Children's home run by Silverlining Childcare Limited

Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 1 SC458746 Registered provider: Silverlining Childcare 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 and accommodation for up to three young people who have experienced disruption in their lives and have social and/or emotional difficulties. It is run by a small private partnership company. The home has been without a registered manager since October 2018.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and/or their welfare is not promoted and/or safeguarded and the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 24 September 2018

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 26/07/2017 Full Good 17/01/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 07/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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.

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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 purpose of the home are designed and furnished so as to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(c)(i)) 19 July 2019

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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 help each child to achieve the child‟s education and training targets, as recorded in the child‟s relevant plans; help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(viii)) 19 July 2019

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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

mutual respect and trust; an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and 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 de-escalate confrontations with or between children, or potentially violent behaviour by children. (Regulation 11 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(xi)) 19 July 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. 21 June 2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 4 (2) In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— (a) that staff— (i) 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. (Regulation 12 (2)(a)(i))* 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 to 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 lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 19 July 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; use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(h))* 21 June 2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children‟s home a statement (“the statement of purpose”) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The registered person must provide a copy of the statement of purpose to HMCI and make a copy of it available upon request to— a person who works at the home. The registered person must— keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 16 (1)(2)(a)(3)(a)) 19 July 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 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))* 21 June 2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children‟s home if— 19 July 2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 5 there is no registered manager in respect of the home. If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of— the name of the person so appointed; and the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(2)(a)(b)) The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children‟s safety. The requirements are that full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (1)(3)(d))* 21 June 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 and have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)(c)) 19 July 2019

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Requirement Due date

Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children‟s home. The registered person must— maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4; 1. A record in the form of a register showing in respect of each child— the child‟s address immediately before being accommodated in the home. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(2)(c)) 19 July 2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed. (Regulation 45 (1)(4)(a)) 19 July 2019

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Recommendations

 Regulation 19(2) details sanctions that are prohibited in behaviour management. 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 their 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) Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 6

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people‟s overall experience and progress are seriously compromised by the lack of managerial oversight of their day-to-day care. Young people‟s progress in their education, social development and the promotion of their welfare are all affected. This leaves young people vulnerable and at risk.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Managers do not carry out detailed compatibility risk assessments prior to accepting new referrals, neither do they assess whether the staff have the skills and experience to support new young people‟s presenting needs. As a result, poor placement matching has had a detrimental effect on relationships between the young people.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not always take swift action to de-escalate confrontations and/or potentially violent situations. As a result, young people and staff are at risk of harm.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Not all young people are engaged in full-time education. Staff do not take enough action to escalate concerns when there are delays in young people having suitable school placements found. This compromises young people‟s opportunities to learn and to achieve academic success.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

More positively, staff support young people to develop their independence skills and to participate in varied activities. Young people are also encouraged to attend house meetings and share their views.

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

Since the home was extended in October 2018, managers have failed to take swift action to address significant shortfalls in fire safety. For example, fire equipment is not being routinely monitored to ensure that it is safe to use, and door closures are missing from fire doors. As a result, young people‟s, staff and visitor safety is significantly compromised.

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

Staff do not understand the risks that young people face when they play online games nor take effective action to protect young people from online abuse. Staff lack professional curiosity about the potential risks that young people can face when they are online. For example, staff do not know the identity of other gamers who young people are playing with. This lack of oversight does not provide young people with sufficient protection from potential harm or abuse.

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

Staff fail to act or put in place safeguards to ensure that young people do not use illegal substances or attempt to smoke cigarettes in their bedrooms. This absence of intervention leaves young people exposed to the risk of harm.

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

Visitors to the home are not routinely asked to sign in the home‟s visitor log book. This Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 7 means that visitors can enter the home without staff being aware of their presence and their identity. In turn, this means that young people could be at risk of harm from unknown visitors.

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

Physical intervention is rarely used. However, on the one occasion physical intervention has been necessary, the members of staff involved had not received suitable training. Managers have failed to act to ensure that all staff are trained in the organisation‟s approved method of physical intervention and behaviour management. This gap in knowledge leaves young people and staff at risk of injury during a restraint.

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

Not all staff are safely recruited. Recruitment records fail to demonstrate that all members of staff have had an enhanced Disclosure and Barring System (DBS) check carried out prior to the new member of staff starting to work with young people. When staff have disclosed convictions on their application form, managers have failed to carry out any evaluation to determine whether the person is fit to work with young people. These significant shortfalls leave the safety of young people seriously compromised.

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

Staff do not apply sanctions in a fair and proportionate way. For example, one young person who used a taxi to return home, instead of using public transport, was given a sanction that required him to lose £5 from his pocket money. Although the manager overturned the sanction, the money was never refunded to his account.

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

There are some elements of the manager‟s and staff practice that have helped to keep young people safe. For example, when young people go missing from care the manager works with external professionals to ensure that return home interviews are carried out. The manager takes swift action to raise concerns to the appropriate professionals when young people are known to be at risk of radicalisation and child sexual exploitation. When young people have made allegations of harm, these have been dealt with quickly.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

There has been no registered manager since October 2018. The lack of management oversight of the home has significantly impacted on the operation of the home. Out of 10 requirements raised at the last inspection, only two have been met. As a result of this inspection, a further nine requirements, including four compliance notices, have needed to be raised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The monitoring of the home remains poor and ineffective. The manager has failed to identify shortfalls in staff training, safe recruitment, staff induction and staff supervision. As a result, actions to maximise young people‟s safety and welfare are not sufficiently robust.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager‟s quality of care review fails to provide a six-month evaluation of the home. This lack of oversight makes it difficult to see the strengths and weaknesses of the service over a period of time. This has had a detrimental impact on the safety and welfare of young people. Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 8 The manager has not ensured that the home is maintained to a good standard. For example, furniture in the young people‟s bedrooms is broken, appliances used to heat the conservatory are broken, and there is no electrical wiring safety certificate to show that the home has been serviced in the last five years. This does not promote a safe and welcoming environment.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has not carried out a comprehensive review of the statement of purpose or provided a revised copy to all stakeholders. As a result, accurate and up-to-date information is not available to be shared.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The register of children has not been kept up to date. Young people‟s most recent address prior to being admitted is not recorded. This has negative impacts on staff in the future being able to track the history of young people‟s placements.

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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: SC458746 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Silverlining Childcare Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 59a, Lichfield Street, Walsall, West Midlands WS4 2BX

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Lakhvinder Khera

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Inspectors

Michelle Spruce, social care inspector Anne Daly, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC458746 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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