Children's Home run by Your Chapter Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 1 SC489416 Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This home is privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has not had a registered manager since November 2018.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 30 April to 1 May 2019

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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 failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

17/07/2018 Full Good 16/05/2017 Full Good 21/03/2017 Full Requires improvement 15/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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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 has sufficient staff to provide care for 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

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on–

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b), (2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(ii) 21/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 4 The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(e) 21/07/2019

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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–

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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

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)(iii)(v)(vi)(vii) 14/06/2019

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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–

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Requirement Due date

communicate to each child expectations about the child‟s behaviour and ensure that the child understands those expectations in accordance with the child‟s age and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop the understanding and skills to recognise or withdraw from a damaging, exploitative or harmful relationship. (Regulation 11(1), (2)(a)(v)(vii) 21/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 5 The care planning standard is that children–

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children‟s 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

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child‟s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1) (a)(2)(b)(ii)(iii)) 21/07/2019

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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 homes aims and the outcomes that it seeks to achieve for children.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to– understand and apply the home‟s statement of purpose; ensure that staff– provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably; ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to–

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Requirement Due date

meet the needs of each child. (Regulation (1) (a ) 6(2)(a)(b)(vii)(c)(i))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that all areas of the home are thoroughly cleaned, that damage to the home is repaired and the home is repainted, and that young people have sufficient storage available to them for their belongings. 14/06/2019

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Requirement Due date

*The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only– 14/06/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 6 employ an individual to work at the children‟s home if the individual satisfies the requirement in paragraph (3). (Regulation 32(1), (2)(a)) The procedure to be followed in in the event of an allegation of abuse or neglect must, in particular–

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Requirement Due date

provide for records to be kept of an allegation of abuse or neglect, and the action taken in response. (Regulation 34(2)(d)) 21/07/2019

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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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure– that staff help each child to– achieve the health and well-being outcomes that are recorded in the child‟s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand and develop skills to promote the child‟s well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child has access to such dental, medical, nursing, psychiatric and psychological advice, treatment and other services as the child may require. (Regulation 10(1) (2)(a)(i) (ii) (c)) 21/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure–

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Requirement Due date

that staff– support each child‟s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study; and promote learning opportunities informally. (Regulation 8(2)(a)(ii)(v)) 21/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that– 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”)– has spoken to the user about the measure; and, has signed to confirm it is correct; and within 5 days of the use of the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 21/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 7

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people live in a home that does not offer a welcoming or homely feel. The home is in need of significant repair, redecoration and deep cleaning. There is damage to many parts of the home, and some young people have insufficient storage for their belongings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Since the last inspection, two young people have been admitted and discharged within a short space of time. Neither of the young people‟s placements at the home lasted longer than six weeks. At the time of the inspection, one young person had been placed on a five-day notice period. Staff did not know where this young person was to be moved to, the exact date of her move or the arrangements to inform her of this move. They expressed concern about her response when informed and if there would be sufficient staffing to manage her anticipated response.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people‟s progress at the home is variable. Some young people are engaging well with the therapeutic services that are offered. Some, however, have disengaged from their key workers. An independent reviewing officer (IRO) working with a young person expressed disappointment regarding the delay in a young person being offered family therapy. This therapeutic input was considered an essential part of the care plan and the key to the young person‟s emotional health. Although a therapeutic service was initially agreed by the home‟s therapist, the therapist has since left the home, which means that the therapy has not been provided.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Permanent members of staff do demonstrate that they have an insight into the needs of young people and provide suitable care. However, shortages of available permanent staff have resulted in a reliance on bank and agency staff, and this does not afford predictable or stable care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

All young people have made progress with their educational attendance and one young person has benefited from support to identify a future career path. She is working hard towards this and identifies the support from staff as instrumental to her learning and aspirations. However, one young person‟s educational targets were not clear to staff. An IRO expressed disappointment to inspectors that at children looked-after reviews recommendations had to be made for staff to purchase the necessary textbooks and for staff to make plans to take young people to the local library.

