Children's Home run by Milestones Care Homes Ltd in Wirral

Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 1 Registered provider: Milestones Care Homes Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This is a privately run children’s home. It is registered to provide care for up to three young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since August 2018.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Date of last inspection: 25 February 2019

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/02/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 3

p.2

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.

p.3

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—

p.3

Requirement Due date

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;

p.3

Requirement Due date

that the home’s day-to-day care is arranged and delivered so as to keep each child safe and to protect each child effectively from harm. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(b))

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments and measures are in place to reduce the risk from young people smoking in the home. Records should show that young people are spoken to about risks, and whether services have been offered but refused. Comprehensive measures to address fire risks should be included in the risk assessment for the premises. 30/08/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if—

p.3

Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e)) 30/08/2019

p.3

Recommendations

 Under regulation 46, the registered person should review the appropriateness and suitability of the location and premises of the home at least once a year. The review should include the identification of any risks and opportunities presented by the home’s location and strategies for managing these. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 64, paragraph 15.1) Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 4  The review [of the quality of care] should enable the registered person to identify areas of strength and possible weakness in the home’s care, which will be captured in the written report. The report should clearly identify any actions required for the next 6 months of delivery within the home and how those actions will be addressed. The whole review process and the resulting report should be used as a tool for continuous improvement in the home. (‘Guide to the children’s

p.3

Recommendations

homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 65, paragraph 15.4)

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people at the home are making positive progress and said that they are happy living there. They enjoy trusting relationships with the staff, who regularly praise them for their achievements and encourage and celebrate their talents.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people have excellent attendance at school. They are learning to manage relationships with others better and their behaviour has improved. Young people are now completing homework so that their academic achievement is promoted. The staff emphasise the importance of education and have clear expectations of young people with regard to attending school and completing set work. Schools have recognised young people’s progress through awards and additional trips.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff worked closely with educational professionals to ensure that one young person, who no longer lives at the home, was offered a broader range of educational opportunities. This close working helped her to gain a college placement for when she finished Year 11. This was initially successful in supporting the young person to re- engage with education, and the staff were persistent in their encouragement when her attendance faltered. The staff had a clear understanding of the factors that affected the young person’s emotional well-being. They worked alongside the placing authority until assessments were completed to enable the young person to live with a relative.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people’s health is promoted well. The staff ensure that young people take any medication prescribed, and that records are well-maintained and monitored. Young people attend health appointments and medication reviews. They access specialist support from services such as child and adolescent mental health services to support their emotional and psychological well-being.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff appropriately support young people to see those who are important to them, such as family members, former carers and friends. There is good communication with professionals in youth clubs to ensure that young people are supervised and do not have contact with individuals outside of agreed arrangements. This enables young people to enjoy activities and see their friends in a safe environment.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people also enjoy a range of activities with the staff. They are encouraged to contribute to planning trips and holidays. Their views add to the general running of the Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 5 home, and are welcomed through meetings and during individual consultations with their key workers and the manager.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff work well with other agencies to support young people to make progress in accordance with their placing authority care plans. The staff clearly understand how to help young people to prepare to move on, for example to foster care or to the care of family members. When care plans are changed, the manager and staff work closely with social workers to support young people’s transitions.

p.5

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

Young people said that they feel safe living in the home. They can speak to the staff about any worries or concerns that they have, and can feel confident that they will be listened to.

p.5

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

The staff help young people arriving at the home to settle into new routines, and are clear about expectations and boundaries. Incentives are put in place to encourage positive behaviour. Sanctions are rare, and the staff do not need to intervene physically to manage young people’s behaviour.

p.5

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

The staff have a good understanding of safeguarding and follow strategies to reduce risks to young people’s safety. If there are any concerns, such as a young person going missing, the staff act decisively and work in partnership with social workers and the police to put agreed safeguarding plans in place. The staff maintain regular contact with young people when they are not in the home, to check on their welfare, both via telephone and face-to-face contact. However, the review of the premises does not highlight risks such as local addresses that young people might gravitate towards, and does not identify the strategies for managing these risks. When a young person returns home after being missing, the staff ensure that they are well and that they can meet with someone independent. Although the manager has reported all safeguarding concerns to other partner agencies and family members, she has not notified Ofsted of

p.5

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

such concerns when it has been appropriate to do so.

p.5

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

All staff are fully trained in how to recognise and respond to young people who may self- harm. When necessary, they will search young people’s bedrooms and record whether they have removed items that might pose a risk to the safety of young people and others. The staff will share any information that they find so that social workers can provide advice about whether the concerns are current or historical.

p.5

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

The staff help young people to build positive relationships with each other, and help them to resolve any differences or arguments they might have. They use key-work sessions to help young people understand the impact of their behaviour on others and to find compromises.

p.5

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

Key-work sessions are also used to help young people understand how their behaviours can affect their health and well-being, for example if they smoke, or if there are Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 6 concerns about alcohol or substance misuse. The staff will also encourage young people to access external services for support. One young person was smoking in the house, but records do not show that this was addressed through direct work to help her understand the potential fire risk to herself and others. The home’s fire risk assessment states that there is a no-smoking policy in place, but does not outline further measures to ensure the safety of everyone in the home.

p.5

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

Strong recruitment procedures are used in order to ensure that staff are properly vetted before being employed, so that unsuitable individuals do not work at the home.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager is experienced and appropriately qualified for the role. She is supported in leading the home by a qualified deputy manager. The manager has addressed the shortfalls identified at the previous inspection. She has clear aspirations for young people and has expectations of how the staff should support them to achieve positive outcomes.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff receive regular supervision to reflect on their practice. They also have monthly team meetings so that they can work together to provide consistent, good-quality care for young people. The manager will also work shifts so that she can observe staff practice and maintain good oversight of young people’s daily experiences.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager ensures that the staff are up to date with mandatory training, and have the skills and knowledge to meet the individual needs of young people. She has also ensured that the staff are enrolled to study for a suitable qualification in residential childcare. A workforce development plan is now in place to record the staff’s professional development needs and achievements.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

External professionals, such as social workers and independent reviewing officers, were extremely positive in their feedback on the manager and the staff team. They commented on how the team works consistently to support young people’s care plans, and on how the staff go ‘above and beyond’, working well with other professionals in education, health and youth services to promote young people’s progress.

p.6

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Internal and external monitoring processes are now embedded, which supports the manager’s understanding of the home’s strengths and areas for development. However, the review of the quality of care does not provide an action plan for the home’s development for the next six months. This limits the manager’s ability to measure the progress of the home’s planned improvements.

p.6

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 Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 7 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.

p.6

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: 2483789 8

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Milestones Care Homes Limited

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 32 Fieldway, Maghull, Liverpool, Lancashire L31 5NB

p.8

Inspector

Karen Willson: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 2483789 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.

p.8

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.9

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.9

Inspector

T: 0300 123 1231 Textphone: 0161 618 8524 E: enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk W: http://www.gov.uk/ofsted

p.9