Children's Home run by Steps 4 Life Care Limited in Wolverhampton

Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 1 SC474724 Registered provider: Steps 4 Life Care 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 home provides care for up to four children who show complex behaviours as a result of their early childhood experiences. Children who live in the home are aged between eight and 16 years at the point of admission.

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Information about this children’s home

The home has been without a registered manager since January 2019. A new manager has recently been appointed but is yet to take up the post.

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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 requires improvement to be 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

Date of last inspection: 28 November 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/11/2018 Full Good 08/01/2018 Full Good 19/09/2016 Full Good 17/02/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff support each child’s learning and development, including helping the child to develop independent study skills and, where appropriate, helping the child to complete independent study. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(ii)) 31/07/2019

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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

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure 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)) 12/07/2019

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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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)) 31/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 31/07/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 4

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Recommendations

 Many children placed in homes may undergo a difficult transition and what should be simple aspects of their care take on a substantial significance in this context. Staff should provide a nurturing environment that is welcoming, supportive, and which provides appropriate boundaries in relation to their behaviour. Homes must also meet children’s basic day-to-day needs and physical necessities. Staff should seek to meet the child’s basic needs in the way that a good parent would, recognising that many children in residential care have experienced environments where these needs have not been consistently met – doing so is an important aspect of demonstrating that the staff care for the child and value them as an individual. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.7)  As set out in regulations 31-33, the registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice. They must ensure that recruitment,

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Recommendations

supervision and performance management of staff safeguards children and minimises potential risks to them. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.1)  Regulation 45 sets out requirements for the registered person to have a system in place which allows them to monitor the matters set out in the regulation at least once every six months; also see regulation 13(2)(h) (the leadership and management standard). The registered person should undertake a review that focuses on the quality of the care provided by the home, the experiences of children living there and the impact the care is having on outcomes and improvements for the children. Reviews should be underpinned by the Quality Standards as described in regulations 5 to 14. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.2)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff develop nurturing and trusting relationships with children. Children feel able to talk to staff if they have any worries. This enables children to feel safe and that they are listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager is a strong advocate for the children and works closely with their schools to ensure that children are provided with all the support that they need to meet their academic potential. However, when children are not in education staff do not implement clear structures or routines. This results in children staying in bed for extended periods. This is a missed opportunity to ensure that children have a good range of alternative learning opportunities to prepare them for schooling.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have access to therapeutic support, either through the organisation’s own service, or through local health services. Staff have access to training and advice from a Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 5 psychologist. This helps staff to develop skills and strategies that respond to children’s individual needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are supported to explore their identities. The manager and staff promote discussions on areas such as sexual identity and cultural heritage through a range of mediums. Children feel safe to express themselves, and this promotes their self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

Staff have access to detailed risk assessments that help to support their understanding of risk. However, staff do not always show in their recordings how they are following these assessments, or how they have reviewed them following an incident. This leaves staff without a current understanding of how best to manage situations and to ensure that children are safe.

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improvement to be good

Staff work to de-escalate challenging situations in the home. As a result, there are very few incidents when staff are required to physically intervene.

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improvement to be good

Only half the staff who work at the home have received training to increase their awareness of the risks of child sexual exploitation. Staff have not had any training regarding safeguarding children who are at risk of criminal exploitation or knives. This omission means that staff do not have the necessary knowledge or skills to support children who may be facing these risks.

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improvement to be good

Staff carry out work with children to develop a home environment that reflects their needs. However, staff do not always ensure that they maintain the basic expectations of a safe, homely environment. For example, staff do not consistently help children to maintain clean and tidy bedrooms. Staff have not ensured that they have adhered to the fire safety risk assessment about storage in the garage. This was addressed on inspection. A lack of attention to detail by staff does not encourage children to take pride in their home.

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improvement to be good

Managers ensure that staff who are recruited by the organisation to work at the home are the subject of rigorous recruitment checks. However, managers have not ensured that this good practice extends to agency staff. This means that managers do not know that agency staff who work at the home are safe to do so.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has been without a registered manager since January 2019. A manager has been appointed to the post and is due to start in June 2019. In order to ensure that consistent management oversight of the home is in place in the interim, the previous registered manager has returned on a temporary basis. This has offered a level of consistency to both children and staff during this period of change.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has a good understanding of the home, and of the children. She can talk Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 6 knowledgably about the children without the need to refer to documents or case records.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff feel well supported by the manager and are encouraged to progress to senior roles in the home. However, staff have not always received regular supervision in line with the organisation’s policy. This is a missed opportunity for staff to regularly reflect on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager has carried out a review of the quality of service. However, this does not include the views of children, staff or professionals, and therefore its effectiveness in informing service development is limited.

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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: SC474724 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Steps 4 Life Care Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Arbor House, Broadway North, Walsall, West Midlands WS1 2AN

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Inspectors

Tracey Coglan Greig, social care inspector Shazana Jamal, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC474724 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.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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