Children's Home run by City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council in Bradford

Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 1 SC061005 Registered provider: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council

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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 and managed by a local authority. It provides care and accommodation for up to six children and/or young people who have a range of social, emotional and behavioural needs. The registered manager has been in post since 2016.

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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: 11 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: SC061005 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/09/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 01/02/2018 Interim Improved effectiveness 20/06/2017 Full Good 28/11/2016 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 3

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improvement to be good

The children‟s and young people‟s overall experience and progress varies. Since the last inspection, four children and young people have moved in. There has been an unstable period, during which some children‟s and young people‟s behaviour has had a negative effect on the group. This includes repeated damage to the home. Although the staff deal with this, it is not a good experience for the children and young people. Repairs and redecorations are not completed in a timely way, making some areas, such as the chill- out room, inaccessible for children and young people. This is not creating a high-quality home environment.

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improvement to be good

Education attendance and progress for the children and young people are variable. Two of the newly admitted children are attending school. Some are on reduced timetables and others are not fully engaging with their educational placements. The staff continue to try a range of strategies to help all the children and young people attend school and college.

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improvement to be good

The staff are not all following recording procedures, such as the completion of the daily handover sheets. These are not fully completed, making it difficult to see who is responsible for tasks, and whether these have been undertaken, such as the cleaning at the home. For one child, this meant that graffiti on his bedroom door was left uncleaned.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people have opportunities to express their views and opinions. To assist one child with communication needs, the members of the staff team receive training so they can understand and meet his needs. Children and young people attend residents‟ meetings. Staff complete key-working sessions and hold discussions with children and young people. These cover a range of topics to educate children and young people, for example about substance misuse and unhealthy relationships.

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improvement to be good

The staff help children and young people to develop independence skills such as shopping, budgeting and cooking. Three young people have left the home since the last inspection and either moved back to live with family or to semi-independent accommodation. Staff remain in contact with the young people for as long as their help is needed. This helps maintain the young people‟s adult tenancy and provides ongoing emotional support.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people still engage in inappropriate behaviours. These put them and others at risk of harm, such as through bullying, aggression and substance misuse. For some, this has resulted in police intervention, although criminal charges have not been made. Physical interventions take place and are appropriate and proportionate. Some of Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 4 the staff‟s recording lacks detail. This makes it difficult for the staff team to identify potential triggers and adapt their management of a child‟s or young person‟s negative behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Some of the children and young people are misusing cannabis. A drug and alcohol worker visits the home to try to educate them about the risks this may pose to their health and well-being. Recording systems and monitoring procedures do not assist with establishing patterns and trends. The true extent of the children‟s and young people‟s misuse problems are unknown. The staff team members do not know how effective their preventative work is on reducing cannabis use.

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improvement to be good

Impact risk and matching assessments have improved and now look at the impact of the newly admitted child or young person on the peer group. Strategies help mitigate against any potential risks and include, for example, increased staffing or staff sitting in the bedroom corridor. However, these are not documented in the risk assessments.

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improvement to be good

Individualised positive support plans address the current risks posed to the children and young people. The manager has a good insight into the concerns and history relating to the children and young people. However, at the time of inspection, the plans did not include all the historical information known to the provider. The lack of written information on key documents could create difficulties for the staff when trying to evaluate incidents and prevent risk.

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improvement to be good

Sanctions imposed for negative behaviours are not always linked to the incident and are often of a financial nature or restrictions on access to certain areas of the home. As some of the children and young people throw food and drink or cook food late at night, the staff lock the kitchen every night at 10 p.m. The lounge is also regularly locked, to encourage the children and young people to go to bed. The children and young people are not sure why certain doors are locked, and their individual positive support plans do not identify why all the children and young people are restricted from accessing the shared areas of the home.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people still go missing or are late returning home. These incidents are sporadic and relate to more than one child or young person. On the occasions when this has occurred, the responses from the staff are well coordinated. The manager has sought independent return interviews to provide further safeguards. For one young person vulnerable to exploitation, the risk has reduced as she is no longer going missing from home.

