Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Lancashire

Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group 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 is run by a private organisation. It offers 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 was re-registered with a different organisation on 1 May 2019. At the time of this inspection, there were two young people living in the home, who had lived at the home prior to the home being re-registered. The registered manager has also remained.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected. The experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This was the home’s first inspection since re- registration. Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 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 quality and purpose of care standard is that children receive care from staff who ─

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Requirement Due date

understand the children’s home’s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children;

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Requirement Due date

use this understanding to deliver care that meets children’s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential.

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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

ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed and furnished so as to ─

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Requirement Due date

help each child to develop resilience and skills that prepare the child to return home, to live in a new placement or to live independently as an adult. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(b)(vi)(c)(i)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The children’s views, wishes and feelings standard is that children receive care from staff who—

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Requirement Due date

develop positive relationships with them;

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Requirement Due date

take their views, wishes and feelings into account in relation to matters affecting the children’s care and welfare and their lives.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to express views, wishes and feelings. (Regulation 7 (1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(ii)) 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 4 In order to meet the education standard, the registered provider must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

promote opportunities for each child to learn informally. (Regulation 8 (2)(v)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

*The health and well-being standard is that—

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Requirement Due date

the health and well-being needs of children are met;

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Requirement Due date

children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and

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Requirement Due date

children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c) 16/08/2019

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

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

take effective action whenever there is a serious concern about a child’s welfare; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(vi)(vii)) 03/08/2019

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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

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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 03/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 5 home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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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)(b)(2)(a)(c)(d)(h))

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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; 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 each child's relevant plans are followed (Regulation 14 (1(a)(b)(2)(c))

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b)) 16/08/2019

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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 physically and mentally fit to manage the home. (Regulation 28 (b)(ii)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or

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Requirement Due date

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) 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 6 full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2. (Regulation 32 (3)(d)) The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(b)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (‘the behaviour management policy’) which sets out—

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how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35 (1)(a)(b)(2)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (‘case records’) for each child which—

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include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4. (Regulation 37 (2)(a)) 16/08/2019

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Requirement Due date

Subject to paragraph (6), the registered person must establish a procedure for considering complaints made by or on behalf of children.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 16/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 7 * These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

There is a lack of structure and routine in the home, which does not support young people to make progress. Poor care planning means that there are no clear strategies for staff to use to support young people to overcome difficulties and reach their potential. As a result, young people make limited progress from their individual starting points.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Some young people attend education and activities outside the home, but others spend lengthy periods of time in their bedrooms playing on computer games. Staff lack the positive relationships with young people and the strategies to engage them in alternative activities.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Health plans lack clear guidance for staff to follow to support young people to improve their health in areas such as personal hygiene or diet. There is no follow-up work with young people who refuse to attend health appointments. Staff do not provide a healthy diet for young people. Strategies to encourage young people to have regular mealtimes are not effective. Consequently, young people are not helped to improve their health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Care planning is not robust. Young people are admitted to the home without impact and risk assessments being completed. This lack of assessment means that the manager cannot make a full assessment of whether they can meet the young person’s needs or whether they are a suitable match with the young people already living in the home. Staff do not provide routine and boundaries appropriate to young people’s age and understanding. For example, staff allow young people to watch television programmes that are not appropriate for their age.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Staff do not ensure that young people’s views are central to the running of the home. Numerous records reflect that young people are not encouraged to express any views, wishes and feelings, often for long periods of time. Furthermore, children’s meetings have not taken place. When young people do complain, these complaints are not listened to or acted on. As a result, young people do not feel listened to.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Young people are not supported to develop skills that will prepare them for independence. A lack of planning in this area means that there is no consistent approach to this work.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The home was being re-decorated at the time of the inspection. Young people’s bedrooms were found to be in a poor condition. For example, in one young person’s bedroom there were drink and food cartons all over the floor, and holes in the walls where the young person had punched them. Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 8

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

The manager and staff do not fully understand young people’s risks and vulnerabilities. As a result, risk assessments do not contain an accurate account of young people’s risks or actions that staff are expected to take to reduce known risks. Furthermore, one young person had no risk assessments on file, and staff working with her did not know whether she had any known risks.

