Children's Home run by Homes2Inspire Limited in West Northamptonshire

Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 1 Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire 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

The home provides care for up to five children and young people who have complex needs, which may include challenging behaviours and emotional needs.

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Information about this children’s home

The appropriately qualified manager was registered in May 2019.

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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: 28 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: declined in effectiveness

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

28/02/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 01/05/2018 Full Good 16/01/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 2

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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 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—

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Requirement Due date

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensures that the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(c)) 27/09/2019

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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. (Regulation 14 (1))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, this relates to the need for plans to reflect an appropriate level of detail about young people’s individual needs and to clarify how each area of care will be met. 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping and safe administration of medicines received into the children’s home. (Regulation 23 (1)) 27/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— 27/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 3 a description of the measure and its duration;

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Requirement Due date

the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure. (Regulation 35 (3)(a)(iv)(vii))

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Recommendations

 Staff should support children to be aware of and manage their own safety both inside and outside the home to the extent that any good parent would. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 43, paragraph 9.9)

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Recommendations

In particular, this relates to the wearing of a safety helmet and other appropriate protection when young people are riding a skateboard.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Young people enjoy settled placements and all young people make positive progress. They speak confidently about life at this home. One young person said, ‘It is the closest to a homely setting it could be.’ Trusting relationships develop between staff and young people. This means that young people accept and generally respond well to the guidance and support they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most young people demonstrate improved attendance and achievement in school. However, there are still lost opportunities for learning due to some unstructured periods, during what should be a full school day.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide a range of opportunities for young people to take part in stimulating leisure activities. This helps to improve young people’s self-esteem. Recent activities have included a holiday to the seaside and trips to the cinema, and young people take part in a range of clubs and sporting activities of their choice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Managers and staff prioritise young people’s health and general well-being. Young people are registered with primary healthcare services and attend routine appointments. Staff are mindful of young people’s emotional well-being, and any change in a young person’s mood is monitored. Communication with external professionals is reported as being excellent. This means that changing care needs are evaluated appropriately and care arrangements are adjusted when necessary. Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 4

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

Young people feel safe and say that they are comfortable about speaking with staff if they have a concern. One young person said that they felt safer because of the protective behaviours work carried out at the home.

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

Professionals consistently report that safeguarding arrangements are effective. Staff have an appropriate awareness of the potential risks for individual young people. A social worker said, with regard to one young person, that there had been a notable reduction in risky behaviours and offending. On the whole, risk management plans are implemented effectively. However, staff do not ensure that young people wear protective helmets and clothing when using skateboards in the community. This raises the potential for an injury to occur.

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

Since the last inspection, staff have received additional safeguarding training. Recording practice has improved. These developments have strengthened safeguarding arrangements. When young people go missing, the staff response is appropriate and well-coordinated. This means that the risk of harm for young people is reduced.

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

The leadership team considers that the home’s staffing ratio works well. However, the inspection identified an occasion when a young person was left at potential risk of harm due to low staffing levels. There was a delay of four hours before staff collected a young person because there were no staff available. This was inappropriate to the specific plans for the young person concerned.

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

Shortfalls have been identified in the medication administration system. There are also shortfalls in the use of sanctions within behaviour management strategies. There was not deemed to be any serious impact on young people as a result of these shortfalls. However, there is potential for harm linked to weaknesses in management monitoring.

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

A range of improvements have been implemented across the setting since the last inspection, meeting the requirements set at that time. Staff have an improved understanding of their roles and responsilbities when a young person is missing from the home. The education arrangements for young people have improved. Staff have an improved awareness of young people’s individual plans. However, some plans lack sufficient detail. This raises the concern that some areas of need may go unmet.

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

Changes across the management team are imminent, however there are robust plans in place to minimise any disruption. The previous deputy manager’s promotion to the role of manager has already been embedded within the service. The new manager knows the service well. He is enthusiastic and has identified plans to drive forward improvements for young people.

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

There is a core team of stable staff who have good relationships with young people and are committed to their role. Staff feel supported and receive training to support their Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 5 work.

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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: 1256367 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Homes 2 Inspire Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Shaw Trust House, 19 Elmfield Road, Bromley, Kent BR1 1LT

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Angela Muchatuta

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Inspector

Mary Timms, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1256367 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 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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