Children's home run by PIC Children’s Services in St. Helens

Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 1 SC022444 Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This privately owned home provides care and accommodation for one young person who may have social and/or emotional difficulties.

p.1

Information about this children’s home

The current manager was registered with Ofsted in June 2019 and is also registered to manage another single-occupancy home in the local area. The young person was not present at the time of this inspection.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

requires improvement to be good

How well children and young people are helped and protected good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers requires improvement to be good

p.1

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.

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

26/06/2018 Full Good 30/01/2018 Interim Sustained effectiveness 23/06/2017 Full Good 14/03/2017 Interim Improved effectiveness Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 3

p.2

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.

p.3

Requirement Due date

The protection of children standard is that children are protected from harm and enabled to keep themselves safe.

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.3

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))

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, ensure that risk assessments include the actions that staff need to take if an incident occurs. 30/11/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

The care planning standard is that children—

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

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

p.3

Requirement Due date

In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure—

p.3

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. (Regulation 14 (1)(a)(b)(2)(a))

p.3

Requirement Due date

This is specifically in relation to ensuring that an impact risk assessment is completed for each new referral to the home, and that the young person’s impact risk assessment considers the safer area report, to ensure that the area is safe for them. 30/11/2019

p.3

Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff— 30/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 4 seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

p.3

Requirement Due date

seek to secure the input and services required to meet each child’s needs;

p.4

Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or relevant person’s performance or response to be inadequate in relation to their role, challenge the placing authority or the relevant person to seek to ensure that the child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans. (Regulation 5 (a)(b)(c)) The registered person must ensure that a record is made of any complaint, the action taken in response, and the outcome of any investigation. (Regulation 39 (3)) 30/11/2019

p.4

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). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.8)

p.4

Recommendations

 The registered person should make the best use of information through internal monitoring to ensure continuous improvement. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 55, paragraph 10.24)

p.4

Recommendations

 The behaviour management strategy should be understood and applied at all times by staff and must be kept under review and revised where appropriate. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.34)

p.4

Recommendations

 Ensure that records kept in the children’s home are signed and dated by the author. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.3)

p.4

Recommendations

 Ensure that staff help each child to prepare for any moves from the home. This includes practical skills, such as cooking, housework, budgeting and personal self- care. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.27)

p.4

Recommendations

In particular, ensure that key objectives within the young person’s pathway plan are broken down into small achievable targets. Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 5

p.4

improvement to be good

The young person has lived at this home for nine months, and he is happy and settled. While discussions were initially held with the placing authority before the young person came to live at the home, the manager had not made a formal assessment of the young person’s needs. As a result, there were no written plans to show how the home’s staff were to meet the young person’s needs. Also, the lack of information meant that the manager was unable to use the home’s safer area report to assess whether the local area was safe for the young person.

p.5

improvement to be good

The young person has a strong voice in the home. On a day-to-day basis, he is routinely involved in planning his meals and activities. Furthermore, he is fully supported to take part in the review of his care plan. However, it is difficult to see what action the manager took regarding a complaint that the young person had made about his access to the internet, and whether the young person was happy with the outcome.

p.5

improvement to be good

The young person struggled to attend several identified alternative education facilities. This has impacted on him gaining formal educational qualifications. However, the young person aspired to learn more functional work-related skills and as such wanted to work in the building trade. The manager has worked closely with education professionals to identify options in this area of work, and an apprenticeship was found. The young person was successful in securing a place and has been attending for the last month. Since starting the apprenticeship, the young person’s behaviour, attitude and relationships have significantly improved. A parent said, ‘I cannot thank the home enough. They have been brilliant with everything. The change in him is remarkable.’

p.5

improvement to be good

Members of staff work closely with the young person and other professionals to support him to see his parents and other family members more regularly. This focus on positive contact means that important relationships are maintained and built on.

p.5

improvement to be good

Staff ensure that the young person receives timely health checks and that he benefits from regular physical exercise. He is provided with varied, homemade and nutritious meals, and when concerns were raised about the young person’s emotional health, the manager made sure that the young person received additional advice and support from the youth offending service (YOS).

p.5

improvement to be good

The young person’s independence plan identifies the overall objectives and tasks that he would need to be competent at so that he could live independently. These tasks include activities such as shopping, household tasks, budgeting and cooking. However, these are not translated into smaller, measurable and achievable goals to show his positive progress or what further support he may need. Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 6

p.5

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

Safeguarding practice at the home is good and promotes the welfare and safety of the young person. The staff are trained in safeguarding and show a good understanding of a range of risks that young people may be exposed to, such as child sexual exploitation, county lines, e-safety and radicalisation. This means that they can identify any potential concerns and take necessary steps to reduce the risks.