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

There are insufficient staff to offer suitable oversight and care to young people, and this has a significant and negative impact on young people‟s safety, welfare and progress.

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

The home‟s arrangements to protect young people from harm are ineffective. Managers Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 8 have failed to recognise risks to young people‟s safety and well-being. For example, a young person made an allegation that they were assaulted during a physical restraint. Managers had not arranged for this incident to be fully investigated, and the photographs of the young person‟s alleged bruising, taken by a manager, cannot be located. Senior managers present during the inspection were unaware of these concerns. This indicates flawed communication systems and serious shortfalls in the home‟s processes to escalate issues internally and to refer allegations and disclosures to the appropriate statutory agencies.

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

Physical restraint by staff to manage young people‟s behaviour is infrequent. However, when it has been used and a manager has been involved, a designated person has not reviewed the records of these incidents or debriefed the young person.

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

Two young people are engaged in a relationship, that has been assessed by staff, as being emotionally damaging to the parties involved. Staff have raised serious concerns with managers and with the inspectors regarding the staff group‟s ability to protect the young people involved and to provide suitable vigilance over their behaviour towards each other. While managers did provide risk management plans for the young people involved, these plans do not provide staff with clear advice, guidance or the steps to be taken to protect the young people concerned. Senior managers present during the inspection were unaware of the shortfalls within the risk management plans.

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

From discussion with home staff, it is apparent that not all serious incidents have been notified to Ofsted. In one incident, a previous manager was subjected to a prolonged physical assault. Records of this incident cannot be located. Senior managers present during the inspection were unaware of these concerns.

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

On another occasion, lapses in staff vigilance resulted in money being removed by young people from a staff member‟s bag. The young person used the monies to purchase a mobile phone and resulted in her placing herself at significant risk of child sexual exploitation. This risk-taking behaviour continued for some weeks, unchecked by staff. Managers have not addressed this shortfall with staff, identified necessary changes to practice or provided advice and direction to prevent a recurrence.

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

From the review of the home‟s internal records, it is apparent that one member of staff had been cautioned for assault, outside of work, yet managers at the inspection had no knowledge of this incident. There is no risk assessment regarding the incident and any potential risk to young people from the staff member involved. The member of staff continued to work throughout the inspection, despite inspectors alerting the responsible individual and deputy of these concerns. Prior to the inspector‟s alert, senior managers present during the inspection were unaware of these concerns and no clear plan had been formulated to address this issue.

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

Young people state that they do not always feel safe and that it depends upon which staff are on duty. Young people spoken to stated that there are insufficient staff working at the home and there have been many staff changes. Staff on duty during the inspection confirmed that 11 members of staff have left the home since July 2018. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 9

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management arrangements for the home are weak. There has been no long-term, stable leadership since November 2018, and this has had a negative impact on the staff team and young people. In the absence of stable leadership, staff have lacked the necessary oversight, guidance and support to work effectively with the young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There are significant failings in the management‟s monitoring and review of practice in the home and in managers‟ awareness of critical incidents. Consequently, areas of weakness in care practice have not been identified and decisive action has not been taken to resolve these issues. These gaps mean that there are significant shortfalls in the care and safety planning provided for the young people living in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Significantly reduced staffing levels mean that there are insufficient staff available to supervise young people in line with their agreed risk management plans. The staff‟s attempts to cover rota gaps have involved them working very long hours over a long period of time, and there is a reliance on agency and bank staff to cover the staff rota. This does not offer stable care to young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have not received regular supervision in accordance with the company‟s timescales. This leaves staff without the appropriate direction, challenge or support required to enable them to appropriately care for young people. Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 10

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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 difference 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: SC489416 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Care 4 Children Residential Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Stuart Road, Bredbury Park Industrial Estate, Bredbury, Stockport SK6 2SR

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Inspectors

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC489416 12 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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