. One young person told the inspector, „I feel comfortable. If I need something done, it would be done.‟

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improvement to be good

Staff have an awareness of the risks posed to young people and the action to take to reduce harm. However, there has been little progress in ensuring that risk assessments for young people are current and clear about the risks posed to young people and the actions needed to safeguard them. For example, one young person is at risk of self-harm but there is no detail about how the young person self-harms or what to do if she attempts to self-harm. One young person‟s risk assessment has not been reviewed following incidents. Consequently, this continued shortfall means that staff do not have up-to-date information about how to reduce and manage young people‟s risks effectively.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, there have been two allegations of harm to a young person living at the home. Prompt contact with the local designated officer and the social worker have helped to promote the safety and well-being of the young person involved.

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, staff have completed online training on topics such as the „Prevent‟ duty, self-harm, safeguarding and child sexual exploitation. Staff can talk about the signs that a young person may be at risk of child sexual exploitation or radicalisation and are aware of how to report safeguarding concerns. The responsible individual has also received training to increase his awareness of safeguarding.

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improvement to be good

Staff are trained in behaviour management and situations that require a young person to be physically held by a member of staff are infrequent. When this has happened, staff and young people have had the opportunity to talk it through afterwards and records are appropriately completed. Staff are aware of the action to take should a young person go missing from the home.

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improvement to be good

Since the last full inspection, managers have ensured that the recruitment and vetting of staff supports the safe care of young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 7 The registered manager has not been in day-to-day charge of the home since 1 March 2019. Since this time, the management arrangements have been inconsistent, with three managers from within the organisation taking over the management of the home at different points.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Since the last full inspection, staff turnover has continued to be high, with five staff leaving the home and six new staff joining. Staffing gaps have been managed through the use of bank staff and the use of staff from other homes operated by the organisation. However, frequent changes of staff have negatively impacted on young people‟s opportunities to build trusting relationships with their carers. One young person told the inspector, „There have been lots of people working here. You don‟t really feel like you can connect with anyone as you don‟t know if they will stay.‟

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Young people have complained. However, managers were unable to find the records of these complaints during the inspection. This means that it is unclear if there was any learning from the complaints and how this has been used to improve the service for the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Following the last inspection, managers ensured that there were safe arrangements for a young person to self-administer his medication. No young people are currently administering their own medication. However, managers have failed to ensure that the organisation‟s guidance on the safe handling of medicines is clear about what training staff need to administer medication or how staff need to check the storage arrangements for medication. This includes controlled medication. This increases the likelihood of medication errors.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have not acted to ensure that all of the regulatory requirements from the last full inspection have been met.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

 Staff still do not receive frequent supervision as set out by the organisation‟s policy. This leaves staff without essential support to allow them to discuss and reflect on their practice.  Managers have not ensured that the statement of purpose accurately sets out the support that the home provides. For example, there is still no explanation of children‟s rights. There is no information about how the cultural needs of young people will be met. In addition, information about partnership working is incorrect and the document continues to refer to monitoring tools that are no longer used. This means that full and correct information about the service is still not available to parents and placing authorities.  Managers were unable to find copies of some staff rotas. This means that it remains unclear who has been working with the young people.  Managers have completed a review of the quality of care. However, the review lacks

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

analysis and still does not consider the views of key stakeholders, including young people. Consequently, the areas of strength and development for the service remain unclear. Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 8 Ineffective management of this home means that the capacity to drive improvement remains weak.

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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: 1253711 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hazlewoods, Windsor House, Bayshill Road, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire GL50 3AT

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Inspector

Alison Cooper, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1253711 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 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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