Children's home run by Oldham Children’s Social Care in Oldham

Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 1 SC035492 Registered provider: Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council 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 owned and managed by a local authority. The home can accommodate four children who may have emotional and/or behavioural difficulties. The home has had no registered manager since May 2019.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and/or widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected or their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and/or the care and experiences of children and young people are poor and they are not making progress.

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

18/03/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 19/12/2018 Full Good 17/11/2017 Full Requires improvement to be good 13/10/2016 Full Outstanding Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 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 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

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;

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Requirement Due date

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm; and

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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)(a)(i)(iii)(b)) 16/09/2019

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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

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

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that the home’s workforce provides continuity of care to 11/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 4 each child; and

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Requirement Due date

use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13 (1)(b)(2)(a)(c)(e)(h)) *The care planning standard is that children—

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Requirement Due date

receive effectively planned care in or through the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

have a positive experience of arriving at or moving on from the home.

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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 children are admitted to the home only if their needs are within the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the home is to provide care and accommodation, as set out in the home’s statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the effective induction of each child into the home;

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Requirement Due date

manage and review the placement of each child in the home; and

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Requirement Due date

plan for, and help, each child to prepare to leave the home or to move into adult care in a way that is consistent with arrangements agreed with the child’s placing authority; and

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Requirement Due date

that each child’s relevant plans are followed. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(c)) 11/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must make arrangements for the handling, recording, safekeeping, safe administration and disposal of medicines received into the children’s home. In particular the registered person must ensure that—

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Requirement Due date

medicines kept in the home are stored in a secure place so as to prevent any child from having unsupervised access to them;

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Requirement Due date

medicine which is prescribed for a child is administered as prescribed to the child for whom it is prescribed and to no other child; and

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Requirement Due date

a record is kept of the administration of medicine to each child. 11/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 5 Paragraph (2) does not apply to medicine which— is stored by the child for whom it is provided in such a way that other persons are prevented from using it; and

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Requirement Due date

may be safely self-administered by that child. (Regulation 23 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c)(3)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, an assessment of the suitability of children to self- administer medication should be completed. Children should have an appropriate place to store medication so that other children cannot use it. If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25 (2)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, fire doors should not be prevented from being closed by use of a door wedge. An assessment of the fire safety of the home should be completed on an annual basis. 11/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint a person to manage the children’s home if—

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Requirement Due date

there is no registered manager in respect of the home; and

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Requirement Due date

is not, or does not intend to be, in day-to-day charge of the home.

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Requirement Due date

If the registered provider appoints a person to manage the home, the registered provider must, without delay, give HMCI notice of— the name of the person so appointed; and

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Requirement Due date

the date on which the appointment takes effect. (Regulation 27 (1)(a)(b)(i)(ii)(iii)(2)(a)(b)) 11/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which— 11/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 6 include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due 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, this should include copies of local authority care plans on all children’s case files. Schedule 4 sets out the other information that the registered person must keep in relation to a children’s home.

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maintain in the home the records in Schedule 4;

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ensure that the records are kept up to date; and

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retain the records for at least 15 years from the date of the last entry. (Regulation 37 (1)(2)(a)(b)(c))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, there should be a record of any children who have moved into the home or who have left. 11/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

If the independent person becomes aware of a potential conflict of interest (whether under Regulation 43 (3) or otherwise) after a visit to the home, the independent person must include in the independent person’s report—

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Requirement Due date

details of the conflict of interest; and the reasons why the independent person did not notify the registered provider of the conflict of interest before the visit.

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to—

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Requirement Due date

upon request, the local authority for the area in which the home is located;

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Requirement Due date

the registered provider and, if applicable, the registered manager; and the responsible individual (if one is nominated). 11/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 7 (Regulation 44 (6)(a)(7)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e))

