Children's home run by Q Plus Limited

Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 1 Registered provider: Q Plus Ltd

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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 home provides short breaks or long-term care and accommodation for up to four children who may have a learning disability. The home is located within the grounds of Queensmill School, a co-educational special school for children with autism spectrum disorders.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager was registered with Ofsted in January 2018. She is working towards a suitable qualification.

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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: 11 February 2019

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: sustained effectiveness

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

11/02/2019 Interim Sustained effectiveness 14/11/2018 Full Requires improvement to be good Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 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 registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

(a) undertake appropriate continuing professional development; (b) receive practice-related supervision by a person with appropriate experience. (Regulation 33 (4)(a)(b)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

(c) have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33 (4)(c)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must produce a report about a visit (“the independent person’s report”) which sets out, in particular, the independent person’s opinion as to whether—

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Requirement Due date

the conduct of the home promotes children’s well-being. (Regulation 44 (4)(b)) 31/10/2019

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Recommendations

 The following elements of the workforce plan should be included in the statement of purpose: (in accordance with Schedule 1 (paragraphs 19 and 20)) the staffing structure; experience and qualifications of staff and arrangements for supervision of staff practice. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 53, paragraph 10.10) Specifically, make sure stakeholders have information about the qualifications and experience of all staff working in the home.  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: – detail the necessary management and staffing structure, (including any staff commissioned to provide health and education), the experience and qualifications of staff currently working within the staffing structure and any further training required for those staff, to enable the delivery of the

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Recommendations

Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 4 home’s statement of purpose; – detail the processes and agreed timescales for staff to achieve induction, probation and any core training (such as safeguarding, health and safety and mandatory qualifications); – detail the process for managing and improving poor performance; – detail the process and timescales for supervision of practice (see regulation 33 (4)(b)) and keep appropriate records for staff in the home.

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Recommendations

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 child ren’s s homes regulations including the quality standards’, , page 53, paragraph 10.8)  The registered person should ensure that all incidents of control, discipline and restraint are subject to systems of regular scrutiny to ensure that their use is fair and the above principles as set out in 9.35 are respected. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 46, paragraph 9.36)  Where a registered person identifies gaps in qualifications, they should act to ensure relevant units or qualifications are completed in a timely manner at an appropriate level. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality

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Recommendations

standards’, page 68, paragraph 1.4) Specifically, ensure that staff are enrolled to achieve level 3 if necessary once the relevance of any other qualifications is established.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children have positive experiences and make progress in many areas of their lives. Some children are better able to tolerate their peers. A parent credits the staff with helping their child better regulate their own behaviour, helping the child feel calmer as a result.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children experience good-quality, affectionate care from staff who understand their needs well. Staff offer the children choices and respect their views. Children move freely around the building and grounds, making good use of the excellent facilities provided on the premises. They also enjoy trips out with staff.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children moving into the home to live long-term are settling well and experiencing good routines that help them feel secure. Staff work hard to help the children to understand the positive reasons for their move to the home. Some of the children have experienced improved relationships with their families as a result. Staff fully support children’s involvement with their families, encouraging play with the children’s brothers and sisters.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Most children attend the school and so benefit from being around staff, children and a Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 5 building they know. Staff support the children to adjust to staying away from their family home. For example, one child’s s social worker found that staff ‘devised, adapted and implemented strategies that met the child’s needs quickly to ensure the transition was comfortable and quick’.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children are encouraged to develop skills which assist their independence and help them to cope with living in a largely neurotypical society. Those children who eat only limited foods are now more willing to try new foods, improving their diet.

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

Parents said that their children are kept safe in the home and when they are out on trips. Staff manage the children’s behaviour well in a positive atmosphere, making good use of communication aids and enforcing boundaries firmly and politely. Children are relaxed and their needs are well met.

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

Parents are pleased with the progress that their children make in reducing negative behaviours and in learning to self-regulate. Some children are now able to sleep through the night. This improves the children’s well-being, their performance in school and their safety when sleeping in the family home while adults are asleep.

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

Staff work well with families and parents to support children. A teacher said, ‘It is clear they put the welfare of children at the heart of everything they do.’ A social worker commented, ‘I observed that security, supervision, information sharing, communication and the standard of care are maintained at a high level.’

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

Staff recruitment is robust. This helps to ensure that children are only looked after by adults who are suitable for their roles. The designated officer in the local authority has no concerns about the safeguarding practice of this home.

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

The building is well maintained. There are regular checks, tests and risk assessments to ensure that the home is a safe environment for children. Children are supported to take acceptable risks, for example when using the kitchen to prepare food so that they can then do this safely at their family home.

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

There has been insufficient progress in meeting regulations. The registered manager has not met two of the requirements made at the last inspection. A recommendation to create a workforce development plan is partly met. This does not include sufficient information about staff training, including the equivalency of staff qualifications to the level 3 diploma.

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

In response to demand (and because one child exceeded the number of overnight stays permitted in short-break homes) the home’s leadership changed the service to accommodate children long-term as well as on short breaks. Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 6 All of the staff are part of a large pool of teaching assistants who work in the school and know the children very well. There are plans to create a core team from this pool who just work in the home. However, while staff receive training in the school, they do not receive supervision, appraisal and training in line with the Children’s s Homes (England) Regulations 2015.

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

Staff use physical intervention when necessary. Mostly, this involves guiding a child to a place where they can reduce their anxiety and regulate their emotions. Good use is made of communication aids to find out how children feel about the intervention.

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

The registered manager has not monitored all of the records of physical intervention to ensure that the measures used are appropriate. An independent visitor attends the home regularly to conduct their own monitoring. Their opinion about children’s well-being is not always made explicit in reports of their findings.

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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: 1269565 7

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 1 Askham Road, Shepherds Bush, London W12 0NW

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Inspector:

Jacqueline Graves, social care regulatory inspector Inspection report children‘s home: 1269565 8 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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