Children's home run by Halliwell Homes Limited in Staffordshire Moorlands

Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 1 Registered provider: Halliwell Homes 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 privately owned and run. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to eight children who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The registered manager was approved by Ofsted in December 2018.

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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 requires improvement to be 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: 30 October 2018

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

30/10/2018 Full Good 03/07/2018 Full Inadequate 25/10/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 09/11/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 3

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 must comply within the given timescales.

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Requirement Due date

the privacy of children is appropriately protected;

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Requirement Due date

children can access all appropriate areas of the children‟s home‟s premises; and

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Requirement Due date

any limitation placed on a child‟s privacy or access to any area of the home‟s premises—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard each child accommodated in the home; is necessary and proportionate;

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Requirement Due date

is kept under review and, if necessary, revised; and

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Requirement Due date

allows children as much freedom as is possible when balanced against the need to protect them and keep them safe. (Regulation 21 (a)(b)(c)(i)(ii)(iv))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, they must ensure that the use of alarms on bedroom doors is kept under review. 30/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the registered person should ensure that copies of young people‟s local authority care plans and relevant documents are on file. 30/09/2019

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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 fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. 30/09/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 4 In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate. (Regulation 13 (1) (2)(b)) The health and well-being standard is that— the health and wellbeing needs of children are met; children receive advice, services and support in relation to their health and well-being; and children are helped to lead healthy lifestyles. (Regulation 10 (1)(a)(b)(c)) 30/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other relevant person without delay if there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40 (4)(e))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the local authority designated officer should be consulted in a timely manner regarding allegations about staff conduct and written conclusions should be kept on file. 30/09/2019

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Recommendations

 Staff skills for safeguarding children should include being able to identify signs that children may be at risk, and support children in strategies to manage and reduce any risks. („Guide to children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 43, paragraph 9.10)

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Recommendations

In particular, the written guidance given to staff to minimise, prevent and respond to children‟s risks should be clear and specific.

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Recommendations

 Staff should encourage an enthusiasm for positive behaviour through the use of positive behaviour strategies in line with the child‟s relevant plans, („Guide to children‟s homes regulations including the quality standards‟, page 39, paragraph 8.13)

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Recommendations

In particular, key working sessions should be planned and in accordance with the child‟s identified needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are well supported by staff and benefit from the care that is offered. Staff establish good routines that enable children to feel secure within their environment. As a result, all children make progress and, for some, the progress is significant from their starting points. For example, one child has made so much progress that the local authority is reassessing her needs in order to better plan for her future care. Her social Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 5 worker said: „There has been a massive turn-around and the keyworker has been absolutely instrumental. She is now making friendships, building emotional connections and showing empathy towards other children‟.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children enjoy individual and group activities, which supports their sense of achievement. In addition, the group enjoy holidays away from the home and they are given opportunities to have fun and build positive memories.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

All children attend school and are making progress. Children‟s development is well tracked as part of each child‟s clinical programme, which supports their eventual transition from the home and into foster care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff support children to build and maintain relationships, helping them to better manage their feelings and to understand how their behaviour affects others.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Overall, children‟s plans are understood well by the staff. However, staff have not sought key assessments from local authorities regarding some children‟s health needs. As a result, opportunities to better inform the care that is offered have been missed. For example, a clinical diagnosis for one child has been poorly understood by the staff, and the child‟s dietary intake is poorly monitored.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children spend positive time individually with staff. However, specific time dedicated to keyworking is mainly in reaction to incidents. The majority of work with children is not planned or measured for its impact on children‟s identified areas of need. The manager is aware of this and is planning to address this shortfall.

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

Children at the home are kept safe. There have been no missing from home episodes since the last inspection and any known risks are understood well by the staff. However, written guidance to inform staff‟s response to some children‟s complex behaviours is weak and means that staff are not fully informed about how best to respond to, and understand, individual presenting behaviours.

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

Staff use de-escalation techniques well to ensure that incidents of negative behaviour do not unnecessarily result in the use of physical intervention. Redirection is used effectively by the staff. There is prompt follow-up, whereby staff discuss with children the impact their behaviour may have had on others or themselves.

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

Staff are recruited using appropriate checks to ensure that children are not cared for by adults who may present risks to their welfare and safety. Overall, investigations into allegations are responded to appropriately by the manager. However, records are not comprehensive, nor do they provide a clear audit of actions, and, in one isolated instance, the agreed conclusion by the local authority designated officer was not included. Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 6

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

The manager was registered to manage the home in December 2018 and is suitably qualified and experienced. Since the last inspection, there have been changes to the managerial team and there have been 11 new members of staff. However, the care that is offered to children is mainly consistent and the use of agency staff is kept to a minimum.

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

Effective team work is not yet fully embedded. For example, opportunities for some members of staff to lead team meetings has not been successful and some members of staff do not feel able to contribute to discussions. The manager is developing plans to address these issues.

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

Two requirements were made at the last inspection, and these have not been met. The manager has not sufficiently reviewed the use of bedroom door alarms to ensure that they meet the individual needs of children. In addition, not all children‟s care plans are on file, which restricts children‟s and staff‟s awareness of the local authority‟s agreed plans for the placement.

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

There is regular consultation with the in-house psychologist that reviews the needs of children and the progress they make. Staff are further supported by regular supervision and team meetings.

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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: 1229534 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Halliwell Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Tape Street, Stoke On Trent ST10 1BB

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Children’s home details

Registered manager: Lorraine Aston-Donley

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Inspectors

Pauline Yates, social care inspector Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: 1229534 8 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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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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Inspectors

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