Children's home run by Sherico Care Services Limited in Westminster

Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 1 SC022880 Registered provider: Sherico Care Services Limited Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

This children’s home is one of several homes owned by a private organisation. The home provides care and accommodation for up to six children, as specified within the home’s statement of purpose.

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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 inadequate

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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

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

13/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/06/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/10/2017 Full Inadequate 25/07/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 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 registered provider must keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision.

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Requirement Due date

A person may only manage a children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

the person is of integrity and good character; having regard to the size of the home, its statement of purpose, and the number and needs (including any needs arising from any disability) of the children— the person has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills to manage the home effectively and lead the care of children; and the person is physically and mentally fit to manage the home.

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Requirement Due date

Specifically, in relation to the proposed manager making an application for registration to manage a children’s home. 30/09/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person is responsible for deciding what each review should focus on, based on the specific circumstances of the home at that particular time and any areas of high risk to the children that the home is designed to care for, such as missing or exploitation. They will also consider what information or data recorded in the home will form part of the evidence base for their analysis and conclusions. There is no expectation that the registered person will review the Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 4 home against every part of the Quality Standards every six months – registered persons should use their professional judgement to decide which factors to focus on. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)  For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will in most cases, be homely, domestic

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Recommendations

environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Specifically, in relation to the general upkeep of the home, flooring in the hall and living room, replacement of worn cupboards and work surfaces in the kitchen and decoration of the external paintwork on wooden window frames.  The registered person must ensure all children’s case records (Regulation 36) are 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 homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3) Specifically, in relation to consistency of record-keeping for incidents and to ensure that templates reflect the child that they are written about.  The registered person is responsible for maintaining good employment practice.

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Recommendations

They must ensure that recruitment, 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) Specifically, in relation to ensuring that prospective employees provide a full employment history, together with a satisfactory explanation of any gaps in employment in writing.  The registered person should ensure, that as part of reviewing and revising where appropriate the Statement of Purpose (Regulation 16 (3)(a)), they should review and update the children’s guide as necessary, and make sure children are given an explanation of any changes. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 24, paragraph 4.23)

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improvement to be good

The quality of individualised care has improved for children living at this home. There are individualised care plans, risk assessments and strategies to support children who go missing from care. Better individual planning is starting to have an impact on the coordinated support and response from the staff team to help children to make progress.

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improvement to be good

Children form positive relationships with staff, despite most placements being short Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 5 term. Wider communication between staff and professionals is improving. However, in the recent absence of the interim manager, there have been some inconsistencies. Overall, positive relationships exist between staff and parents, and staff have facilitated some family get togethers at the home.

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improvement to be good

Although children make slow progress from their starting points, the general trend is towards small improvements. Children placed at the home have complex needs and are often moved in, as part of an emergency placement, due to a previous placement breaking down. This adds to the challenges for staff in building relationships, engaging children in education and setting boundaries around their behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Children can express their views about their home and the care that they receive. There is a comprehensive children’s guide, which has the children’s commissioner and external advocacy services details included. However, the guide requires updating to reflect the up-to-date staff group at the home.

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improvement to be good

Children have a variety of forums to express their wishes and feelings, including regular house meetings, one-to-one sessions, key-worker sessions and an independent visitor who visits the home monthly.

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improvement to be good

The interim manager is slowly introducing more routine and structure for children living at the home. Despite many children having no access to education and a nocturnal sleep pattern on arrival, regular routines and encouragement from staff to return to education are slowly changing these patterns. The interim manager is working hard to build a consistent staff team whose members have the skills and experience to alter children’s negative patterns and to encourage their engagement.

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improvement to be good

Children are encouraged in small ways to begin to take responsibility for themselves and to learn to live independently. A rewards system is in place to support children to keep their own personal space clean and tidy. Staff support children to learn how to cook, budget, clean, shop and do their own laundry.

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improvement to be good

Outcomes for children have been mixed, with a few placements being terminated by the provider. However, clearer matching assessments and the use of placement stability meetings are helping to increase better security of placements.

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improvement to be good

Some children living at the home are a long way away from their home area. The staff team supports regular contact to help them keep in touch with their families and staff are proactive in requesting educational input while longer term plans are made.

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improvement to be good

The current interim manager has started to identify risks earlier using comprehensive matching risk assessments and by ensuring that relevant information is obtained and considered at the point of referral. She is also developing a staff team whose members have a clearer understanding of risk and how to reduce risk. Risk assessments are Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 6 thorough and are regularly updated to reflect concerns or improvements.

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improvement to be good

Responses to children who go missing from the home are greatly improved. The interim manager completes missing and absence protocols for each child living at the home. These protocols give staff clear guidance about what to do if a child is missing from the home. Important information is regularly updated on children’s files, ready to be given to the police if a child does go missing.

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improvement to be good

The local continuous policing improvement officer says, ‘The managers have been receptive to advice and engaged in working with the police to reduce [incidents of going] missing.’ The same police officer advised that the home’s staff team had received missing procedures and good practice training and preventing child sexual exploitation and child criminal exploitation training in recent months.

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improvement to be good

Staff’s capacity to manage the challenging behaviours of children is improving, although this is an area of ongoing development and training. There are good indicators that the staff team members are learning and developing together in this area and further training is planned. The interim manager is bringing together a more consistent team and encouraging reflective discussion within team meetings.

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improvement to be good

Processes for ensuring the safe recruitment of staff are generally good. Despite this, in a couple of examples, prospective employees had not been asked about gaps in their employment record during the interview and selection process.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has been without a registered manager since April 2017. Despite several applications to register a manager throughout this time, no managers have completed the registration process. The current interim manager has been in post for approximately 17 weeks and has not yet applied for registration. Despite this, there has been a significant improvement in the effectiveness of the home under her leadership.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager is passionate about what she does and about improving practice at the home and creating better outcomes for children. Improvements are emerging in all areas of leadership. Team meetings, personal development, induction and probationary periods are all more structured. Staff say that they now receive regular supervision, training, mentoring and have regular opportunities to reflect on their practice. Strengths and weaknesses in the service are better understood by managers via the collation of external feedback.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager is working hard to build a more effective staff team whose members can work more consistently together. This remains an ongoing process. However, the interim manager is trying to create the right supportive and learning environment to encourage more consistent staff practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Although the monitoring and oversight of practice is improving at this home, the interim manager is yet to complete a review of the quality of care at the home and to send it to Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 7 Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s statement of purpose and children’s guide are out of date and refer to a previous manager and some staff who no longer work at the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The interim manager has completed a helpful report, which provides a risk assessment about the appropriateness and suitability of the location of the home. This report sets out risk factors and positive features in the local community and includes the views of all relevant professionals.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Generally, the record-keeping at the home has improved under the new interim manager, although some inconsistencies in record-keeping remain. Some recording is of a very high quality, with regular audit and management oversight. Other records seen were of a poor quality. Furthermore, where templates had been used, they had not been thoroughly edited to ensure that they refer to the correct child.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has a diverse staff team whose members can meet the identity needs of the children they care for. Where there are individual or more specific needs which the staff team cannot meet directly, staff actively seek ways to fulfil these needs, for example ensuring dietary needs or cultural understanding.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Children are actively involved in making choices about the home’s menus, decoration and staff recruitment. They have been involved in helping to decorate their own rooms and a shared quiet space for study.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Some redecoration and refurbishment has taken place at the home. However, further ongoing work is required to bring the kitchen cupboards and work surfaces and some of the flooring up to a better standard.

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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: SC022880 8 Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Sherico Care Services Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2–4 Balmoral Road, London E10 5ND

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Inspector

Christine Kennet: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC022880 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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