Children's home run by Radical Services Limited in Leeds

Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 1 SC459107 Registered provider: Radical Services Ltd

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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 and accommodation for up to four children and young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been in post since January 2018 but is on a period of extended leave. The home has recruited an interim manager whose application has not yet been submitted to the regulator.

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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 inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 01/05/2018 Full Good 28/06/2017 Full Good 16/05/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children‟s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5 (d))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, this relates to engaging with the virtual head in respect of children‟s education and with relevant health professionals and the looked after child nurse where young people have diagnosed health conditions. 25/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

The quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

treat each child with dignity and respect. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(iii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, children should be present during room searches and their cooperation should be sought to conduct the room search. Additionally, activity budgets should be managed so that children are not told there are insufficient funds for them to go 25/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 4 out. 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 staff— promote opportunities for each child to learn informally;

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(v)(viii)) 25/06/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and

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Requirement Due date

positive responses to other children and adults.

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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 develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, children should be able to develop trusting relationships with staff and staff should have the skills to de- escalate situations and not cause conflict. 25/06/2019

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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.

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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 information in the child‟s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; 25/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 5 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; and

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Requirement Due date

that the home‟s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii) and (b)) *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—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(e)(f)(h)) 25/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

*The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s 25/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 6 home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(b)(i))

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20 (2)) Specifically, staff must not hold doors shut to prevent a child from leaving the room. 25/06/2019

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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 children‟s home. In particular, the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(b)) 25/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

After consultation with the fire and rescue authority, the registered person must— take adequate precautions against the risk of fire, including the provision of suitable fire equipment in the children‟s home: provide adequate means of escape from the home in the event of a fire; make arrangements for persons working at the home to receive suitable training in fire prevention. (Regulation 25 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

This relates specifically to ensuring that external doors can be opened and to advising visitors to the home of fire procedures. 25/06/2019

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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; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the 25/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 7 requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, qualifications should be verified during recruitment and staff should have training relevant to the needs of the young people. The registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes—

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Requirement Due date

details of the child‟s behaviour leading to the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the date, time and location of the use of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

a description of the measure and its duration;

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details of any methods used or steps taken to avoid the need to use the measure;

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Requirement Due date

the name of the person who used the measure (“the user”), and of any other person present when the measure was used;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure;

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Requirement Due date

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)—

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Requirement Due date

has spoken to the user about the measure; and

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Requirement Due date

has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and

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Requirement Due date

within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person 25/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 8 or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii) and (c)(iv)) The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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Requirement Due date

include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, records should be clear, accurate and contain sufficient detail. Additionally, any copy or review of the plan for the care of the child prepared by the child‟s placing authority should be obtained. 25/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not progressing well at this home and their progress has declined since the previous inspection. The registered manager is on an extended period of leave and the management arrangements for the home have been unstable since her departure. This has triggered a period of instability in all aspects of the home.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people reported that they have lost some close relationships they had with former staff and have not yet developed closeness and trust with newer staff. This lack of positive relationships has had an impact on young people‟s progress, particularly in their overall experience of living in the home. Throughout the inspection, it was evident that managers and some staff did not know the young people well, which limited their capacity to provide individualised care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people do not have positive relationships with each other. One young person stated to the inspectors that she was targeted by the other young people, who criticised her appearance and called her names including „fat‟. She said she had attempted to reduce her food intake because of this. Staff had attempted to address this through young people‟s meetings and key-worker sessions, but the young person felt that the name-calling was still ongoing.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people engage in negative behaviours together, for example barricading themselves in their bedrooms, setting off fire alarms and being unruly at night-time. This Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 9 results in times when the home is chaotic, and it is disruptive to young people‟s routines.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some young people are attending their identified education provision and are making progress. One young person was admitted to the home with no education provision in place. Staff had not made sufficient efforts to work with external agencies to ensure that education was provided at the earliest opportunity; for example, they had not contacted the virtual head. There was no effort to engage the young person in education or educational activities while inspectors were in the home, despite the young person stating that she wanted to progress her maths and English. This negatively affects young people‟s opportunities to reach their full educational potential.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people‟s bedrooms have been searched on some occasions due to safeguarding concerns. Although the searches have been appropriate, they have been carried out at times when young people have not been in the home. This has prevented them from being present, giving consent and having the opportunity to hand in anything that they knew was being searched for. This shows that young people‟s privacy and dignity are not respected.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers do not gather enough information in relation to young people‟s health before they are admitted to the home. One young person had a complex physical and mental health diagnosis at the time of her admission. No efforts had been made to verify the diagnosis. Medication is not always administered as prescribed to young people. This does not demonstrate that staff are meeting their health needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Positively, young people have been involved in choosing the decor for the home, which generally presents as clean and comfortable. Young people are also well supported with family contact and maintaining links with their home areas.

