Children's home run by Wigan Council in Wigan

Inspection report children's home: SC040266 1 SC040266 Registered provider: Wigan Council

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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 is a local authority children’s home registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five children and young people, of either gender. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since July 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: 14 February 2019

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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: SC040266 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/02/2019 Interim Improved effectiveness 10/04/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 08/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 06/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children's home: SC040266 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who— understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. 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 and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6(1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)) In particular, damaged internal doors should be replaced or fixed. 30/07/2019

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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. 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; 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. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(c)(f)) 30/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home— the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 30/07/2019 Inspection report children's home: SC040266 4 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) In particular, all actions identified within the fire risk assessment dated November 2018 should be completed. For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained— the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) ("the Level 3 Diploma"); or a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. The relevant date is— 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

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Requirement Due date

date on which the individual started working in a care role in a home; or in the case of an individual who was working in a care role in a home on 1st April 2014, 1st April 2016. The registered person may defer the relevant date if the individual— does not work, or has not worked, in a care role in a home for a prolonged period; or works, or has worked, in a care role in a home on a part-time basis. (Regulation 32(4)(a)(b)(5)(a)(b)(6)(a)(b)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which— include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Ensure that staff continually and actively assess the risk to each child and the arrangements in place to protect them. Where there are safeguarding concerns for a child, their placement plan, agreed between the home and their placing authority, must include details of the steps the home will take to manage any risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) Inspection report children's home: SC040266 5

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improvement to be good

The registered manager plans well for young people moving into the home. The individual needs of existing and new young people are fully considered. As a result, young people are well matched, and staff have the skills to meet their individual needs. Young people get on well with staff. This is because staff are friendly and approachable. This helps young people to relax and feel comfortable. Relationships with staff ensure that young people feel able to talk about and share their concerns. Young people quickly learn that staff are supportive and helpful. Staff have strong links with the child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS). Specifically, there is regular consultation and an appropriate sharing of required information. This ensures that staff have the skills, knowledge and ideas to promote young people’s emotional health and well-being. Staff recognise the importance of promoting young people’s academic needs. Staff work

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improvement to be good

hard to encourage young people to access their allocated education provision. Recent successes have included two young people completing their GCSE examinations. This is a real achievement for these young people when considering their starting points. Young people are supported to maintain their relationships with loved ones. Practical and financial support means that barriers to young people seeing their families is easily overcome. This helps young people to feel less isolated and manages their anxieties about not living with their families. The home environment offers young people a pleasant space to live. However, damage to some internal doors detracts from the overall appearance of the property.

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improvement to be good

The registered manager has not ensured that known shortfalls, related to the fire safety of the home, have been rectified. This had the potential to place young people at increased risk of harm should there be a fire in the home. Specifically, actions from a fire risk assessment dated November 2018 had not been completed. The delays in the remedial work being completed were largely out of the control of the registered manager. However, the registered manager had not fully considered the impact of this delay on the safety of the young people or taken enough steps to reduce the potential risk of harm. Reassuringly, actions taken by the registered manager during the inspection have ensured that there is no immediate risk to young people. The approach to fire safety is not typical of the safeguarding culture in the home. Staff have a good understanding of young people’s vulnerabilities. Staff work hard to

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improvement to be good

keep young people safe. For example, staff consider the individual learning needs of Inspection report children's home: SC040266 6 young people when planning for direct work sessions. This personalised approach means that young people are better able to understand the information and advice being given to them by staff. This help young people learn how to stay safe. Staff are successful at promoting positive behaviour. This is because staff are calm in their approach. Staff recognise when a young person is struggling and use their skills to support them. Because of this, physical interventions are rarely required. When such measures of control are used, the registered manager scrutinises the actions of staff in order to identify any learning. When learning is identified, this is acted on quickly. Although the recording of physical interventions is good, there are some gaps in information. For example, while it is documented that staff and young people have had

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improvement to be good

debriefs, the details of what was discussed are not always recorded. There is no evidence that this has impacted on young people’s safety. Some young people go missing from the home. Staff take appropriate action in response to such incidents to try and minimise the risk to young people. Staff work closely with partner agencies including the police and specialist exploitation services to offer a co- ordinated response to the missing incidents. Staff ensure that risk assessments are reviewed regularly. However, the quality of these assessments varies. In some examples, assessments and plans are basic and do not fully reflect the knowledge of staff. This is an administrative issue which has not had a direct impact on the safeguarding of young people.

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

The registered manager is suitably experienced and holds the required qualification. The registered manager has worked hard over the last six months to develop staff practice and improve the quality of care provided to young people. This has resulted in many improvements in the care that young people receive. Young people are supported by child-focused staff who provided personalised care to meet their needs. Because of this, young people make good progress in many aspects of their lives. Despite this, there continue to be areas of improvement to ensure that young people receive consistently good care. Case recording is of variable quality. In some examples, young people’s documentation such as risk assessments and placement plans have gaps in information. In other examples, it is not clear when direct work sessions have been completed as they are not dated. The quality of case recording has the potential to impact on the registered

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

manager’s monitoring of the care provided to young people. Staff say that they are well supported and have lots of opportunities to undertake training. However, the registered manager’s oversight of training is weak. Records of what training staff have completed are not up to date. There is a lack of clarity on what constitutes mandatory training and the timescales for when this should be completed. This impacts on the registered manager’s ability to identify gaps in staff’s training needs. Inspection report children's home: SC040266 7 Not all staff have achieved the required qualification to undertake the role. Staff who have yet to complete this have been enrolled on the appropriate course. However, two staff have not completed the qualification in the required timescales. Both members of staff are expected to have achieved this by November 2019. A new independent visitor has recently been appointed. This is providing increased

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

external scrutiny which is contributing to the registered manager’s understanding about the home’s areas of development. However, the registered manager has not yet utilised feedback from these visits or from the previous interim inspection to complete a revised improvement plan for the home. The home benefits from being part of a multidisciplinary team within the local authority. This means that staff have direct access to a range of specialist services. The benefit for young people is that there is no delay in being able to access resources, such as CAMHS.

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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: SC040266 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Wigan Metropolitan Borough Council, Town Hall, Library Street, Wigan WN1 1YN

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: SC040266 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 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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