Children's Home run by Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited in Hounslow

Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 1 SC409851 Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project 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 children’s home provides care for up to four children and young people. The home’s statement of purpose states that the home looks after children who have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. A private provider owns and operates the home.

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Information about this children’s home

The home does not currently have a registered manager.

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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 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

Date of last inspection: 4 September 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 25/06/2018 Full Inadequate 11/12/2017 Interim Not judged 22/08/2017 Full Inadequate Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to—

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Requirement Due date

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. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the registered person devises and implements a development plan that outlines strategies to improve the home. 01/10/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

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—

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1) (a) (2) (h))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person must ensure that staff’s recording of information is of a high standard. This relates to records of daily observations, key-work sessions, residents’ meetings and risk assessments. 01/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees— 01/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 4 receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 32 (4)(b)(c)) The registered person may permit an individual to start work at the home despite the fact that the requirement in paragraph (3)(d) has not been met if—

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Requirement Due date

Full and satisfactory information in respect of the individual has been obtained in relation to the matters in paragraphs 1 and 2 of Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (7)(b)) 01/10/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

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Requirement Due date

that the effectiveness of the home’s child protection policies is monitored regularly. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(e)) 01/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must complete a review of the quality of care provided for children (‘a quality of care review’) at least once every 6 months.

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Requirement Due date

In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating—

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Requirement Due date

the quality of care provided for children;

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Requirement Due date

the feedback and opinions of children about the children’s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and

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Requirement Due date

any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children.

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Requirement Due date

After completing a quality of care review, the registered person must produce a written report about the quality of care review and the actions which the registered person intends to take as a result of the quality of care review (‘the quality of care review report’).

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Requirement Due date

supply to HMCI a copy of the quality of care review report 01/10/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 5 within 28 days of the date on which the quality of care review is completed; and

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Requirement Due date

make a copy of the quality of care review report available on request to a placing authority, if the placing authority is not the parent of a child accommodated in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The system referred to in paragraph (2) must provide for ascertaining and considering the opinions of children, their parents, placing authorities and staff. (Regulation 45 (1)(2)(3)(4)(5)) 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

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(d)) 01/10/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

maintain the records in Schedule 4 and ensure that the records are kept up to date. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

This relates to the register of children in placement and the staff roster. 01/10/2019

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Recommendations

 Records of restraint must be kept and should enable the registered person and staff to review the use of control, discipline and restraint to identify effective practice and respond promptly where any issues or trends of concern emerge. The review should provide the opportunity for amending practice to ensure it meets the needs of each child. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 49, paragraph 9.59)  The registered person should ensure that staff can access appropriate facilities and resources to support their training needs and should understand the key role they play in the training and development of staff in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.11) Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 6 In particular, the provider should ensure that staff team meetings are held regularly.

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improvement to be good

Children receive care that meets their individual needs. Children have good experiences and make progress from their starting points. However, the significant shortfalls in leadership and management have resulted in the overall judgement of requires improvement to be good.

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improvement to be good

Children settle in well when they first arrive at the home and share trusted relationships with staff. A child who recently moved on from the home, wrote to the staff team, ‘You made a difference. Thank you for all your support and encouragement... I also was very happy when you all showed how proud you was [sic] of me.’

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improvement to be good

Children do not make complaints about the home. They are supported to take part in day-to-day decisions about their lives. These include their choice of meals, leisure activities and choosing staff who they wish to spend time with. Children participate in house meetings. However, these do not happen regularly and there are no records indicating whether children had refused to attend or not.

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improvement to be good

Children’s education outcomes are variable. Some children enjoy school and make good progress. Other children and young people do not attend college regularly and so their learning needs are not met.

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improvement to be good

Children live healthy lifestyles. Staff register them with primary care services and other more specialist services. Children eat healthy meals, ride their bicycles and exercise regularly.

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improvement to be good

Children enjoy a range of leisure activities. These include dirt bike riding, trampolining, movie nights and trips to the cinema. A child said of the recent dirt bike activity that it was ‘the best day ever!’

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improvement to be good

Children have regular visits with their families and friends when it is safe for them to do so. When children choose not to maintain this contact, staff respect their wishes. They encourage and support children to prepare the home and cook meals to welcome their guests.

