Children's home run by Cherry Cottage Limited in Wigan

Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 1 SC361129 Registered provider: Cherry Cottage 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 home is owned by a private company. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for three children who may have challenging behaviour and/or may be emotionally vulnerable. The home’s manager was registered in September 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 6 November 2018

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

06/11/2018 Full Good 13/12/2017 Full Good 30/03/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 20/12/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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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

help each child to achieve the child’s education and training targets, as recorded in the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

understand the barriers to learning that each child may face and take appropriate action to help the child to overcome any such barriers. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)) 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—

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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

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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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)(ii)(v)(vi)) 30/08/2019

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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 30/08/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 4 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 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

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)(h))

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Recommendations

 Ensure that where a relevant person does not provide the input and services needed to meet a child’s needs during their time in the home or in preparation for leaving the home, the home must challenge them to meet the child’s needs. Staff should act as champions for their children, expecting nothing less than a good parent would. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 12, paragraph 2.8) In particular, staff should ensure that they obtain statutory documentation, such as local authority care plans, in a timely manner. Similarly, if letters of identification are needed to enable young people to have their own bank account, any delay in such information being shared by the local authority should be challenged by staff.

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Recommendations

 The health of looked after children must be assessed at regular intervals and the child’s care plan must include an individual health plan setting out the approach that the placing authority will follow, and the desired outcomes required to meet the child’s health needs. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.4) In particular, staff should understand whether a young person has had their annual looked-after health assessment. If a young person has not had this assessment, there should be a clear plan to achieve this. Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 5

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improvement to be good

Staff struggle to overcome the barriers to young people engaging in education. Young people’s motivation to attend school, their behaviours in school and incidents of going missing from home are key factors affecting young people’s engagement with education.

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improvement to be good

Efforts by staff to encourage young people to go to school mean that compared with their starting points, young people’s access to education has increased. Despite this, none of the young people are currently in full-time education. Even with a reduced timetable, one young person’s attendance is particularly low. Because of this, young people are not able to achieve their academic potential.

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improvement to be good

Despite the difficulties in engaging young people with education, young people have made progress in many aspects of their lives. For example, all young people have grown in confidence and have developed their ability to regulate their emotions.

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improvement to be good

Staff give young people opportunities to have new experiences. For example, some young people go on holiday, while others have attended premiership football matches. This helps young people to develop their sense of identity and create happy memories.

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improvement to be good

The current young people have all lived in the home for several years. This means that they know staff well. One young person described staff as being like another family.

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improvement to be good

Regular input from a psychologist ensures that staff have a good insight into young people’s complex emotional health needs. Because of this, staff can tailor their approach to meet the individual needs of young people. Staff are sensitive and caring in their approach.

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improvement to be good

Staff promote the physical health needs of young people. For example, staff have worked with health professionals to enable one young person to access required health treatment. This was a real achievement for this young person.

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improvement to be good

However, not all young people have had their annual looked-after child health assessments. The registered manager’s monitoring has not enabled her to understand that this remained an outstanding task for one young person. This does not show effective leadership in consistently and holistically meeting the health needs of young people.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always act professionally or show good decision-making. For example, some staff use their personal own mobile phones to communicate with young people. In another example, staff used a personal social media account to view a young person’s Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 6 online profile. In doing so, staff did not adhere to the home’s policies and procedures.

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improvement to be good

These incidents suggest that some staff lack knowledge about acceptable practice. Although this did not result in any harm to young people, it placed both staff and young people in a vulnerable situation. This does not show a strong safeguarding culture in the home.

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improvement to be good

Managers have taken steps to respond to these concerns. This includes targeted training and increased support for some staff. This is an ongoing process which has yet to conclude.

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improvement to be good

Most staff have a good knowledge of young people’s vulnerabilities. Detailed risk assessments provide staff with guidance on how to respond to both known and potential risks. However, the complexities of young people’s behaviours, combined with insufficient oversight from the registered manager, mean that in some instances risk assessments give contradictory information.

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improvement to be good

This recording issue detracts from the many good examples of risk management planning. For example, regular meetings with local authorities and the police ensure that there is a multi-agency approach to responding to safeguarding concerns. Feedback from young people’s social workers praised the work and dedication of staff in responding to young people going missing.

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improvement to be good

Staff try to provide young people with guidance and advice so that they have the knowledge and skills to make safe choices. The quality of case recording means that the effectiveness of these sessions is not always clear. However, in some examples staff have used input from other agencies such as the police to be creative in how they engage young people.

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improvement to be good

Despite the efforts of staff, some young people go missing on a regular basis. As a result, young people place themselves in situations in which they are at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

In contrast to the challenging behaviours young people display in the community, within the home, young people are well behaved. Young people are respectful to staff and each other, they do not cause damage and they follow the home’s rules. As a result, the use of physical intervention is rare. For some young people, this marks a meaningful change in behaviours.

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

The registered manager is suitably experienced and has achieved the required qualification.

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

The registered manager has completed a quality of care review to better understand the home’s areas for improvement. Despite this, the registered manager has not yet concluded a plan to deal with all the points of development. This has affected the quality of care provided to young people. Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 7 Staff have access to a variety of training courses. However, staff often complete this training online. The registered manager and staff have named this as an area of improvement. More face-to-face training is planned. For example, staff are due to complete refresher safeguarding training.

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

Staff receive regular supervisions and annual appraisals. This contributes to staff feeling well supported.

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

Staff have developed useful links with a range of partner agencies. This typically results in a collaborative approach to meeting young people’s needs. Despite this, the registered manager has not been able to use relationships with local authorities to obtain statutory documentation promptly. For example, young people’s local authority care plans are not always on file. During the inspection, such gaps in information were rectified.

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

However, in another example, none of the three young people have been supported to open bank accounts. This is because staff have been unable to obtain letters of identification from social workers. This highlights the limitations of current partnership working.

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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: SC361129 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Cherry Cottage Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 28 Finch Mill Avenue, Appley Bridge, Wigan, Lancashire WN6 9DF

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Inspector

Paul Robinson, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC361129 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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