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Requirement Due date

* These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The registered provider has recently changed the function and purpose of this home. Specifically, in the last four weeks, the registered provider has stopped using the home for short-break stays and is now supplying placements for two specific children.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Admissions to the home are poorly managed. The registered provider moved two children from one of their other children’s homes into the home. Despite this being an internal move, care planning documentation, which included placement plans, behaviour management plans and risk assessments, was not available to staff at the start of the children’s placements. Because of this, the provider has failed to provide the staff team members with vital information to help them understand how to keep the children safe or promote their education, health and care needs.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Copies of local authority care plans are not on file and not all staff have access to electronic records. Staff are not aware of the plans agreed at children’s most recent looked after children’s review. As a result, staff do not know what the current plans are for children. This means that staff do not have the necessary guidance to provide children with personalised care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The poor leadership of this home means that the day-to-day care of children continues to be disorganised. For example, despite children moving from one of the provider’s other homes, staff have been unable to arrange for the children’s belongings to be collected. This means that children do not have access to all their clothes and personal belongings.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

As children moved into the home during the summer term, they have not needed to attend school. Positively, both children have education placements. However, staff’s ability to promote the educational needs of children has yet to be tested.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

The provider recently made the decision to move another child to this home in an emergency. This is in contravention of the home’s statement of purpose, which states that this home will not take emergency placements. This decision reflects the systemic failure of the leadership and the provider to plan how they will meet the needs of children in their care.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: inadequate

Prior to this child coming to the home, managers completed limited assessment about the suitability of this placement. Specifically, there was no assessment of how well matched the new child was with the existing group of children. This poor planning had the potential to affect the safety and welfare of all children. Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 8

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

The home’s arrangements to protect children from harm are ineffective. The provider and staff fail to recognise, minimise or prevent the risks to children’s safety and well- being. For example, risk assessments do not always include known information about children’s risk-taking behaviours or guidance on how staff will manage these risks.

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

Furthermore, risk assessments direct staff to read behaviour support plans for further advice on how to manage children’s behaviours. However, these behaviour support plans are not on file or accessible to staff. The provider’s approach to managing children’s behaviours and keeping them safe is poor.

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

Safeguarding practice in this home is not sufficiently robust and does not promote the safety and welfare of the children. Specifically, when children go missing from the home, staff do not always respond effectively to help keep children safe. This increases the potential for children to be exposed to harm.

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

Despite one child’s repeated missing from care incidents, staff have not requested a multi-agency planning meeting to review these incidents. This means that there has been a missed opportunity to consider the strategies in place to keep the child safe. This is because staff do not consistently follow safeguarding procedures. Because of this, children are at risk of harm.

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

Staff do not take effective action to safeguard children. Inspectors found several cigarette lighters in one child’s bedroom. Staff confirmed that they had never completed checks on the child’s bedroom. This is despite a risk assessment finding that the child is at a high risk of smoking in his bedroom. This shows that staff do not have the skills to identify and act upon signs that children are at risk of harm.

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

The registered provider’s oversight of fire safety is weak. For example, there has been no review of fire safety arrangements in the home since August 2017. Furthermore, inspectors found that staff use door wedges to hold fire doors open. This exposes children and staff to the potential risk of harm.

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

One child is managing and administering his own medication. Staff have not assessed if the child has the skills and ability to do this safely. Furthermore, the child has no way of storing his medication securely to prevent other children from using it. This shows that staff are not able to identify and respond to potential risks.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home has not had a registered manager in post since May 2019. The provider has not yet appointed a new manager.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Interim management arrangements are not clear. At the time of the inspection, the deputy manager was on annual leave and staff reported that they did not know who was Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 9 in charge. The leadership of the home is poorly organised.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered provider’s oversight of care planning and risk management is poor. This has a detrimental impact on children’s safety and welfare.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Staff have completed mandatory training and undertaken the qualifications relevant to their roles. Despite this, staff have not always shown that they have the skills and knowledge to keep children safe. This is because they do not always get clear directions and support from leaders.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The provider does not ensure that staff have regular supervisions. This means that chances to give staff support and guidance are missed. This affects the consistency of care given to children.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Two requirements raised at the last inspection have not been completed. Specifically, staff do not keep correct and up-to-date case records. This impacts on staff’s ability to understand how to meet the needs of children, but it also affects the managers’ ability to review the quality of care provided to children. In addition, the provider does not send the reports of the independent visitor to Ofsted in a prompt way. This hinders Ofsted’s ability to check the quality of care provided in the home .

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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: SC035492 10

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, Civic Centre, West Street, Oldham OL1 1UT

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Inspectors

Paul Robinson: social care inspector Sarah Oldham: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC035492 11 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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