Children's home run by The Partnership of Care Today

Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 1 SC025409 Registered provider:

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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 can provide accommodation for up to three young people who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home may also provide care and accommodation for children who have learning disabilities and mental disorders. The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 6 July 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 18 December 2018

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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: SC025409 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/12/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 04/09/2018 Full Inadequate 16/01/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 19/06/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 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 leadership and management standard is that the registered person enables, inspires and leads a culture in relation to the young person’s home that— uses monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(2)(h)) 08/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— undertake appropriate continuing professional development; and receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b) 08/07/2019

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Recommendations

 Regulations 35-39 detail the records that must be kept in children’s homes. All children’s case records (regulation 36) must be kept up to date and stored securely whilst they remain in the home. Case records must be kept up to date and signed and dated by the author of each entry. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3).  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Staff should record information on individual children in a non-stigmatising way that distinguishes between fact, opinion and third-party information. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4).  Ensure that staff recognise the importance of understanding who we are and

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Recommendations

where we come from is recognised in good social work practice, for example through undertaking life story work or other direct work. Staff in children’s homes should play a full role in work of this kind. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, pages 16, paragraph 3.14) Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 4

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The quality of care provided by staff is nurturing, responsive and focused on helping the young people achieve stability in their lives. Change is supported step by step and at the young people’s pace and ability. This approach allows them to develop confidence, while building self-esteem and trust in adults. A social worker commented, ‘[Young person] has progressed to such an extent that we can now look towards the future and move towards a fostering option.’ Staff provide a nurturing environment. They recognise that routine and boundaries provide stability and security. This has resulted in young people becoming more able to manage their frustrations in a calmer way. Interactions between the staff and young people are warm and considerate, and observable attachments exist. Education is given a high priority. The young people living in the home all have a full- time education provision. Two of the young people, who had previously struggled to

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

maintain full-time education, have now embarked on a college course of their choice. Staff monitor the young people’s health and provide the necessary support to ensure that routine appointments and checks are up to date. This ensures that their health needs are met. The atmosphere in the home is very warm and calm and social interaction is friendly and fun. Young people enjoy a variety of activities such as go-karting and trips to funfairs. A young person said, ‘I loved going with the staff to the seaside.’ This improves their health and well-being, both physically and emotionally. Consultation with young people is a strength of the service. Their input is sought in all aspects of the work undertaken. Young people said that they value this and feel listened to. The home presents as a lived-in family home. It is warm, welcoming and comfortable. The quality of furniture and decoration is good.

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

The young people told the inspector that they feel safe living at the home. They know that they can talk to staff if they have any concerns or worries. The young people benefit from high levels of support and supervision provided by a staff team that is trained in all aspects of safeguarding. Staff are knowledgeable and confident in implementing the home’s safeguarding policies and procedures and take a highly proactive approach to ensure young people’s safety. Young people benefit from planned transitions when they first move into the home or when they move to a new placement. Careful planning takes place to prepare young people for moves or transitions of any kind. Since the last inspection, the group of young people living in the home has changed. Following the positive planned move of one of the young people, a new young person has moved in. Leaders and managers consider new referrals to the home very carefully. This helps protect the stability of the home and

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

prevents placements from breaking down. A social worker commented, ‘The planning for Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 5 my young person has been meticulous. He has visited the home and has been able to make an informed choice of where to live.’ Staff have a calming influence when young people become anxious or struggle to manage their behaviour. Behaviour management plans have useful de-escalation strategies that support young people. Young people agree to the consequences given, which all involve minor issues. Consequences are proportionate and not punitive. It was pleasing to see that the rewards for good behaviour outnumbered the consequences for negative behaviour. Staff take photographs of the young people, and these show activities and day-to-day achievements. However, these are not collated or used as ongoing life-story work or to capture the young people’s journey. This is a missed opportunity, not only to create a

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

lasting memory for the young people but also to very effectively show the progress young people have made. Young people are fully supported to keep in touch with people who are important to them. Staff ensure that all contact arrangements reflect the young person’s care plan. Arrangements can be complex, and staff are sensitive to this. Appropriate support is in place to ensure that contact is as safe and positive an experience as possible. Staff personnel files include the required information, and there are good recruitment and selection processes in place that confirm that the young people are cared for by a safe and competent workforce.

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

The manager is experienced in residential care and appropriately qualified for the role. However, managerial oversight has failed to highlight the inconsistencies in record keeping. Situations have occurred whereby sanctions imposed on young people and risk assessments have had no management evaluation. Opportunities for identifying trends and patterns in young people’s behaviour have been missed. Furthermore, several of the records held in the home fail to identify the author of the report and contain inappropriate language. Internal quality assurance requires improvement. For example, management oversight of the medication records is not robust. Although there were no errors in the administration of medication, the management recording of audits to the files was incomplete. Therefore, some shortfalls may not have been addressed. Staff feel valued and supported by the manager. However, some staff have not received

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

regular supervision in recent months. The lack of regular supervision does not enable staff to reflect on their practice and identify any further training that they need to support their continued professional development. There is evidence of collaborative working with other professionals who are involved in each young person’s care to support positive outcomes for them. Feedback from professionals is positive, praising the management and staff’s commitment to the young people and the progress that they make. A social worker commented, ‘The high levels of support and communication between the school and home have meant that behaviour is Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 6 managed well, and this has meant that there are no exclusions.’ The provider has ensured that an independent person has carried out a visit to the home at least once each month. The reports from this visitor are robust and identified some of

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

the shortfalls found at this inspection. However, the registered manager failed to act on the recommendations from the independent visitor. This is a missed opportunity toward improvement. A senior manager fully acknowledged all the shortfalls raised at this inspection. She recognised how they impact on the day-to-day running of the home and the outcomes for young people. She shows capacity and enthusiasm to make all of the required improvements, including more robust management systems to ensure that regular audits take place.

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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: SC025409 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Lansdowne House, 85 Buxton Road, Stockport, Cheshire SK2 6LR

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Inspector

Elaine Allison, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC025409 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 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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