Children's home run by Tab Care and Support Limited

Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 1 Registered provider: Tab Care and Support 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

This privately run children’s home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The manager’s post is vacant.

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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 good

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good

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

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/10/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 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

within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (‘the authorised person’) has spoken to the user about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(b)) 05/07/2019

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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.

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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

that each child’s plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(2)(c)) 05/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4)  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 regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.5)  Children should be encouraged by staff to see the home’s records as ‘living documents’ supporting them to view and contribute to the record in a way that reflects their voice on a regular basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 58, paragraph 11.19)  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that all their staff have been

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Recommendations

adequately trained in the principles of restraint techniques appropriate to the Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 4 needs of the children the home is set up to care for as defined in the home’s statement of purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.57)  Any sanctions used to address poor behaviour should be restorative in nature, to help children recognise the impact of their behaviour on themselves, other children, the staff caring for them and the wider community. In some cases, it will be important for children to make reparation in some form to anyone hurt by the behaviour and the staff in the home should be skilled to support the child to understand this and carry it out. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.38)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The good quality of care provided to young people is making a positive difference in their lives. The responsible individual and staff have high aspirations for young people and strive to ensure that they provide the best quality of care to meet young people’s needs. The young people have positive experiences and make good progress in all areas of their lives, resulting in improved outcomes. A young person said, ‘The responsible individual and staff care a lot about us.’ The education needs of young people are met well. Young people have structured routines that support them to attend school and to make progress in education. Staff support young people to be prepared to learn and participate in their education by making sure that young people have the correct uniform and equipment. Staff maintain regular communication with professionals from the young people’s education provision to make sure that relevant information is shared. This positive approach means young

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

people’s educational outcomes have improved. The young people’s health and well-being needs are understood by staff. Routine and specialist health appointments are attended as necessary. Staff offer helpful advice, guidance and support to young people when they need specialist healthcare or when they are apprehensive about receiving medical treatment. The staff provide good information about the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle and encourage the young people to maintain a healthy, well-balanced diet; this is supported by providing the young people with fresh home-cooked meals. The responsible individual and staff know the young people well and have positive relationships with them. Regular key-work sessions take place that focus on the individual needs of the young people. These sessions provide opportunities for young people to share their views about their care. However, young people’s views are not

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

always included in their records and plans. Care planning is good and ensures that young people are suitably placed and receive the support and intervention required to meet their needs. However, the home does not have up-to-date local authority care and placement plans for all the young people. Although this has not compromised the care provided to the young people, it has the potential to result in shortfalls in the care and intervention provided. Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 5 The young people enjoy many social and recreational activities individually and together, which promotes their social interaction, confidence and self-esteem. The staff and young people are involved in an innovative social enterprise initiative to raise money for ‘children in need’. The staff and young people help older people in the local community with ‘odd jobs’ such as tidying gardens and cleaning cars. This promotes the importance

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

of helping others and supporting local charities. The home environment is warm, welcoming and nurturing. The inspector observed staff and young people enjoying their time together, and this demonstrated that the home is generally a very happy place. Home improvements are continually made to ensure that the environment is very much like any family home. Young people’s bedrooms are personalised, and they are supported to keep their bedrooms clean and tidy.

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

Safeguarding practice at the home is good and helps to keep the young people safe from harm. The responsible individual and staff have a good understanding of the specific risks to young people. Young people say that they feel safe and that staff do all that they can to help and protect them. Detailed and effective risk assessments are in place for young people. These identify the strategies to manage and reduce the risks and are regularly reviewed and updated. This helps staff to keep the young people safe from harm. Safeguarding incidents rarely occur, due to the safe care provided. Young people rarely go missing from the home. When young people do go missing, the staff take effective action to contact and locate them. This results in their prompt return home. When young people return home, staff spend time talking to them and make arrangements for an independent return home interview to take place. This approach

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

helps to identify why the young person was missing from home and the risks that they may have faced during the period that they were missing. The staff use their professional judgement and knowledge of the young people to decide if and when physical intervention should be used. Physical intervention is only ever used to keep a young person or others safe from harm. Young people are given the opportunity to discuss their views, wishes and feelings following the use of any physical intervention. However, records do not demonstrate that the staff involved have been given a chance to discuss or reflect on the intervention. Consequently, the responsible individual is not able to complete a thorough review of the intervention to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. Furthermore, one member of staff has not completed his annual physical intervention

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

refresher training. Behaviour is well managed, and the use of rewards and incentives encourages positive behaviour and good relationships. The responsible individual and staff focus on acknowledging positive behaviours and helping young people to turn negative responses into positive behaviour. This approach means that the home is settled, with young people being able to regulate their behaviour and emotions more effectively. However, records of consequences do not clearly show the length of time that a sanction applies or detail the good behaviour that is necessary to end the sanction. Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 6

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has recently resigned from his post. The responsible individual has maintained the day-to-day management of the home with the support of two senior members of staff. A new manager has been appointed and was due to start work the week after the inspection. The new manager was carefully recruited to ensure that she was the most suitable person for the role. She has visited the home and met with the staff and young people. The responsible individual is fully involved in the care of young people, and he knows the staff and young people well. The responsible individual is supported by a highly committed and competent staff team that shares his motivation for achieving the best possible outcomes for the young people. The staff team feels valued and supported by the responsible individual. One member of staff said, ‘The company invest in us as a person and want us to do well.’ Regular supervision and team meetings take place which enable the staff team to

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

discuss the needs and progress of the young people, practice-related issues and the development of the home. This open approach helps to ensure that there is a consistently good quality of care provided. The continuous professional development of staff is regarded as a high priority by the responsible individual, and he ensures that staff receive regular training and development opportunities. The responsible individual and staff work collaboratively with other professionals and family members to make sure that young people receive the most appropriate care and intervention to meet their needs. This collaborative working results in young people receiving the best possible care to meet their individual needs. A professional said, ‘The young people have their own difficulties, but are so settled due to the good support that they receive. The home has exceeded my expectations.’ The monitoring and review systems help the responsible individual to identify the

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

strengths and weaknesses of the home. He takes prompt action to address shortfalls in practice, processes and systems. However, the external monthly monitoring does not include regular consultation with the young people, their families or professionals. Recording systems are an area that the responsible individual has identified for development. While there are improvements in the quality of some records, such as risk assessments and placement plans, the manager accepts that some other records need to improve, for example the records of sanctions and restrictive physical intervention. Furthermore, some information is not easy to access because it is being recorded in several different places. For example, there is one logbook for recording accidents and a separate logbook for recording more detailed information. The recording systems have also resulted in a duplication of information in some instances.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 7 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: 1270731 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Tab Care and Support Limited

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Anthony Willmore

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Inspector

Lisa Mulcahy, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1270731 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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