Children's Home run by ROC Northwest Limited in Warrington

Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 1 Registered provider: Roc Northwest 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

This is a new children’s home. It is owned by a private organisation. The home is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to five young people who have a range of learning, behavioural and/or social needs. There is a registered manager in post. He was registered in January 2019. Young people were spoken to as part of this inspection.

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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: This is the first inspection.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: Not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: None Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

This is the first inspection Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 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 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 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)) 08/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33(1)(4)(b)) 08/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records ("case records") for each child which include information and documents listed in schedule 3 in relation to each child; are kept up to date; and are signed and dated by the author of each entry. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)) 08/10/2019

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Recommendations

 The registered person should have a workforce plan which can fulfil the workforce related requirements of regulation 16, schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20). The plan should: detail the necessary management and staffing structure (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), 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 homes Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children were seen during the inspection. They were observed to have warm and positive relationships with the staff. Children were comfortable and happy to talk to the inspector. Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 4 Children receive individualised care from a committed staff team. Children are supported to progress in their education and with further education. This is because staff are involved in their education plans. Staff encourage the children to continue their education at college. The staff have a good understanding of children’s needs and how to manage these. However, children’s behaviour management plans are not always followed. This means that staff do not always provide consistent care to the children. The staff have good relationships with children’s social workers. Staff work well with educational professionals. This is helping children achieve in school. Staff also have positive relationships with children’s families. Children’s family members were very

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

positive about the staff. Children are in good health. However, some children smoke cigarettes. The staff address this in direct work with the children. Staff try to help children understand the dangers of smoking. The children have weekly meetings. Staff help the children to talk about their feelings and listen to what they would like to happen. For example, when there is a plan for a new child to move into the home staff listen to the children’s views. Staff prepare children for their futures. The home has a self-contained flat where children can learn new skills. Staff support children to have contact with their families. They take children to different cities to visit family members. Family members also visit the children at their home. This means that children can maintain safe relationships with their families.

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

Staff are committed to maintaining the safety and well-being of children. Individual risk assessments include the children’s risks and how to manage risk. This means that the children are becoming increasingly safe. There has been one incident of missing since the home opened. Staff followed the procedures and children’s individual risk management plans. There have been incidents of physical intervention. The manager evaluates the records to ensure that they are proportionate and necessary. Staff use a variety of strategies to manage children’s behaviour. This is working because incidents of physical intervention are reducing. Staff share strategies about managing children’s behaviour. Staff work together to discuss ideas. This is because they are focused on helping the children. The inspector was aware during this inspection of an internal investigation into an allegation by a child. While Ofsted does not have the power to investigate allegations of

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

this kind, actions taken by the home in response to the allegation were appropriate. Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 5

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The home has a newly registered manager. He is a motivated leader who has good oversight of the home. He monitors the home on a regular basis and evaluates the progress of children. The manager has oversight of the children’s plans. However, the quality of recording is inconsistent. This means that sometimes there are gaps in information. The manager recognises this and is taking steps to address it. The manager is approachable. The inspector observed warm relationships between the manager and children. Staff say that they enjoy working at the home. Staff are very positive about the manager. There are regular team meetings. These meetings are informative because staff discuss different topics. These meetings also include updates from the children’s key workers. Some staff say that supervision is supportive and helpful. However, it is not clear how often some staff have supervision. This is because the supervision log does not always

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

match the supervision notes. A requirement has been made to reflect this shortfall. All staff have recently completed induction training. Staff say that this was helpful. The training covered a variety of topics. This will help staff in their role. The manager has developed good relationships with other professionals. There is regular communication in place. This means that children receive appropriate levels of support and guidance.

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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: 2504093 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 5th Floor , Metropolitan House, 3 Darkes Lane, Hertfordshire EN6 1AG

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Inspector

Catherine Fargin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2504093 7 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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