Children's home run by Salford City Council in Salford

Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 1 SC065067 Registered provider: Salford City 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

The home provides care and accommodation for five young people who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties.

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Information about this children’s home

The home is operated by a local authority.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2012.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 31 July to 1 August 2019

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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: 25 October 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: SC065067 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

25/10/2018 Full Good 05/12/2017 Full Good 09/02/2017 Interim Sustained effectiveness 11/07/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 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 positive relationships standard is that children are helped to develop, and to benefit from, relationships based on— mutual respect and trust;

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Requirement Due date

an understanding about acceptable behaviour; and positive responses to other children and adults.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure— that each child is encouraged to build and maintain positive relationships with others. (Regulation 11(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(b)) 09/09/2019

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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

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)(b)) 09/09/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(f)) 09/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 4

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 42, paragraph 9.5)

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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 be updated to include any new training and qualifications completed by staff while working at the home and used to record the ongoing training and continuing professional development needs of staff – including the home’s manager. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

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Recommendations

 The registered person should only accept placements for children where they are satisfied that the home can respond effectively to the child’s assessed needs as recorded in the child’s relevant plans and where they have fully considered the impact that the placement will have on the existing group of children. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 56, paragraph 11.4)

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Recommendations

 The registered person must have systems in place so that all staff, including the manager, receive supervision of their practice from an appropriately qualified and experienced professional, which allows them to reflect on their practice and the needs of the children assigned to their care. Professionally qualified staff employed by the home, for example teachers or social workers, should be provided with relevant professional or clinical supervision by an appropriately qualified and experienced professional. (‘Guide to the children’s home regulations including the quality standards’, page 61, paragraph 13.2)

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improvement to be good

Since the last inspection, the home has experienced a difficult time in managing the challenges and behaviours of the young people in placement. From their initial starting points, most young people have made limited progress. Staff work hard to build trusted and secure relationships with young people. However, it is evident that there have been some real challenges with this. On occasions, young people have displayed challenging and aggressive behaviour towards the staff and each other. The provider recognises that one young person is having a detrimental effect on the home and an alternative placement is being sought for them. Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 5 The manager and staff work in partnership with the virtual head and education providers to support young people’s attendance and participation in education. Some young people have poor attendance, while others attend reasonably well. One young person who

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improvement to be good

moved into the home in June 2019 has maintained their school placement, which is out of borough. They are on target to undertake a number of GCSE qualifications.

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improvement to be good

Staff encourage young people to adopt healthy lifestyles. Where necessary, they make arrangements for young people to receive support from specialist services, including drug counsellors. Despite this, young people have made little progress and continue to smoke cannabis on a daily basis.

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improvement to be good

Staff help young people to gain some independent living skills, such as shopping, cooking, self-care and independent travel on public transport. Staff encourage young people to access community facilities and engage in leisure activities. However, most young people prefer to spend their time away from the home, with their peers. There are times when young people’s whereabouts is unknown.

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improvement to be good

Young people are supported to share their views and opinions about the home in their house meetings and key-work sessions. Young people know how to make a complaint if they have any concerns about their care. Neighbours have made several complaints about young people’s anti-social behaviour. Appropriate measures have been taken to help reduce this behaviour.

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improvement to be good

Most young people did not engage with the inspector during the inspection. One young person spoken to said that they like living at the home and feel well supported by staff.

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improvement to be good

Staff work hard to try and keep young people safe. They are aware of young people’s risks and vulnerabilities. Where a young person is identified as being at risk from sexual or criminal exploitation, staff work well with other safeguarding agencies to try to manage the young person’s safety concerns. The acting manager and staff attend strategy meetings and share information appropriately, which was confirmed by a safeguarding professional who commented, ‘All the information we received came from the home.’ This practice helps to keep young people safe as far as possible.

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improvement to be good

Behaviour management strategies are not always effective. This has resulted in some young people bullying others and being destructive in the home. On one occasion, two young people set fire to another young person’s jumper, thus putting that young person and themselves at risk. The police have been called to help with young people’s behaviour, which means that young people are at risk of being criminalised. The acting manager and staff have been proactive in trying to improve relationships between young people. For example, they supported a young person to engage in a piece of work with the youth offending service, to help them understand the impact of their behaviours on others. However, this has had limited effect. Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 6 Young people who go missing are mostly protected in line with their individual protocols. Records demonstrate that staff attempt to maintain phone contact with those who are

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improvement to be good

unsupervised in the community, and search for them if they fail to return home on time. Positive links with the police ensure young people’s swift and safe return.

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improvement to be good

Risk assessments clearly recognise the risks for each young person and the strategies in place for managing these. A shortfall was identified in fire safety practice in the home. The fire risk assessment has not been updated following young people’s attempts at fire setting in the home. In addition, managers have not considered whether staff fire safety training requires updating following these incidents. This potentially compromises the welfare and safety of young people and staff.

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

Ofsted have been notified of the registered manager’s long term absence. The deputy manager is undertaking the full manager role and is in the process of applying to Ofsted to become the registered manager. The acting manager and staff demonstrate a real commitment to improving outcomes for young people.

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

The home has been through an unsettled time. The placements of some young people have been made without proper consideration of the existing group of young people. This has resulted in some young people not making progress and experiencing further disruption in their lives.

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

Staff have worked for the local authority for a number of years and are suitably qualified. Managers and staff acknowledge that this has been a difficult time and has had an impact on staff morale. Regular team meetings ensure that staff are supported in their role, but supervision sessions are not taking place regularly, are not reflective and records are poor.

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

The acting manager has taken action to address the previous requirements and recommendations. However, the recommendation made in relation to the home having a workforce development plan in place has not yet been addressed. This recommendation is repeated.

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

The overall standard of decor in the home is poor. The hall, stair and landing carpets are heavily stained. The settee in the lounge has been significantly damaged by young people burning it with their lighters. The curtains in the dining room have been pulled down. Furthermore, young people’s bedrooms were very untidy, some lack adequate storage space and empty yoghurt and food containers have been left on some of the bedroom floors. There are plans for the home to be redecorated and the carpets are being replaced in the coming weeks. This will help to provide a more comfortable and welcoming home for young people to live. Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 7

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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: SC065067 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider : Salford City Council

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Civic Centre, Chorley Road, Swinton, Manchester M27 5DA

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Inspector

Michelle Bacon, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC065067 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector

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Inspector

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Inspector

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