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

When risk assessments are in place, they are not regularly reviewed, and staff do not follow actions set out in risk assessments to keep children safe from harm. For example, in one young person’s risk assessment, it states that daily room checks should be carried out due to a risk of self-injurious behaviour. However, there is no record of room checks being carried out to ensure that the young person is safe.

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

The manager and staff do not take effective action to ensure that young people are kept safe from risks associated with online gaming or mobile phone use. Young people spend long periods of time in their bedrooms online. The manager and staff lack enough understanding of risks from the internet and online gaming to ensure that they take effective action to keep young people safe. Staff do not spend time with young people, helping them understand risks associated with the internet, despite it being requested by placing authorities that this work is carried out.

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

Staff, including the manager, lack knowledge about their own arrangements for internet safety and the potential risks of online gaming. As a result, young people are not monitored effectively when they are online.

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

There are not robust arrangements in place for the monitoring of young people’s use of their mobile phones. One young person has been receiving calls from a male during late evening, and staff have not taken any action to remove the mobile phone or carry out any more robust monitoring of her phone usage.

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

There is an inconsistent response to behaviour management in the home. Behaviour management plans lack guidance for staff to follow. As a result, incidents are poorly and inconsistently managed by staff. Staff are not consistent in their approach to using rewards and sanctions because they lack guidance from the manager about using these strategies. Consequently, there is no clear recording of sanctions and rewards that have been used.

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

Staff spoken with during the inspection did not understand safeguarding procedures. This does not ensure that young people are safeguarded from harm.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leadership and management of the home are inadequate. The manager has failed to Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 9 ensure that robust systems are in place for care planning, and, as result, young people do not receive well-planned care which supports their progress.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager’s oversight of care planning and risk management is poor. For example, the registered manager has not reviewed the quality of risk assessments. Inspectors found that risk assessments, some of which were incomplete, were not up to date or signed. As a result, staff have no clear guidance from the registered manager about how they are expected to keep young people safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager’s monitoring of the home is poor. For example, missing from home records do not include comments or oversight by the manager. Young people’s case records contain out-of-date or missing information. The registered manager has not routinely completed relevant checks to ensure that the correct and current information is in place to monitor the quality of care provided.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Throughout the inspection, the registered manager was unable to locate relevant documents in regard to the care being provided to the young people or demonstrate how risks are minimised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager fails to lead and manage the home in a way which is consistent with the home’s statement of purpose. For example, staff do not provide structure and routine or regular keywork sessions for young people, as set out in the statement of purpose.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider does not ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of all the children living in the home. Staff confirmed that they had not all had training in managing self-injurious behaviour or first aid, and some staff did not understand the needs of the children in placement or how best to support them.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not ensure that there are sufficient staff working on shift. Staff spoken to during the inspection said that they have to lone work at times, sometimes without notice. Lone-working risk assessments in place lack sufficient information to mitigate risks of working alone with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff, including the registered manager, have received regular supervision. This does not ensure that staff are supported in their roles.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have failed to ensure that rosters accurately reflect the members of staff who are working in the home. There is not a clear record of who has worked in the home. Furthermore, the manager does not ensure that accurate records are kept about when agency staff have worked in the home. This is not safe practice for staff or young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager fails to scrutinise information about agency staff to ensure that they are suitable to work in the home. For example, there was no record available of staff checking whether an agency worker working in the home had the required police checks in place. This does not demonstrate that action is being taken to ensure that only Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 10 suitable people are working with young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager does not ensure that fire safety arrangements are robust. For example, new staff and agency workers are not involved in fire evacuations in the home. This does not ensure that staff or young people are kept safe.

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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: 2531921 11

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Inspectors

Sarah Billett, social care inspector Michelle Edge, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2531921 12 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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