Children's home run by Chartwell Care Services Ltd in Islington

Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 1 SC468315 Registered provider: Chartwell Care Services Ltd

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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 registered to provide care for up to four children who have a learning disability. Children have varying needs, including autism spectrum disorder, attachment issues, and/or communication difficulties. All the children may present specific challenges in terms of difficult behaviours, whether diagnosis-related or learned. The manager started working at the home in November 2017 and was registered with Ofsted in March 2018.

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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: 21 November 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: improved effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 15/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 17/07/2017 Full Good 07/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 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 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— that staff—

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Requirement Due date

meet each child’s behavioural and emotional needs, as set out in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop socially aware behaviour;

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Requirement Due date

encourage each child to take responsibility for the child’s behaviour, in accordance with the child’s age 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. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b) (c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must review the use of locking doors and other behaviour management practices in the home, including supporting young people to lock themselves in the communal areas of the home so as not to be disturbed by other young people. 01/09/2019

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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— 01/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 4 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))

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the home promotes online safety of the young people. 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 have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of 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— research and developments in relation to the ways in which the needs of children are best met; and

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(f)(g)(i)(h)) 01/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 5 Specifically, the registered person must ensure that the locking of doors is recorded and that the use of locks is monitored and kept under robust review with the view of minimising their use. Staff must be supported to find less restrictive ways of helping young people to develop safer behaviours rather than locking the doors.

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Recommendations

 A child’s bedroom should not generally be entered without their permission. Usually, rooms should only be searched if the child has been informed or asked for their permission. Immediate searching may be necessary where there are reasonable grounds for believing that there is a risk to the child’s or another person’s safety or wellbeing. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 16, paragraph 3.20) Specifically, the registered person should ensure better recording of the grounds for the search without informing the young person and how the young person was informed about the search and its outcome.  The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment and supervision safeguards children and minimises potential risks. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)

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Recommendations

Specifically, the registered person should ensure that personnel files have all the required information and that supervision records evidence that staff receive regular supervision.  The home’s records on each child represent a significant contribution to their life history. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.5) Specifically, the registered person should ensure that the information on young people’s files is comprehensive and well organised.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff do not always provide a positive living environment for the young people. Locked doors inside the house make the home feel unfriendly and institutional. This results in care practices that are based on physical barriers rather than relationships.

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improvement to be good

Staff use the practice of locking doors to manage the young people’s behaviour. Some Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 6 internal doors are also locked outside of these incidents. Staff were not able to explain why the kitchen and the games room were locked.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always promote positive relationships between the young people in the home. Staff give the young people the option to lock themselves in on their own in the games room, so that they are not disturbed by other young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always respect the privacy of the young people’s bedrooms. On one occasion, staff searched a young person’s bedroom without first informing him. The reasons for this decision were not recorded. This search resulted in staff taking away a personal electronic device. However, it was not clear what information the young person was told about the reasons for the search.

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improvement to be good

Young people are comfortable and relaxed in the home. One young person said that the home was perfect for him, he had fun and staff were nice. The other two young people gave it a ‘thumbs-up’.

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improvement to be good

Young people attend their schools regularly. Their educational attainments are good. They are model students.

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improvement to be good

Young people make good progress in developing their communication skills and this has a positive impact on all other areas of their development. One mother described her son as ‘a different child’. His social worker said that she was proud of his achievements.

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improvement to be good

Young people’s social skills continue to improve. They access a wide range of activities and places of interest. Staff help the young people to develop life skills, such as being more independent in their personal care, folding their laundry and helping with food preparation.

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improvement to be good

The care and control of the young people in the home are not balanced. The locking of doors as a means of controlling challenging behaviours does not support the staff’s skills and confidence in helping young people to manage their anxieties and difficult feelings. This highly restrictive practice also reduces the opportunities for young people to learn how to develop resilience.

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improvement to be good

Management oversight of these incidents is weak, and this increases the risk of these practices being misused. Incidents are not reported to young people’s social workers or to the responsible individual. The lack of appropriate recording means that it is not possible to monitor their proportionality, frequency and the impact. Two incidents of the doors being locked occurred on the day of the inspection, and the registered manager later agreed that one of them was not necessary.

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improvement to be good

Staff keep detailed records of physical interventions. These records capture the young people’s views effectively on a form that was developed in consultation with them. The Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 7 registered manager reviews the incidents carefully to ensure that the practices are safe and that lessons are learned.

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improvement to be good

Clear routines and firm boundaries help the young people to develop an increased sense of safety. An individualised, pictorial rewards system supports young people’s constructive behaviours and engagement. The young people’s behaviour has continued to improve and there have been no incidents of their running away from the home.

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improvement to be good

Online-safety awareness in the home is poor. The home does not have a relevant policy and staff have not had any training in this area. Staff have received training on a range of other safeguarding topics, such as radicalisation, female genital mutilation, deprivation of liberty and behaviour management.

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improvement to be good

Young people have individual risk assessments and management plans that consider a range of risks to their safety; however, online risks are not included. This is also the case for a young person who was supported by staff to buy an electronic device. Initially, he was allowed to keep it in his bedroom and use it without supervision.

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improvement to be good

Staff recruitment procedures lack rigor. Poor quality assurance of staff files has resulted in some required information not being present on the files. The weaknesses in the vetting process have unnecessarily increased the risks to young people of their being looked after by people who might not be suitable.

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improvement to be good

The regular health and safety checks ensure that the environment is physically safe. The recently fitted radiator covers have made the home safer.

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

In an effort to improve the home, the registered manager has instigated many changes since a significant incident that resulted in an injury to a young person last summer. Examples of these improvements include a strengthened procedure for making complaints, a flow chart for reporting allegations, and more robust monitoring of physical interventions. However, the online safety procedures and the use of locking doors to manage young people’s behaviours are not regularly reviewed and, therefore, not risk- managed sufficiently.

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

The new responsible individual visits the home regularly and provides good support to the registered manager. It has been a difficult period for the home, with many staff changes, and this has had an impact on the pace and the direction of the home’s development.

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

The high turnover of staff has reduced the opportunities for young people to develop close relationships with them and to receive consistent care. Ten staff members have left and 19 agency staff have worked in the home in the last 12 months. The leaders and managers have spent a significant amount of time trying to recruit the right people for the jobs and inducting them into their roles. Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 8 The current staff team is relatively inexperienced. More than half of the team members are new to working with young people in a residential setting. The rest of the team and the registered manager are suitably qualified.

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

Staff feel supported in their roles. The frequency of formal staff supervision meetings has started to improve recently. No records of staff supervision were available for some staff for the period of May 2018 to December 2018.

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

The registered manager has reviewed some of the home’s documents and policies to bring them up to date. However, additional changes had to be made, during the inspection, to the statement of purpose, the young people’s guide and staff recruitment policies.

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

Young people’s files give a clear picture of their needs and positive outcomes. However, some forms that the home uses, such as a care plan that is written from the perspective of a young person, were only half completed. On one file, there were no records of key- working sessions for three and a half months although, reportedly, they took place every week.

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

Social workers and parents spoke highly about the home. They were very happy with the progress that their young people have made. They felt that the communication with the home was excellent.

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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: SC468315 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Chartwell Care Services Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 12 Helmet Row, London EC1V 3QJ

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Inspector

Seka Graovac, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC468315 10 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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