Children's home run by Warrington Borough Council

Inspection report children's home: SC442778 1 SC442778 Registered provider: Warrington Borough 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

This is a local authority children’s home. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for two young people aged 8-18 who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children's home

Young people were spoken to as part of this inspection.

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Information about this children's home

There is a registered manager in the home.

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: Good

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

None Inspection report children's home: SC442778 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

07/08/2018 Full Good 30/08/2017 Full Good 22/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 13/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children's home: SC442778 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 children's views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff help each child express views, wishes and feelings. (Regulation (7)(2)(a)(ii)) 20/08/2019

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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

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child's behaviour, in accordance with the child's behaviour and understanding;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop and practise skills to resolve conflicts positively and without harm to anyone;

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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

(Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(a)(iii)(iv)(v)) 20/08/2019

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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 20/08/2019 Inspection report children's home: SC442778 4 registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

help each child understand how to keep safe;

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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.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (2)(a)(ii)) 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;

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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 the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 13 (1)(a)(2)(d)(h)) 20/08/2019

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Recommendations

 Homes should take account of information provided by return home interviews when assessing risks and putting arrangements in place to protect each child (‘Guide to the children's homes including the quality standards’, page 45, paragraph 9.30)  The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child's assessed needs as recorded in the child's relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children's homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)  Staff should encourage children to see the home's records as 'living documents' supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their Inspection report children's home: SC442778 5 voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children's home regulations including the

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Recommendations

quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  Any individual appointed to carry out visits to the home as an independent person must make a rigorous and impartial assessment of the home’s arrangements for safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the children in the home’s care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.9) In particular, consider including improved evaluation in the report to help inform the registered manager’s management of the service.

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improvement to be good

Staff are building relationships with the young people. They are committed to young people’s progress. The young people have individualised plans in place and staff understand their needs. However, staff are not always able to influence the young people to make good progress. Staff don’t always manage young people’s behaviour positively or in a way that helps them understand what is happening, and often contact the police to help them manage situations. This doesn’t give the young people security or help them improve their behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Young people are not currently receiving full-time education as they have reduced timetables and home tuition. However, staff know what the reasons are behind this and they are supporting the young people’s return to full-time education. The manager is proactive in identifying alternative provision for the young people.

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improvement to be good

There is evidence of staff discussing a variety of issues with young people, for example the health risks of smoking and respectful relationships with staff. However, this is informal and not part of structured or focused direct work. This lack of a formal process means that staff are unable to use a framework to help young people to make positive changes.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not consistently document young people’s views. For example, in direct work, staff do not record young people’s comments or their views. This means that young people’s voices are not always heard so their views are not fully understood. Neither are young people’s independence skills documented. The records don’t show the young people’s involvement in working towards independence.

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improvement to be good

Two young people have moved into the home since the last inspection. Impact assessments were completed, and these considered the needs of the young people. There is evidence of a multi-agency approach to these assessments. However, these assessments do not carefully consider the long-term needs of each individual young person. This means that the young people’s long-term plans are not stable.

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improvement to be good

Staff meet the young people’s health needs and make appointments as necessary. The Inspection report children's home: SC442778 6 young people do not take any medication.

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improvement to be good

Staff know the risks to the young people. Risk assessments and behaviour management plans are in place. These plans are detailed and address individual risks but are not always followed. For example, staff put a plan in place to address smoking in the home and incidents of fire starting. However, this has not been successful as staff have failed to follow the plan. This potential leaves both the young person and staff at risk.

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improvement to be good

The young people are not always given clear and consistent boundaries. For example, they agreed to give staff their mobile phones at bed-time but this doesn’t happen. These inconsistencies do not ensure the safety of the young people.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments are not always updated after significant incidents. This means that staff cannot provide consistent care for the young people.

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improvement to be good

There are procedures in place for when young people go missing. Staff know what these are but there isn’t always enough staff initially to look for young people when they go missing. Return interviews are provided for the young people but staff don’t use the information from these interviews to help them identify triggers. These are missed opportunities as this information could be used to prevent further incidents.

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

There is an experienced manager in post. She is committed to providing the young people with a stable home. She knows what the young people need in order to make progress and she is attempting to do this.

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

The staffing levels in the home do not consistently meet the young people’s needs. There is one member of staff working after 11pm. Staff reported that they cannot always respond quickly to the needs of young people. The workforce development plan dated March 2019 stated that ‘there is currently no lone working at (name of home) wherever possible due to the risks that young people pose’. This demonstrates that the home is not working within its own policies.

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

The manager monitors the young people’s care but there isn’t always evidence of her evaluation. For example, the manager records that sanctions have been imposed but doesn’t always record her evaluation and any actions. This impedes young people’s progress as they cannot make progress without an action plan.

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

Some staff say that they are happy working at the home. They feel supported and undergo frequent supervision. However, records in respect of some staff do not reflect this. Staff say that the past 12 months have been difficult but that the team is committed to the young people. Inspection report children's home: SC442778 7 External visits have been made in line with requirements. There are shortfalls in these visits as they lack detail and evaluation. This doesn’t help the manager make improvements to the young people’s care.

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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: SC442778 8

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Children's home details

Registered provider address: Children's Services Directorate, New Town House, Buttermarket Street, Warrington, Cheshire, WA1 2NJ

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Inspector(s)

Catherine Fargin, social care inspector Jo Hornby, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC442778 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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