Children's home run by Blue Mountain Homes Ltd in Ealing

Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 1 SC059998 Registered provider: Blue Mountain 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 children’s home is privately owned. It provides care and accommodation for up to four children and young people who may have emotional, behavioural and/or social difficulties.

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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 inadequate

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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: 21 November 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: SC059998 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/11/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good 22/08/2018 Full Inadequate 17/01/2018 Interim Declined in effectiveness 16/05/2017 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 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

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5(a)) 26/09/2019

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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.

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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

provide to children living in the home the physical necessities they need in order to live there comfortably.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 6 (1)(a)(2)(b)(vii)) 26/09/2019

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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 staff understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(v)(vii)) 26/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 4 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

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Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose. (Regulation 13 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)) 26/09/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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Requirement Due date

full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

(Regulation 32 (1)(3)(c)(d)) 26/09/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 5

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improvement to be good

Children are not making good enough progress. This is because the manager and staff are not yet ensuring that there is effective working with partner agencies. This impedes children getting the services they need to help them make progress. Additionally, there have been incidents of concern that have placed children and staff at risk. The manager’s oversight of the day-to-day functioning of the home requires improvement in order to identify areas of weakness and take effective action to put things right.

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improvement to be good

The educational experiences of children are variable. The manager and staff have worked well to ensure that one child has now got a full-time, permanent school place. Another child attends a local special needs school. Unfortunately, another child is not making educational progress, due to non-attendance and lack of engagement with education services. Education plans are weak and of poor quality as they miss crucial information. Plans lack ambition and lack clear educational aims. Plans are not shared with children, so they lack the child’s voice and views.

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improvement to be good

The physical environment needs improvement to make this a comfortable home for children. Broken, damaged furniture in children’s rooms has not been replaced. Some areas of the home have exposed pipes. Outside there is litter. This detracts from what could otherwise be a pleasant environment for children to enjoy.

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improvement to be good

Children report that they have good relationships with staff, especially the manager. Staff spend time with children, and there are some positive and nurturing interactions. Children and staff undertake activities together and this helps to develop good relationships. Since the last inspection, there has been a relatively high turnover of staff. Staff leaving and new staff starting leads to instability for children. This can undermine the development of meaningful, trusting relationships between children and those caring for them.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff prioritise children’s health needs. All children are registered with primary healthcare services. They are encouraged and supported to attend appointments by staff. The manager and staff have successfully helped one child to give up smoking. This was achieved through good-quality key-work sessions and working with local resources.

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improvement to be good

Children now meet regularly with staff at house meetings. These meetings are well attended, and they discuss some very interesting and relevant subjects, such as the impact of racism. These meetings serve to improve the children’s relationships with their peers and staff and they also provide a forum for discussing interesting topics.

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improvement to be good

Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 6 Children and staff have sometimes been placed at risk, because of some worrying incidents and the behaviour of some children. Staff, without the knowledge of the manager, have taken items into the home that could be dangerous, and these have subsequently fallen into the hands of children. Police assistance has been required to deal with incidents and help staff retrieve items that could have caused significant risk to children, staff and others.

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improvement to be good

The behaviour of individual staff members, at times, has fallen below expectations. This includes, in particular, using inappropriate behaviour to manage children’s behaviour. Following such incidents, leaders of the organisation have ensured that the correct procedures are followed, and internal investigations have been undertaken. Leaders have ensured that all internal investigations are fully transparent and shared across safeguarding agencies. Leaders are aware that incidents of this nature should not take place in a children’s home. Work is required to ensure that lessons are learned and shared across the organisation.

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improvement to be good

The manager has not ensured that staff have access to fire-fighting equipment. Fire extinguishers have been locked in the laundry room. This will hamper staff from having timely access to extinguishers in the event of a fire. This can jeopardise the safety of children, staff and visitors to the home.

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improvement to be good

The manager and staff have worked to try to create a calmer and more relaxed atmosphere in the home since the last inspection. The frequency of negative incidents has decreased, particularly in relation to incidents of children going missing from the home. The manager has had to make the difficult decision to end some children’s placements because of problems arising from behaviour management. The manager is now more aware of the need for carefully planned admissions due to the potential impact on children and staff.

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improvement to be good

The home’s location risk assessment is kept under review, and having an up-to-date evaluation of risks in the area helps to keep children safer in the community. The location risk assessment has been completed in conjunction with the local police and it identifies areas of concern. This helps staff to understand the specific risks to children and take action to keep children safe.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Management arrangements are unclear. The current manager has resigned his registration with Ofsted and is due to leave his post, but for now he remains managing the home until a successor can start. This has resulted in both staff and children being unclear as to the future management arrangements.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

At the last inspection, a requirement was made in relation to the manager obtaining the relevant qualification by January 2019. This has not been achieved. Consequently, this home is without a registered and qualified manager. This must be a priority for the organisation going forward. Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 7 The manager has not ensured that the organisation’s policies and procedures have been followed when recruiting staff. For example, one member of staff declared medical information which could have had an impact on his ability to care for children. This information was not followed up with an assessment. Additionally, an employment gap was unaccounted for and up-to-date identity photographs were not taken. This has the potential to place children at risk and is not in line with the policy and standards of the organisation.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The manager is not ensuring that the day-to-day functioning of the home has sufficient oversight. There are several examples of this:

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

 the manager should ensure that daily checks of the environment occur to ensure that it is clean and free of rubbish, that damaged items are repaired or removed and that the environment meets health and safety standards

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

 the manager should ensure that he evaluates all incidents of behaviour management to satisfy himself that staff have managed behaviour effectively and see whether any lessons can be learned

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

 the manager should ensure that there is good oversight from shift leaders and deputy managers regarding staff working with children and ensuring that there is structure to children’s days. The manager should ensure that children are prevented from staying in bed all day when they should be in education.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Partnership working with local authorities, for those children placed at some distance from home, is not yet fully effective. The plans for these children are unclear in relation to how local resources will be secured to meet children’s needs. The manager is not engaging these authorities robustly enough, when plans start to drift, to look at alternative plans or better ways to engage children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff report that they have regular and professional supervision, which enhances their work with children. Staff feel listened to and respected by the manager and they know that their views are taken seriously. Staff undertake training and development and keep their knowledge and skills up to date. This helps them to care for children in a positive manner and develop positive relationships with children.

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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 Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 8 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: SC059998 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Blue Mountain Homes Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 17 Leeland Mansions, Leeland Road, West Ealing, London W13 9HE

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Pradeep Manaktala

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Inspector:

Phillip Morris, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC059998 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 children looked after, safeguarding and child protection.

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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Inspector:

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

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