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improvement to be good

Staff receive safeguarding training in issues that affect the children and young people, to promote their safety and well-being, such as about county lines and radicalisation. Children and young people said that the staff keep them safe.

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

The manager is assisted by an assistant manager and senior manager, who provide effective management cover in her absence. Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 5 Staff sickness and vacancies have led to the use of casual and agency staff over many months. This has led to extra work for the permanent staff members. Managers said they try to use the same relief staff, but the children and young people spoken with during the inspection said that they received mixed messages from staff. The staffing situation has had an impact on the continuity of care for children and young people and does not help them build trusting relationships with the staff.

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

Longstanding staff members talk of their enjoyment at working at the home and their commitment to children and young people. These provide children and young people with at least one staff member they felt able to speak to if support was needed. Staff receive supervision and attend team meetings with consultation from an external mental health agency.

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

External monitoring is good. The independent visitor attends monthly. They provide an account of progress and identify any shortfalls in the home. The manager does not always act in a timely way to address any concerns raised. There is a lack of consultation with children and young people and other stakeholders. This lack of independent feedback does not inform the manager of any changes needed to continue to improve the quality of care of children and young people. Those professionals spoken with commented positively about the staff team.

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

The management team has taken the necessary action to meet the statutory requirements from the last inspection. However, there have been further breaches of regulation. There are a number of areas that require further improvement.

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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— understand the children‟s home‟s overall aims and the outcomes it seeks to achieve for children; use this understanding to deliver care that meets children‟s needs and supports them to fulfil their potential. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the premises used for the purposes of the home are 30/08/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 6 designed and furnished so as to— meet the needs of each child; and enable each child to participate in the daily life of the home. (Regulation 6 (1)(a)(b)(2)(c)(i)(ii)) In particular, complete the refurbishment of the home and repair furniture so that children and young people have a usable chill-out room and dining room; repair and redecorate all areas of the home that have been damaged, including replacing window blinds and curtains; and ensure that the shift leader

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Requirement Due date

completes the daily shift handover records, particularly to indicate who is responsible for cleaning the damage to the home, such as removing graffiti from the walls and doors. 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— 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. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)) In particular, when risks have been identified in the impact risk and matching assessments, these should include the steps to be taken by the staff team to keep the children safe from any risks posed by each other. The individualised positive support plans should also include all information known to the provider when

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Requirement Due date

a newly admitted child moves in. 15/08/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that the home‟s workforce provides continuity of care to each child; and use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(e)(h)) In particular, ensure that staff are familiar with the home‟s 30/08/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 7 policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. Information about the child must always be recorded in a way that will be helpful to the child and staff. Monitoring systems and collation of data about children‟s substance misuse need to be implemented to

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Requirement Due date

identify the true extent of the individual‟s usage. The registered person must ensure that— children can access all appropriate areas of the children‟s home‟s premises; and any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises— is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate; is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (b) and (c)(i)(ii)(iii)(iv)) In particular, young people‟s risk assessments should identify any reason for restrictions on access to the shared areas of the home, such as the lounge, kitchen and laundry room, and when such restrictions will be put in place. 30/08/2019

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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. In order to complete a quality of care review the registered person must establish and maintain a system for monitoring, reviewing and evaluating— the quality of care provided for children; the feedback and opinions of children about the children‟s home, its facilities and the quality of care they receive in it; and any actions that the registered person considers necessary in order to improve or maintain the quality of care provided for children. 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)(a)(b)(c)(5)) 30/09/2019

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Information about this inspection

Inspectors have looked closely at the experiences and progress of children and young Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 8 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: SC061005 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, City Hall, Centenary Square, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD1 1HY

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Inspector(s)

Tina Ruffles, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC061005 10 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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