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

Young people are not safeguarded effectively at this home. There have been some serious incidents when young people have put themselves or others at risk and staff have not acted effectively to keep them safe.

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

On one occasion, a young person caused a serious burn to herself with an aerosol spray. Despite the severity of the injury, professional medical attention was not sought until three days later, by which time she required intravenous antibiotics and an operation for a full-thickness skin graft. The young person‟s risk assessment had not been followed by staff. The risk assessment clearly directed staff to seek medical advice in the event of a serious self-harm incident. The young person had had a previous incident of self-harm using a spray perfume and should not have had unsupervised access to aerosol sprays. Staff had failed to remove these from her bedroom. The provider recognises the seriousness of the incident and, as such, it is the subject of an internal investigation.

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

On another occasion, a young person was able to obtain from the home a kitchen knife with a nine-inch blade, which she used to threaten staff. There was no explanation as to how this knife was obtained when it should have been locked safely away. This resulted Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 10 in the police being called and in a risk of harm to young people and staff. Additionally, the young person was secured in her bedroom by a member of staff holding the door shut. This incident is also subject to an internal investigation.

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

A further young person reported to inspectors that she was being bullied in the home by the other young people. She stated that she did not feel safe and feared what might happen due to the threats other young people had made to her. The young person said that some staff addressed bullying when it happened, but others simply told her to ignore it and walk away or „just let it slide‟. This does not demonstrate that young people are listened to.

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

Inspectors identified that an external fire door would not open at the beginning of the inspection. This was not immediately rectified, and inspectors had to raise this again before any action was taken. The inspectors found the door still to be sticking on the second day of the inspection and prompted managers to take action to remedy this.

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

Managers and staff have failed to recognise and record risks to young people‟s safety and well-being. Risks to young people are not always understood and correctly assessed for their severity, neither are risk assessments up to date and followed by staff. The shortfalls in risk assessment and management compromise children‟s safety and well- being.

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

Staff lack the necessary training to meet young people‟s needs and keep them safe. For example, the staff team members have not all had training in self-harm, which is a specific risk for two of the young people, nor are they trained in the specific medical and mental health conditions of the newly admitted young person. This fails to support staff in their learning and development.

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

A young person was physically restrained during an incident, using an unrecognised hold, by a senior member of staff who was not trained in restraint technique. The young person made a complaint as a result of this hold and alleged she had been injured. The hold was not recorded in the home‟s physical intervention log.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager is currently on extended leave, and interim management arrangements have not been adequate. Strong leadership is not evident, and managers do not know or understand the young people well. Managers do not have a clear understanding of the home‟s weaknesses and, therefore, have not acted to address these.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There have been several changes to the staff team and several staff disciplinary issues. This has resulted in a staff team that does not know the young people well and cannot manage their behaviour. This prevents young people from building positive relationships with all staff working with them

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Monitoring systems are not embedded into practice and, as a result, several errors and Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 11 omissions noted in the home‟s records have not been identified by managers. Most records do not have managerial oversight, and if they do, their comments are not always acted on. Some key documents from the young people‟s placing authorities are not on young people‟s files. There is no system in place for checking these or requesting them when they are absent. This does not ensure that young people receive the services that they need.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Decisions around admissions are not carefully considered. One young person was admitted as an emergency. Insufficient information was available to make an informed decision about whether this young person was a positive match with the other young people in the home. The staff and management team were not sufficiently stable to meet a new young person‟s needs and the young people already placed were showing signs of being unsettled. As such, the admission of another young person was not appropriate.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Omissions were noted in staff recruitment files. One member of staff was recruited as a senior, based on his qualifications. There was no documentary proof of the qualifications in the recruitment records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home does not always work in partnership with external agencies. For example, staff have not contacted the virtual head to progress one young person‟s participation in education. The staff have not contacted the looked after child nurse or any other health professional about one young person‟s diagnosed medical and mental health condition.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not always manage budgets effectively. On one occasion, this has resulted in the young people complaining that there was insufficient money for them to go out on an activity and insufficient money to refuel the home‟s vehicle.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Overall, there are significant and widespread failures in the leadership and management, the delivery of care to young people, and significant risks to young people‟s safety and welfare. This has resulted in an inadequate judgement, and a restriction notice and three compliance notices being served on the service.

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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 Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 12 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: SC459107 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Radical Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Rouse House, 2 Wyther Lane, Leeds LS5 3BT

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Kirsty Thomason (not currently in post)

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Inspectors

Gillian Walters, social care inspector Charlie Bamber, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC459107 14 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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