p.6

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

Safeguarding procedures are clearly recorded, and correct procedures are followed by staff. The manager investigates any concern promptly, which ensures that the young person is safeguarded. Staff inform Ofsted when there are significant incidents in the home so that the regulator has oversight of patterns and trends. The staff team utilises the skills of key professionals, such as the youth offending service who carry out additional work with the young person, if this is necessary.

p.6

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

The young person’s risk assessments and behaviour management plans identify known risks to the young person’s safety and welfare. However, these assessments do not provide staff with sufficient information and guidance on what actions to take if an incident occurs.

p.6

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

Behaviour management strategies have not always been effective because they are not applied consistently. For example, a member of staff let the young person’s friend into the home in the early hours of the morning. This led to a significant incident in the home when the friend was asked to leave. Although this was an isolated incident, there is no information about what action the manager took, whether the rules and boundaries of the home were revisited with the young person, and whether the staff had the opportunity to reflect on and learn from their actions.

p.6

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

The young person has structured key-work sessions to address challenging issues. Staff recognise aspects of risk-taking behaviour and safeguarding concerns and they conduct a range of key-work sessions that allow the young person the opportunity to reflect and learn about the ways in which he is placing himself at risk.

p.6

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

Incidents of the young person going missing from care are significantly decreasing. When the young person has gone missing from the home, the staff have acted swiftly and rigorously, following agreed protocols. Additionally, the manager has ensured that independent return interviews have been consistently undertaken. These interviews provide the young person with the opportunity to discuss the reasons behind his behaviour, which helps to prevent reoccurrence.

p.6

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

The young person had a difficult start at the home. His risk-taking behaviour and interaction with others were concerns. Several strategy meetings were held with a range of professionals and his parents. Clear boundaries, structure, rewards and incentives have brought about a significant reduction in these incidents. A parent said, ‘We have worked very closely together, and this has been very effective. He now trusts the staff and talks to them. He has never done this before.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 7 The company follows safer recruitment guidance. All checks are completed and verified to ensure that members of staff are suitable to work with young people. Regular health and safety checks ensure that the home is physically safe and secure.

p.6

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

There is a new registered manager who was approved by Ofsted in June 2019. He has previous experience of caring for young people and is currently completing his management qualification. The manager also manages another single-occupancy home in the local area. He manages his time effectively between the homes, maintaining good oversight, and is supported in his role by an experienced deputy manager.

p.7

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

The home’s statement of purpose reflects the aims, objectives and ethos of the home. The ethos is based on having positive regard for others. However, the manager does not have a workforce plan that identifies: the staffing structure; the experience and qualifications of staff currently working at the home and any further training they require; the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and core training; the process for managing poor performance; and the process and timescales for supervision. Therefore, it is unclear what the expectations are in these areas.

p.7

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

There has recently been an overview of staffing within the company due to a recent successful recruitment drive. Therefore, the staff team was restructured to balance the experience and skills. There are enough staff to provide good support to the young person.

p.7

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

Most of the staff team hold a suitable recognised childcare qualification. Staff receive regular supervision and appraisals of their practice. Staff meetings are regular. The manager makes good use of team meetings and uses a range of resources and topics to help ensure that staff have up-to-date knowledge of current research and practice issues.

p.7

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

The manager and staff work collaboratively with a range of agencies and professionals involved in the young person’s care. However, when services have been slow to respond, or not available, the manager has not formally challenged these shortfalls effectively. For example, the manager has not challenged the local authority about the lack of information within the young person’s personal education plan or his pathway plan. These documents are very brief and mainly have the young person’s details in them. This does not give staff clear information on the expectations of the local authority, the plan for the young person or what the staff’s roles and responsibilities are. Further to this, some of the young person’s documents are unsigned or are not dated by the author or social worker. This does not ensure that all parties are aware of and agree with the plans.

p.7

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

External monitoring of the home has improved. A new independent visitor started visiting the home in April 2019. The visitor regularly consults with the young person and professionals to gain their views about the quality of care at the home. Constructive Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 8 actions are highlighted in the visitor’s reports so that the registered manager can improve and develop the home. In contrast to this, the manager’s internal monitoring report lacks evaluation of the records, and it does not identify any actions to develop the service. Therefore, there is not a critical, reflective view to help the home drive forward with improvements.

p.7

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.

p.8

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: SC022444 9

p.8

Children’s home details

Registered provider: PIC Children’s Services Limited

p.9

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 North Street, Haydock, St. Helens, Merseyside WA11 0TW

p.9

Inspector

Pam Nuckley, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC022444 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 looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.

p.9

Inspector

If you would like a copy of this document in a different format, such as large print or Braille, please telephone 0300 123 1231, or email enquiries@ofsted.gov.uk . You may reuse this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence , write to the Information Policy Team, The National Archives, Kew, London TW9 4DU, or email: psi@nationalarchives.gsi.gov.uk .

p.10

Inspector

Interested in our work? You can subscribe to our monthly newsletter for more information and updates: http://eepurl.com/iTrDn .

p.10

Inspector

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

p.10