Birch Cottage

Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 1 SC421197 Registered provider: ABC Care and Education Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The home is registered to care for up to four children. Its statement of purpose notes that children who live at the home are likely to have experienced abuse, rejection, previous placement breakdown and exclusion from mainstream education. It is operated by a small organisation consisting of two homes. The home has its own educational facility onsite, which all children attend. The home has not had a registered manager since 20 August 2018.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

p.1

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.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/08/2018 Full Good 09/05/2017 Full Good 02/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 26/04/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), ensure that an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

p.3

Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or

p.3

Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma.

p.3

Requirement Due date

in the case of an individual who starts working in a care role in a home after 1st April 2014, the date which falls 2 years after the date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)) 31/07/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

p.3

Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home;

p.3

Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of—

p.3

Requirement Due date

the name of the person so appointed; and the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(2)(a)(b)) 31/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 4

p.3

improvement to be good

The home is subjected to a limited judgement due to not having a registered manager in place, resulting in an inadequate judgement in leadership and management. Overall, children make good progress. For children who previously lived in the home, some areas of progress were hindered by external factors that the staff were not able to control and which negatively influenced the children’s behaviours. This resulted in children being moved on to more appropriate placements for their safety and well-being. Leaders took quick action to evaluate and reflect on this period and reviewed their referral and admission decision-making processes to ensure that the home can safely meet the needs of children who move into the home. The children currently living in the home have generally settled in well and are making good progress. The staff successfully deliver individualised care in a nurturing environment. The staff

p.4

improvement to be good

have a very clear understanding of the support needs of the children in their care. There is regular communication with parents and social workers. The staff share positive interactions and experiences with the children, and this supports the children to recognise their own strengths and abilities, raising their self-esteem and self-worth. The children’s education is a key priority for the staff. The staff work hard with in-house education professionals to ensure that children attend the onsite school. Children are undertaking GSCES and staff are supporting them with their revision. The children are encouraged to engage in activities outside the home wherever possible, fully supported by the staff if necessary. The staff are familiar with what is available for the children in the local community. One child has been successful in gaining a ‘volunteer of the year’ award for her work in a local foodbank, and another walked 45

p.4

improvement to be good

miles for a cancer charity. The quality of relationships between the children is mixed. They do not always engage well together and conflict regularly occurs. When the children are in a group, they have a negative impact on each other’s behaviour. This causes upset and emotional outbursts, and children feel unsettled as a result. When children first move into the home, the planning for them is sufficient. There is a structured plan devised by the manager that assesses how their needs will be met and how they will be introduced into the daily routine of the home. There are regular opportunities for children to spend time with important people in their lives. The staff regularly support arrangements by transporting and supervising the children, in addition to documenting the quality of the time spent.

p.4

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

There are clear and effective safeguarding arrangements in place to protect children. Arrangements meet statutory guidance. Allegations or suspicion of harm are immediately shared with the appropriate safeguarding agencies and managed well. The staff have all received safeguarding training online and recognise the risks faced by Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 5 children in their care. The staff’s consistent and proactive approach to managing risk reduces the risk of harm to children. This approach includes regular and effective contact and planning with both the child’s allocated social worker and the child’s family, where appropriate. Most children say that they feel happy and safe at the home and with the staff team. They say they feel comfortable in talking to the staff about any concern that they may have. The staff team’s focus on providing good standards of care means that children can start

p.4

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

to make progress in changing their negative behaviours. Individual risk assessments provide clear and sensible strategies to lessen the risks associated with known or presenting new behaviours. As a result, there have been only two physical interventions and minimal use of room searches. There has also been a significant decrease in ‘missing’ incidents in recent years, with no missing behaviour since the last inspection. Online recording systems provide very safe and clear records of incident management. The staff team helps the children to understand risk and how to stay safe, while allowing them to take appropriate risks. This helps the children to manage their behaviours and, over time, to make the right choices. This includes risks that use of the internet and social media may pose. In addition, the staff use key-worker sessions to help the children to understand how to keep themselves safe. The staff are aware of the risks to

p.5

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

children in the local and wider community. The staff work well with other agencies in addressing behaviours such as self-harm and anti-social behaviour. The children are protected by careful recruitment procedures, and regular monitoring of staff also prevents unsuitable people from being employed. Robust and regular health and safety checks ensure that the physical environment for children is safe and protects them from harm or the risk of harm.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not had a registered manager for 26 weeks, which has resulted in the inadequate judgement in this section of the report. A manager was appointed but resigned from the role after three months. The responsible individual has been actively trying to recruit a manager to fill the vacancy. Some of the staff team are new to the home, but they all have good experience of working with children in previous roles. The staff who are new to the service speak positively about their induction to the home. All have received an introductory training programme. There are clear plans in place to further develop their knowledge and skills during their probation. Generally, this is through online training, which provides limited opportunity for staff to discuss and share practice issues they may be experiencing. The number of staff with a level three qualification or equivalent has not improved since the last inspection. Four care staff currently have this qualification. Two care staff have

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

been working towards the qualification for over two years, and the requirement made at the last inspection has been repeated at this visit. The responsible individual is very involved in the oversight and development of the home. He is highly supportive of the operations manager and, together, they have implemented a clear plan for recruiting a registered manager. Leaders and managers are able to identify areas of strength and weakness and take effective action. Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 6 Staff are aspirational and ambitious for the children in their care. Every child is offered equality of opportunity.

p.5

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.

p.6

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: SC421197 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: ABC Care and Education Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5 Leyburn Road, Lancaster LA1 2HZ

p.7

Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Kennedy

p.7

Inspector

Elaine Clare, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC421197 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.7

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.8

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.8

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.8