Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 1 SC064858 Registered provider: Salford City 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 short-term reception home provides care and accommodation for up to four young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities.

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides a police and criminal evidence bed for young people between the ages of 10 and 17 years.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2007.

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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 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: 21 February 2019

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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: SC064858 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/05/2018 Full Inadequate 14/02/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 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 children’s home that—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. 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 home’s statement of purpose; ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate; ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child; ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child; ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)) 01/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that arrangements are in place to— ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)) 01/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 4

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Recommendations

 Staff should continually and actively assess the risks 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 assessed risks on a day to day basis. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5) This relates specifically to helping young people understand how to keep themselves safe when using the internet, social networks and games.  As outlined in 10.1, the registered person should plan staffing levels to ensure that they meet the needs of children and can respond flexibly to unexpected events or opportunities. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 54, paragraph 10.15)

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improvement to be good

Young people spoken with during the inspection said that they have good relationships with staff and that ‘this is a good home’. One young person said, ‘I do more activities here. Staff do a good job. I will remember it as a positive place.’ Observations show that relationships between young people and staff are warm and appropriate. However, on occasions, young people have engaged in negative behaviours that have disrupted the stability of the home.

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improvement to be good

There is a mixed picture in terms of progress and experiences for young people. Staff have been unable to effect positive change for a number of young people, particularly in relation to child sexual exploitation, cannabis misuse and criminal behaviour, despite their best efforts. Consequently, this has had an impact on the safety and welfare of young people.

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improvement to be good

The home provides short-term placements to young people, while alternative placements are sought. However, there has been some drift and delay in care planning, resulting in young people living at the home longer than first planned. One young person, who had previously made good progress, became engaged in unsafe behaviour relating to child sexual exploitation. The young person has now been supported to move to a safer placement which is suitable to their needs.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff understand and value the importance of regular educational attendance. They work well with education professionals, including the virtual head, to try to improve young people’s attendance and participation. However, the impact is variable, as some young people continue to have poor attendance, which limits their life Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 5 chances.

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improvement to be good

Young people are registered with doctors, dentists and opticians, and they access these services when required. Staff support young people to attend their health appointments in line with their individual needs. Staff have been very proactive in encouraging young people to engage with specialist help, particularly in relation to their cannabis misuse and criminal behaviour. However, there is little evidence to demonstrate that they are having a positive influence on young people’s risk-taking behaviours.

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improvement to be good

Young people told the inspector that they do not have access to the home’s wi-fi. This was confirmed by the manager, who said that this was due to safeguarding concerns. Potentially, this restricts young people’s opportunity to socialise with friends via social networking sites.

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

Staff have a good understanding of young people’s risks and do their best to protect young people from harm. Despite the best efforts of staff, some young people continue to go missing from the home. Staff are vigilant to the signs of sexual and criminal exploitation. They work well with the appropriate authorities, so that a multi-agency approach is agreed. Staff have been very proactive in disrupting known hot spots where young people gravitate to.

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

Staff have a good understanding of missing-from-home protocols and are consistent in applying these. When a young person goes missing from the home, staff attempt to contact and look for them. Young people routinely have an independent return interview following any episode of being missing. This enables young people to talk about their reasons for being away from the home and ensures that young people are protected as far as possible.

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

Young people have strongly tested the boundaries, resulting in staff dealing with some very challenging behaviour. These incidents are gradually decreasing, and the number of police call-outs to the home is reducing. The use of physical intervention is kept to a minimum. Staff engage young people in key-work sessions to help them understand the impact of their negative behaviours on themselves and others.

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

The manager has addressed the one requirement and two recommendations made at the last inspection. The physical intervention records have improved and provide a more detailed account of the build-up to an incident. Young people are offered a range of positive leisure activities. Examples include cinema trips, bike rides and trips to Blackpool and a safari park. However, young people prefer to spend time with their friends.

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

The manager and staff acknowledge that it has been a difficult time, but they have worked hard to keep young people safe. However, the mix of young people has resulted in some negative alliances. Consequently, some young people have made limited Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 6 progress and experienced disruption in their lives.

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

There are good relationships with partner agencies and families. The manager and staff are committed to providing young people with good-quality care. Overall, the home is meeting the aims and objectives of the statement of purpose. However, on one occasion staff were unable to support a young person who needed to attend hospital in an emergency, due to issues in the home. There is an on-call system, but the manager said that this is for advice purposes only.

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

The staff have worked for the local authority for a number of years and are very experienced and qualified. However, not all staff are receiving regular supervision. This means that staff do not have the opportunity to reflect on their practice, particularly when they are experiencing difficulties with young people’s behaviour.

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

Staff have access to regular training designed to improve their skills and knowledge. However, the training records make it difficult to see when staff have had their training updated. Managers acknowledge gaps in staff knowledge in relation to managing self- harm and ligature training.

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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: SC064858 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Salford City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC064858 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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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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