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improvement to be good

Children’s identity needs are met by the service. For example, staff are mindful to repeat Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 7 information sensitively with children who have learning difficulties. Muslim children are offered Halal food and are encouraged to say their prayers, fast and celebrate Ramadan. Children are supported attend their chosen place of worship. Staff challenge children if they use inappropriate language that is, for example, sexist or racist in nature.

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improvement to be good

Children develop practical living skills with the support and supervision of staff. This includes attending to their own personal care tasks, preparing meals and managing their own appointment diaries. This helps to prepare them for adulthood.

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

Children are protected from harm, abuse and neglect. The home has comprehensive safeguarding and child protection policies. Staff induction and ongoing training focus on child protection issues. However, some staff do not demonstrate a good understanding of action to take in the event of a child making an allegation against a staff member. Staff’s vigilance and supervision of children are effective. This helps to keep children safe.

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

Staff’s communication with safeguarding professionals is good. As appropriate, designated officers and local authority social workers are informed of all incidents and of their outcomes.

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

Staff devise good behaviour management plans. These provide staff with guidance about managing children’s behaviour. These are detailed and largely effective. A child commented, ‘Even when I bugged out, you did not judge… but supported me to cope and work it out.’ Risk assessments identify children’s risk-taking behaviour and outline plans to curb such behaviour. However, not all risk assessments are kept up to date and so they do not consistently alert staff to risks posed to children.

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

Staff’s use of restraint is rare, and it is only used to protect children and others from harm. Records of restraint incidents are adequate. However, there is a need for managers to clarify how staff are to record non-restrictive practices, as these are currently unclear.

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

Staff ensure that children understand clear boundaries, which in turn helps to keep them safe. Staff use verbal praise to encourage positive behaviour. Where younger children have issues managing their emotions, staff use a behaviour challenge game. Children are encouraged to chart for themselves the rewards and incentives they receive for their good behaviour on a themed wall chart. This approach to behaviour management is successful.

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

The frequency of children going missing from the home has significantly reduced in recent months. A child said, ‘I like the staff… Some of them follow me about, which I think is weird, but I understand why they do this.’

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

Bullying does not happen, and staff understand the risks posed to children by their use Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 8 of the internet. Appropriate safeguards are in place that promote internet safety.

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

The home’s premises are safe and secure. There are no health and safety issues, and the use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) increases the security of the building.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The leadership and management of the home are weak. The home’s monitoring systems are not consistent or effective. Strengths and weaknesses of the home are not well highlighted, and so improvements are short lived.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have failed to complete regulation 45 quality of care reports and the home has no development plan. These are useful in identifying and helping to resolve weaknesses.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers continue to have difficulties in recruiting care staff. As a result, the manager and responsible individual work most of the daily shifts during the week and some night shifts. This arrangement is not sustainable in the long-term and prevents effective management oversight of the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff’s recording of children’s information requires improvement. Some important records such as key-work sessions, daily observation records and risk assessments are not completed well. Furthermore, the staff rota does not accurately reflect the shifts worked by individual staff members, while the home’s register of children is incomplete.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The vetting of staff is an area of concern. Not all newly appointed staff have updated Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) checks completed before they start working in the home. Some new staff undergo an induction at the home before all recruitment checks have been completed, and managers do not consistently verify written references. These practices do not confirm that staff are appropriate to work with vulnerable children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The training, development and supervision of staff are poor. Managers are heavily reliant on online training for staff. There is limited opportunity for the staff to learn together, face-to-face, as a team. Some long-serving staff are yet to be enrolled on NVQ training.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff do not all receive regular supervision, and appraisals do not consistently take place each year. In addition, team meetings are not held regularly. These practices do not support staff to develop knowledge and skills that enhance their safe care of children. Many of these issues were highlighted at the previous inspection and are yet to be resolved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager has been in post for over a year and is in the process of being registered with Ofsted. Leaders have strong ambitions for children and work hard to ensure that children have good experiences and make progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff are passionate about working with children. They listen to children, play and invest much time with them. They manage well some children’s challenging behaviour. Staff said they felt well supported by their line managers and appreciate managers working Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 9 alongside them. The staff team is committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of children.

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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: SC409851 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Westgate Lifestyle Project Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 137 Waters Drive, Staines-Upon-Thames TW18 4RP

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Inspector(s)

Sandra Jacobs-Walls, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC409851 11 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(s)

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Inspector(s)

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Inspector(s)

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