Children's home run by New Forest Care Limited in Southampton

Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 1 SC063767 Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

The home provides care and accommodation for up to four children. According to the statement of purpose, the home specialises in caring for children who have experienced particular difficulties in settling in residential care and accessing mainstream education. The organisation has its own separately registered school and its own therapy team. The provider uses the term ‘adults’ for staff, and this is reflected in this report.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since March 2017.

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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 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: 21 January 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/01/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/05/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 06/02/2018 Full Inadequate 06/12/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that the managers make effective use of team and leadership meetings for these purposes. 30/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety. The registered person may only— employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

The requirements are that— the individual is of integrity and good character; the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform. (Regulation 32 (1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)) 30/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 4 In particular, ensure that the methods used to select suitable staff are robust and reliable.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that the employment of any person on a temporary basis at the children’s home does not prevent children from receiving such continuity of care as is reasonable to meet their needs. (Regulation 31 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, maintain a stable, permanent staff team to ensure that children’s attachments are not unnecessarily disrupted. 30/08/2019

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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 that staff— assess whether each child is at risk of harm, taking into account information in the child’s relevant plans, and, if necessary, make arrangements to reduce the risk of any harm to the child; help each child to understand how to keep safe; have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other; understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)(vii)) 30/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children— receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home. (Regulation 14 (1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that planning is made effective through clarity and relevance to the assessed and prioritised needs of the children. 30/08/2019

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Recommendations

 Just as in a family home, children should be able to access all shared areas of their home unless there are specific reasons why this would not meet a child’s needs. Limits on privacy and access may only be put in place to safeguard each child in the home (regulation 21(c)(i)). Any decisions to limit a child’s access to Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 5 any area of the home, and any modifications to the environment of the home, must only be made where this is intended to safeguard the child’s welfare. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.10)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children who move into the home settle quickly and begin to develop feelings of belonging. This is the result of careful planning for children’s introductions to the home. They build trusted and secure relationships with the adults who care for them. However, the strength of these relationships is sometimes diluted by frequent and unexpected changes in the adult team.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

There is close liaison between the home and school which offers a wide range of flexible opportunities for learning. Most children make steady academic progress and are supported effectively by the adults to achieve this.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children receive specialist help from an in-house therapy team which liaises closely with the adults who support children’s engagement in this service. However, plans of care are not effectively linked to specialist services and this limits the progress that children can make.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children have personalised bedrooms and good bathroom facilities, and the home is well decorated and maintained. The current configuration of the home includes a separate flat and does not allow all children access to all common areas. This undermines the development of a family home atmosphere. This detracts from children’s feelings of belonging and attachment.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The children make progress in the areas of their lives that matter most. However, the plans for their care can be improved by being more targeted and reviewed in a way that more meaningfully reflects the advances they achieve.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Despite the shortfalls identified, the adults clearly place the needs and well-being of the children at the centre of their attention and efforts, and speak about them caringly and with affection.

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

Adults are firmly focused on the children’s needs and vulnerabilities; they maintain appropriate boundaries and are warm and supportive. This helps children to feel safe and secure. For children new to the home, these feelings of being cared for develop quickly. Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 6 The adults are vigilant and when children place themselves at risk, they are quick to respond and minimise the harm to the children. This includes times when children go missing. Adults work closely with other agencies to secure the safety of children as quickly as possible. However, significant incidents in the home, such as children gaining access to secure parts of the office, are not always adequately reviewed, and points for improvement are missed and lessons not learned. This leaves children at risk of repeating potentially harmful actions and the adults at risk of repeating mistakes and weak practice.

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

When restrictive practices become necessary to keep children safe, the actions taken by adults are proportionate to the circumstances, and incidents are accurately recorded and the required actions carried out. However, review of the incidents is, again, sometimes superficial, and triggers for unwanted behaviours and ways to avoid similar incidents in the future are missed.

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

Although adults show good understanding of children and are focused on their needs and vulnerabilities, their practice in this regard is not effectively supported by written plans. These often fail to clearly identify and explain risks and to give adults clear guidance in how to manage and support children to become safer.

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

The requirements for safer recruitment are consistently met and the risks to children of being exposed to unsuitable adults are reduced. The physical environment of the home is well maintained and routine health and safety practices are of a good standard, keeping children safe from avoidable hazards.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

A dedicated registered manager leads a committed and experienced core staff team that strives to provide a consistent, and the best possible, standard of care to the children. However, these efforts are sometimes weakened by the movement of adults to work across the homes of the wider organisation. While staff numbers are adequate, this movement of staff is disruptive for the children and makes the maintenance of a cohesive staff team that is invested in the development of the home difficult at times.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Further difficulties in maintaining a cohesive staff team were identified. These included some shortfalls in holding regular and well-structured staff and leadership meetings with good attendance, and the effective recording of these meetings.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager’s approach to regularly monitoring the quality of care shows innovation and improvement since the last inspection and he displays insight into the strengths and areas for improvement of the service. He has also taken steps to improve the usefulness of regulation 44 visits and to link all monitoring practice with his regulation 45 reviews.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is focused on ensuring that the organisation’s new electronic recording system produces clear and coherent plans of care that are effective in guiding and directing the adults to support the best possible outcomes for the children. However, Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 7 further improvement is still required to ensure that the adults are using written plans and records as an integral part of their daily practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The practices of induction, probation and supervision in the home are strong. However, the methods used by the wider organisation for identifying and recruiting adults most suited to the residential care of children require improvement. This includes job descriptions that do not provide a clear picture of persons most suited for the key roles.

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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: SC063767 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: New Forest Care Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: West Shore House, West Street, Hythe, Southampton SO45 6AA

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Inspector:

John Pledger, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC063767 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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