Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 1 SC394283 Registered provider: Salford City Council

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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 a local authority setting registered to accommodate up to five young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2012 and is suitably qualified.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

16/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 11/10/2017 Full Good 25/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— (a) mutual respect and trust; (b) an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and (c) positive responses to other children and adults (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (b) that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c) and (2)(b)) 28/06/2019

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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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 28/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— (a) receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and 28/06/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 4 (b) have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home. (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 14(1)(a)(b) and (2)(a)) Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must ensure that the home is at all times conducted in a manner which is consistent with its statement of purpose. (Regulation 16 (5)) 28/06/2019

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Recommendations

 Regulation 19(2) details sanctions that are prohibited in behaviour management. Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by their behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)  The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16 schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home, and used to record the ongoing

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Recommendations

training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, e.g. teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2) Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 5

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improvement to be good

Overall experiences and progress have been limited for most young people. Since the last inspection, 10 young people have been admitted to the home, with the majority of these being emergency admissions. At times, this has impacted on the stability of the home. Decisions regarding placements to the home have not always been sound. For example, three young people have been admitted to the home even though the manager and staff identified that they were not a suitable match to the other young people already living at the home. This has impacted on the welfare and safety of a number of young people. One young person who moved from the authority’s homes has settled well and formed positive relationships with staff. Another young person who has lived at the home for over two years has also formed some positive relationships. However, the group dynamics has often meant that young people disengage with staff when other young

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improvement to be good

people are around. Observations of interactions between young people and staff during the inspection confirm that they enjoy good relationships. Young people generally benefit from good health. They have access to a range of services to meet both their emotional and physical health. Over a period of a few months, three young people were smoking cannabis on a daily basis. This included smoking it in the home, putting themselves and others at risk. Staff attempts to control this behaviour by sanctioning young people’s pocket money has proved ineffective. More recently, there has been a marked reduction in this behaviour due to one of the young people moving to a secure provision. Staff work hard to support young people to re-engage in their education provision. However, despite the best efforts of staff, some young people have struggled to maintain good attendance. That said, one young person is due to sit a number of GCSEs

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improvement to be good

this summer. An email from the young person’s education coordinator addressed to the key-worker states: I think the school has seen a marked improvement in [X] behaviour and general outlook. He’s a happier person and full of pride in his appearance. On a personal level, I’ve found him to be enthusiastic in his post-16 plans and he’s far more engaged in his future than he was in previous years. A lot of this is a credit to the home. Communication is typically very good too.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage young people to learn new practical skills in preparation for their move to semi-independent living. They have implemented an independence programme for one young person. This allows the young person to undertake a range of tasks in order for them to gain an understanding of how to look after themselves once they move on from the home. Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 6

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage young people to make safe decisions. However, interactions between young people have not always been positive. Despite staff efforts to address these difficulties, some young people have bullied others and engaged in negative alliances that have impacted on the stability of the home. Incident records show that one young person was subject to intimidation and threats by other young people. Some situations have escalated out of control, resulting in staff calling the police to help manage young people’s behaviour. The young person was moved to a foster placement following a serious incident. Young people have been missing or absent from the home frequently. Staff attempt to maintain phone contact with young people who are unsupervised in the community, and search for them if they fail to return on time. On one occasion, a young person who had been missing for 10 days had to return on the train alone because there were not

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improvement to be good

enough staff to go and collect him. Individual risk assessments identify the known risks to young people’s welfare and safety, including risks associated with risk-taking behaviour such as the misuse of alcohol and drugs. There have been high levels of challenging behaviour in the home. Behaviour strategies have not always been effective. The consequences used, such as supervised monies or loss of a paid activity, have had little impact in reducing young people’s cannabis use. Improvements are required to improve the effectiveness of the behaviour management strategies, to help young people make positive changes to their behaviour.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not consistently operated in line with the statement of purpose. Young people have not always received high-quality care in a safe, warm and welcoming environment. Poor matching and the compatibility of young people has impacted on the welfare and safety of other young people living in the home. There are weaknesses in the leadership and management of the home. The home has been without a deputy manager since November 2018, due to long-term sickness. The senior care worker left the organisation in December 2018 and she has only very recently been replaced with another senior from one of the authority’s other homes. High levels of sickness continue, which means that shortfalls in the rota are covered by the manager and staff. In addition, a member of staff has been taken off the rota one day a week to work in another of the authority’s homes. Insufficient staffing has meant that staff have missed important appointments, such as personal education plan

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

meetings. Staff spoken to demonstrate a real commitment to their role, but they also expressed their concerns about a fifth young person being admitted to the home despite the staff shortages. This has had an impact on staff morale. A member of staff said, ‘We are a close team who work hard. We only want the best for the young people.’ Staff report a Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 7 good level of support from the manager. However, not all staff are receiving regular supervision. This means that staff do not have the opportunity to reflect on their practice on a one-to-one basis. Staff have access to regular training designed to improve their skills and knowledge. Each member of staff has an individual training matrix to demonstrate what training they have done. However, the records make it difficult to see what date some training was completed or if refresher training is needed, for example safeguarding children from

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

sexual exploitation. The manager and staff continue to work in partnership with external agencies to improve outcomes for young people. A number of requirements made at the last inspection have not been met. For example, relationships in the home have not improved following the last inspection. Impact risk assessments have not been used in relation to matching any new admissions to the home. The home is not meeting all of its aims and objectives as set out in the statement of purpose. These shortfalls continue to impact negatively on the experiences and progress of young people.

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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: SC394283 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Salford City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC394283 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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