Children's home run by The Together Trust in Stockport

Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 1 SC025740 Registered provider: The Together Trust Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The children‟s home is one of a number of homes operated by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to six young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home‟s registered manager has been in place since May 2019.

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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

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: SC025740 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

24/07/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 27/11/2017 Full Good 07/02/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness 12/07/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand the impact the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform development of the quality of care provided in the home; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)(h)) 31/07/2019

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person‟s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person‟s opinion as to whether— children are effectively safeguarded; and the conduct of the home promotes children‟s well-being. The independent person‟s report may recommend actions that the registered person may take in relation to the home and timescales within which the registered person must consider whether or not to take those actions. (Regulation 44 (1)(4)(a)(b) and (5)) In particular, the independent person‟s report should be specific and tailored to the individual home. Information should be accurate and updated at each visit. Any summary or opinion about the safeguarding arrangements in place should be reflective of the observations and information obtained at the time of the visit. 31/07/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 4

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Recommendations

 Where children placed in a home are not participating in education because they have been excluded or are not on school roll for some other reason, the registered person and staff must work closely with the placing authority so that the child is supported and enabled to resume full-time education as soon as possible. In the interim, the child should be supported to sustain or regain their confidence in education and be engaged in suitable structured activities. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 28, paragraph 5.15)  The registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child‟s day- to-day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children‟s home an environment that supports children‟s physical, mental and emotional health. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 33, paragraph 7.3).

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Recommendations

Specifically, the registered manager should ensure that each child is provided with a healthy, balanced diet.  Children must be consulted regularly on their views about the home‟s care, to inform and support continued improvement in the quality of care provided. Due consideration should be given to the child‟s cognitive ability in the development and implementation of any consultation processes. Children should be able to see the results of their views being listened to and acted upon. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 22, paragraph 4.11)  The registered person should have a workforce plan. The plan should: detail the necessary management and staffing structure; the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff to enable the delivery of the home‟s statement of purpose; detail the

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Recommendations

processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training; detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice and keep appropriate records for staff in the home. The plan should be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff - including the home‟s manager. („Guide to the children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 53, paragraph 10.8) Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 5

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people, who have differing experiences of care, settle well into their placement and make good progress from their starting points. Staff have a good understanding of the impact of change on young people and work hard to build positive and caring relationships with them. A social worker said, „The home[‟s staff] understand that how my young person presents is not necessarily how they feel. They have made massive progress.‟

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people with very different needs are provided with individualised care. Staff know young people well. They are skilled in recognising times when additional help is needed. This means that young people‟s emotional well-being is well supported. Staff respond creatively to the different needs of young people. For example, one young person has been provided with a whiteboard in their bedroom to express their feelings. This has given them a way of communicating their feelings to staff without having to speak about them directly.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There has been a high turnover of staff since the last inspection. This has impacted on the opportunities for young people to build trusting relationships with the adults who care for them. A new staff team is now in place and these relationships are being developed.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Some young people are not being provided with a healthy, balanced diet. There are incidents where there is an over-reliance on fast food and takeaways. This means that young people‟s health is not always being effectively promoted. Young people are not being provided with the skills and knowledge that they need to lead a healthy lifestyle in preparation for independence.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people in education are well supported. There are positive relationships between schools and the home. This strong partnership working means that young people‟s progress in education is understood and is effectively monitored. In isolated incidents where young people are not accessing education, they are not being provided with structured activities and learning opportunities. This has the potential to undermine a successful reintegration into a school setting.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home provides young people with a warm and welcoming physical environment. The outside space is well used. It provides young people with opportunities to engage in play and physical activity.

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

Staff understand the home‟s model of practice and implement it effectively. Positive behaviour is encouraged and there is a minimal use of sanctions. This means that young people experience warm, consistent care, which promotes stability and security. Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 6 The home works closely with the organisation‟s psychologist. This expertise is used to inform longer term care planning as well as the day-to-day care of each young person. Detailed therapeutic care plans are in place for young people and these are followed by staff in their practice. This means that staff are supported to understand complex behaviours and know how best to respond to these. Young people, staff and external agencies all told inspectors that they value this specialist knowledge.

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

On the few occasions where young people go missing, staff respond swiftly and appropriately. Missing from care risk assessments are in place and these are reviewed after each incident. For one young person, this led to the home extending their free time, which means that the young person can maintain friendships in their home community. It also promotes age-appropriate risk taking and independence skills.

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

The use of physical intervention by staff is proportionate to the risks that young people present to themselves and others. These interventions are informed by the home‟s practice model. Where additional measures have been used to keep young people safe, these are well evidenced in written records and reviewed by the manager.

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good

The home‟s manager registered with Ofsted in May 2019. A new assistant manager was appointed in June 2019 having been promoted from the role of senior within the home. The manager and assistant manager are passionate about improving the lives of the young people in their care.

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good

Since the last inspection, seven staff have left the home and six new staff have been recruited. New staff have varying levels of experience of working with young people. The manager has worked hard to get the new staff team in place. There is currently no comprehensive workforce development plan for the home. This means that the manager does not have a framework to effectively plan and evaluate the progress of the improvements that she wants to make within the staff team.

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good

Staff say that the induction and ongoing training that they have is good. It provides them with a good foundation to work with the young people in their care. Staff receive specialist training which matches young people‟s individual needs. For example, staff are trained in managing the health needs of young people with diabetes. Training has also been provided to staff by the organisation‟s sleep therapist, so that staff have the skills to support a young person with complex needs to establish stable sleeping patterns.

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good

The manager provides regular supervision to staff. There is some evidence of Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 7 practice being challenged and staff being supported to address this. The quality of recording is variable. As a result of this shortfall, there is insufficient evidence to demonstrate the progress of staff and their ability to meet young people‟s needs.

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good

There are no systems in place to gain the views of young people. Regular house meetings are no longer taking place. No other methods are being used to encourage young people to participate in decision making. This means that young people are not being given opportunities to contribute to the developments of the home. The manager does not have information regarding the views of young people to consider in her overall judgement of how well the home is meeting their needs.

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good

The monthly reports provided by the independent person are not of sufficient quality. Some reports contain inaccurate or missing information. The reports do not provide an evaluation of the home which is individualised and supported by evidence obtained in visits. Where reports have contained inaccurate information, this has not been challenged by the manager.

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good

Improvements in the quality of the independent person‟s reports and improvements in the use of monitoring and review systems by the manager were both requirements from the last inspection.

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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: SC025740 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Together Trust Centre, Schools Hill, Cheadle, Cheshire SK8 1JE

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Inspector

Dawn Parton: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC025740 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 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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