Children's home run by SWAAY Child & Adolescent Services Ltd in Sutton

Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 1 SC431807 Registered provider: SWAAY Child and Adolescent Services 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

The home provides care and accommodation for adolescent males with histories of trauma and disrupted attachments and harmful sexual behaviour. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children. The organisation has its own separately registered school and therapeutic team.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

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good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

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good

Date of last inspection: 19 December 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

19/12/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 06/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/03/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 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 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

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 the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that effective support and challenge are provided through team and management meetings. 16/08/2019

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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—

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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

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. 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 4 (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that regulation 45 reviews are used for this purpose.

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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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)) 16/08/2019

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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 home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that plans for care are clear and understandable to all staff. 16/08/2019

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food, hygiene etc). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Specifically, programmes must be in place to ensure that all areas of the home are kept clean and properly maintained. Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children make significant progress from their starting points. They become more able to manage their feelings and better equipped to reflect on and understand unwanted and harmful behaviours. This helps them to feel more positive about themselves and what they can achieve. They engage in their learning and develop aspirations for employment and further learning.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The liaison and coordination between teachers, therapists and carers are not currently supported by effective structure and recording. The individual work completed with children by care staff is not effectively planned and coordinated with the work of therapists and teachers. These shortfalls limit the best possible progress that children can make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children are supported and encouraged to explore and develop their individual talents and interests. Their achievements are celebrated, and they collect positive memories. Self-sufficiency is encouraged but pathways to successful independent living are insufficiently planned and attainments not systematically recorded. This increases the chances of important deficits being overlooked.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Positive relationships between adults and children are clear and the adults display a good knowledge and understanding of the children and are strongly focused on their emotional and behavioural needs. The overall feelings of worth and belonging of the children are, however, undermined by substandard cleaning of the home, the maintenance of good order and care for belongings and equipment.

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

The practice around keeping the children and others safe around their specialised areas of need and risk is, overall, strong. This includes the awareness and vigilance of the adults and enables the children to make progress and increase their feelings of success. However, some plans that direct and support the adults in responding to children’s needs and risks in a consistent manner are lacking in clarity and focus.

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

There has been one incident where a child was able to disengage a window restrictor and was briefly able to sit outside their room on a low roof. Staff acted quickly and skilfully to ensure the safety of the child. Some of the resulting areas of risk, specific to this one incident, were not fully considered and were insufficiently reviewed following the incident.

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

The vulnerabilities of the children are well understood by the adults and care is taken to closely supervise their use of internet-enabled devices and to teach them how to keep themselves safe from the recognised areas of exploitation.

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

The children spoke positively about the adults who care for them and can readily say Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 6 who they would talk to when they have worries or questions. They rarely go missing from the home and should this happen, the response of staff is urgent and sustained until they are located and safeguarded.

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

The adults follow procedures and liaise closely with all relevant external agencies in relation to any concerns or incidents. This enables a coordinated response and helps to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

An experienced manager and deputy lead a relatively new staff team that is building cohesion and focus. The standard of care that the staff provide and the focus of their efforts are, however, undermined by unclear structure, accountability and fixed routines for the running of the home. The value of frequent team meetings is being lowered by insufficient structure and direction, and regular leadership meetings are not being held.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Children’s case records do not reflect the work that is being done with them about the things that matter most. Individual plans for their care and for the reduction of their associated risks are unclear and, in some instances, incomplete. Their progress in key areas is poorly recorded and the teamworking between school, therapists and carers is not clearly evidenced.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

At times, the managerial oversight of critical incidents is superficial and safeguarding concerns are overlooked. The standards and accuracy of recording are inconsistent and sometimes poor. Systems for monitoring and improving the standards of care are weak and include a lack of analysis and planning in regulation 45 reviews.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Recruitment practice is strong and the methods for identifying the persons most suitable to work in this setting are good. The children are meaningfully involved in the selection of new staff, who follow a thorough induction process and undergo training in key areas at an early stage.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: requires improvement to be good

Leaders and managers understand the key areas for development and improvement to the service and are taking concrete steps to achieve this. This includes the introduction of a new electronic information and case recording system.

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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. Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 7 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

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Information about this inspection

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: SC431807 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: SWAAY Child and Adolescent Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 591 London Road, Sutton, Surrey SM3 9AG

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Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC431807 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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