Children's home run by Cruckton Hall Limited in North Kesteven

Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 1 SC401364 Registered provider: Cruckton Hall 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 privately owned home is also a residential special school. It offers an integrated residential education and care package for 27 boys, aged between eight and 19 years, who have autism spectrum disorders. The registered manager left her post on 31 January 2019. A new manager was appointed on 20 February 2019 and has applied to register. The acting senior manager continues to lead the service in the interim.

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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 requires improvement to be good

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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: 29 November 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Since the last inspection in November 2018, Ofsted has taken enforcement action. This has included issuing compliance notices and a restriction of accommodation notice, which was followed by a suspension of registration notice.

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

The restriction of accommodation notice and the suspension of registration notice were Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 2 both lifted on 28 February 2019. The responsible individual has agreed to have temporary conditions placed on the children‟s home‟s registration. This limits the number of children that the service can accommodate. Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 3

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

29/11/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 25/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/05/2017 Full Good 23/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 4

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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 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

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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

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to managerial oversight of restraint, risk management and care planning documentation to ensure that plans for individual children comprehensively identify their needs. 30/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s home; and 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

that each child‟s relevant plans are followed

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that when new children are admitted to the home, the registered person has sufficient information in order to meet their needs effectively. 30/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 5 The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if—

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Requirement Due date

the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children;

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Requirement Due date

the child‟s placing authority consents in writing to the monitoring or surveillance;

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Requirement Due date

so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child‟s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child‟s need for privacy.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 24 (1)(a)(b)(c)(d)) 30/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children‟s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

This is with respect to management scrutiny to ensure that staff can, and do, practise restraint safely and in line with the behaviour management policy. 30/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

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 kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 36 (1) (a)(b)(c) Schedule 3 (18)(19))

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Requirement Due date

This is with respect to the child‟s placing authority care plan and placement plan and the result of any review of those plans. 30/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 6 Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home.

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Requirement Due date

maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the records are kept up to date; and retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, ensure that the children‟s register contains accurate information about children‟s legal status. 30/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review, the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff.

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Requirement Due date

This relates to evidencing outcomes of consultation in the report of the next review of the quality of care. 31/08/2019

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improvement to be good

The registered provider has made improvements to the provision of care following Ofsted‟s compliance action. Children are now experiencing a very different service since returning in March 2019. Children now have better quality and safe Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 7 accommodation. There are now fewer children being cared for by a smaller staff team who are more experienced and better trained.

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improvement to be good

However, there are still shortfalls in managerial oversight of care planning and behaviour management. This results in a service still liable to inconsistency in staff practice.

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improvement to be good

Staff have warmly welcomed children back following its reopening. Children say that they get more attention and say that they are happy to be back.

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improvement to be good

Relationships between the children and staff are respectful and affectionate. Staff promote positive friendships between the children.

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improvement to be good

Staff now ensure that key-working sessions focus on children‟s achievements and targets. Staff say that they find it easier to see the progress that children are now making, in respect of their independence skills, educational targets, health and their emotional well-being. This enhanced support means that staff are increasingly helping children with things they find difficult in life.

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improvement to be good

Staff listen to children‟s wishes and feelings and respond by changes to activities and daily planning. One parent said that she was impressed with the range of opportunities for interesting activities her child was now receiving.

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improvement to be good

Children‟s day-to-day care is safer. Staff are more alert and take swift action when there is risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Improved staff training, managerial accountability and a better focus in external audits contribute to a much safer experience for children. There is generally a greater culture of learning lessons after allegations or serious incidents. Managers now act when there are concerns about poor staff performance.

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improvement to be good

Children generally behave well and have plenty of positive staff attention. However, when physical restraint is necessary, managers still do not scrutinise records to ensure that when staff have held a child this has been safely carried out. This creates a missed opportunity to improve practice and to ensure that physical restraint is carried out in line with regulation.

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improvement to be good

Risk management documentation is better overall. However, not all documents hold good-quality information. For example, some children‟s historical risks are not clearly captured in records. This leaves staff not fully informed of how historical risk needs to be considered when making decisions.

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improvement to be good

Staff sometimes fail to assess the risk of harm before deciding to use surveillance to monitor children. For example, staff switch on some bedroom door alarms to monitor Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 8 children‟s movements without assessing if the child needs this level of surveillance.

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improvement to be good

In practice, staff know children well and protect them from unnecessary risk, exploitation and/or abuse, including the risk from social media. A creative consultation took place with children about their feelings of personal safety. This has involved them fully in a whole-site approach to protection and reducing risk.

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good

Managerial oversight of admission and care planning processes for children returning to the home has not ensured that staff have sufficient information to help them to meet children‟s ongoing needs. For example, staff have overwritten some children‟s admission assessments. This results in incorrect information, such as the wrong child‟s name.

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good

Some children‟s plans are not clear about practical arrangements to ensure that staff secure key services such as children receiving ongoing therapeutic support. Staff have not assessed the impact of children‟s needs on each other in respect of residential group living. Despite requests by the home, some children have returned without the staff having the most up-to-date statutory care planning and/or statutory review documentation. Children‟s legal status is not recorded in the home‟s register. These shortfalls leave staff with limited information about the care arrangements for each child, children‟s achievements and important milestones, goals and permanence planning for their futures.

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good

Managerial monitoring has not identified inconsistencies in physical restraint recording and/or in risk management documentation. This has created a missed opportunity to drive ongoing improvement.

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good

The most recent quality of care review report still does not include outcomes of consultation with placing authorities, parents or children. However, a parent told the inspector that staff now communicated well with her. Creative consultation with children across the home has improved and plans are in place to include this in the next reporting cycle.

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good

Staff rotas are now accurate and show that there are sufficient staff with the right skills deployed on each shift. Staff work consistently in the same houses with the same children. This gives children greater continuity of care. One parent told the inspector that her child felt happier knowing that the staffing was more stable.

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good

Staff say that they feel better supported and supervised. Approximately half the care staff have now achieved the nationally recognised qualification in working with children. Other members of staff are on track to complete their qualification within the regulatory timescale.

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good

Staff say that they have more time and are better able to stick to children‟s plans and Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 9 work proactively. One member of staff summed up the changes by telling the inspector, „Things have improved, and it feels safer and we have more time for the boys.‟

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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: SC401364 10

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Children’s home details

Provision sub-type: Residential special school

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cruckton Hall Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Old Vicarage, 61 High Street, Swinderby, Lincoln LN6 9LU

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Donna Varley-Turner

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Inspectors

Christy Wannop, social care inspector Annemarie Parker, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC401364 11 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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