Children's Home run by Crossway Services Limited in St Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 1 SC386810 Registered provider: Crossway 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 is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for one child who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2007.

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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: 11 September 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/05/2017 Full Good 05/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 28/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 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 health and well-being standard is that the health and well- being of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being. (Regulation 10(1)(a)(b)) 05/07/2019

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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 that staff 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

that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) 05/07/2019

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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 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 ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; and, use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h)) 05/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to, sexual exploitation. (Regulation 40(4)(a)) 05/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 4

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Recommendations

 The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair, and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  Appropriate forms of contact should be promoted and facilitated for each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.18)

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improvement to be good

The young person’s progress and life experiences are significantly compromised by her frequent risk-taking behaviour and her unwillingness to engage with her care plan and staff.

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improvement to be good

Despite the staff’s encouragement and support, the young person is not attending education and has missed a number of her GCSE examinations. Consequently, her future learning, training and employment opportunities may be affected.

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improvement to be good

Although staff have succeeded in persuading the young person to attend some medical appointments, for example the dentist and opticians, some important aspects of supporting young people with particular matters, such as their sexual health and well- being, are not being successfully promoted. Staff do not have access to up-to-date health plans that identify effective strategies to inform their practice.

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improvement to be good

The team provides the young person with a welcoming home and nurturing care. However, the young person is reluctant to engage with staff, and spends a considerable amount of time away from the home and the staff’s care. Consequently, the team is struggling to foster trusting relationships with the young person, which undermines the staff’s ability to positively influence the young person’s behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Arrangements for the young person to meet up with her family and friends are not clear or safely planned. For example, the young person was regularly visiting a parent’s home prior to the local authority’s completion of a risk assessment.

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improvement to be good

Staff employ a positive approach to behaviour management. Their ethos is to encourage positive behaviour through constant praise, rewards and kindness. However, not all measures of control, such as the supervision of spending monies, are recorded appropriately. The monitoring of the effectiveness and suitability of behaviour management strategies can be strengthened. Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 5 Staff make sure that young people move into and on from the home in a planned and supportive way. Young people benefit from having the opportunity to visit the home, meet the team and be involved in the design and decoration of their bedrooms before they move in. This helps them to feel valued and wanted.

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improvement to be good

Despite the staff’s enthusiasm for developing trusting relationships with the young person, her reluctance to spend time with staff is preventing this. Staff are unable to positively influence her behaviour, help her to understand risk and keep her safe.

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improvement to be good

The assessment of risk and risk management strategies are weak. Some risks which have been identified in the young person’s referral and placement plan have not been assessed, for example her use of social media. Consequently, the young person’s safety on social media is left unchecked.

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improvement to be good

Although staff follow safeguarding procedures rigorously when the young person goes missing from home, strategies for monitoring the young person when she is out of the home for long periods of time are not robust. Staff depend too heavily on monitoring the young person’s safety through contacting her on her mobile phone. Staff are often uncertain of her whereabouts and safety when she is out in the community.

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improvement to be good

Largely, the home is well maintained. A recent fire assessment of the home identified that the home required an additional fire exit on the first floor. Although the manager is arranging for this work to be completed, at the time of the inspection this work remained outstanding.

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improvement to be good

Additionally, the home’s annual gas safety check had not been carried out within the required timescale. This reflects weaknesses in the ability of the home’s health and safety monitoring to ensure that the home continues to be a safe environment.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager has not informed Ofsted of potential child exploitation concerns as required. This has prevented the service regulator from monitoring the team’s safeguarding practice when serious concerns arise.

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

A suitably qualified and experienced registered manager leads the home. She is supported by a newly appointed deputy manager.

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

The team members feel supported and they benefit from having regular supervision, team meetings and daily handovers. However, not all staff have benefited from having training on specific safeguarding matters that are relevant to the young person’s needs, for example criminal exploitation and county lines. Additionally, the system for recording Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 6 and monitoring the staff’s training can be improved to enable a clear overview of the team’s learning and development needs.

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

There is evidence of collaborative working with other professionals involved in the young person’s care. In the main, the feedback from professionals is positive, praising the staff’s commitment to young people and their professionalism.

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

The manager’s monitoring and review systems are not sufficiently robust. For example, shortfalls in risk assessments are not being identified and promptly addressed. The manager has not taken sufficient action to address the shortfalls raised at the last inspection. This has resulted in two requirements and one recommendation being repeated at this inspection.

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

The independent monitoring of the service has improved. The independent visitor is now seeking the views of the young person and external professionals more regularly. This is helping the independent visitor to assess and evaluate with greater rigour the quality of care and protection provided for young people.

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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: SC386810 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Crossway Services Limited

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Children’s home details

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

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Inspector

Marina Tully: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC386810 8 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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