Children's home run by Plus One South West Ltd

Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 1 SC386428 Registered provider: Plus One (South West) Ltd

p.1

Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

p.1

Information about this children’s home

This home is operated by a private company based in the south west of England. It provides care and accommodation for up to three children and young people who may have emotional and behavioural difficulties and/or learning disabilities. The home may take emergency and respite care placements, subject to satisfactory risk assessment. The manager was registered on 19 November 2014.

p.1

Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

p.1

good

How well children and young people are helped and protected requires improvement to be good

p.1

good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers good

p.1

good

The children’s home provides effective services that meet the requirements for good.

p.1

good

Overall judgement at last inspection: good

p.1

good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 2

p.1

Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

04/10/2018 Full Good 08/11/2017 Full Good 19/12/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness 09/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 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. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to ensure that staff 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 and manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i) and (iv))

p.3

Requirement Due date

This is with particular reference to ensuring that risk assessments, for example for the use of bedroom door alarms to safeguard children at night, are realistic and applied equitably to children and young people irrespective of gender. 15/10/2019

p.3

Recommendations

 Ensure that children’s homes staff make a valuable contribution to the pathway planning process. They should actively seek to make the fullest contribution, working with other relevant persons. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 17, paragraph 3.28). In particular, ensure that efforts continue to obtain a young person’s pathway plan from the local authority.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The registered manager and staff have established very good relationships with the young people, showing considerable mutual trust and honesty. As a result, the young people can confide in the staff. They have confidence that the staff will keep them safe and support them through any difficulties. Their good progress is due to the high-quality care in this home, which has given them increased self-confidence and resilience. Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 4 When one young person first arrived in the home, he did not attend school. The registered manager worked hard to establish an educational provision for him. Since then, this young person has worked hard at his education. This has enabled him to sit several GCSE exams and to develop clear ambitions for his future working life.

p.3

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The home offers a good-quality, well-maintained environment. The young people enjoy living there. They spend constructive time with their friends and with the staff. The young people currently in the home enjoy go-karting and trips to the beach. They also have regular free time, which they usually manage sensibly.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people receive very good support with their healthcare needs, including access to the company’s cognitive behaviour therapist. This ensures that young people can ask for help with any emotional difficulties, which will benefit their long-term mental health.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff act responsibly in ensuring that young people receive appropriate contraceptive and sexual health advice to help avoid unplanned pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. They accompany the young people to potentially difficult medical appointments if appropriate.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The manager ensures that any young people who are new to the home receive careful introductions. The staff often stay in contact with young people who have moved on to other accommodation.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people are consulted on a daily basis. They benefit from open, honest and supportive conversations with the staff. The staff demonstrate considerable integrity when speaking with young people. A diverse staff team means that the young people can benefit from a range of life experiences.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The young people enjoy positive relationships with their families and friends. The staff take one young person to another part of the country regularly to see members of his family. This has helped this young person to stay in touch and retain a sense of identity, which will be increasingly important to him as he prepares for independence.

p.4

Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

The staff encourage the young people to tidy, prepare meals and do their own laundry, to help develop skills for daily living. One young person does not yet have their pathway plan. The registered manager has requested this document, but it has still not been received. A recommendation has been made.

p.4

improvement to be good

There have been two separate instances when a total of three young people in the home formed close personal relationships. Although the first of these situations could not reasonably have been foreseen, the second was more predictable. Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 5 Both these examples were compounded by a lack of clarity and consistency in the use of bedroom door alarms. This lack of capacity to monitor young people’s movements around the home at night allowed intimate relationships to develop without the staff always being aware of what was happening until afterwards.

p.4

improvement to be good

The registered manager has reflected on these incidents. His risk assessment process will have a greater regard for mixing boys and girls of similar ages within the home in future.

p.5

improvement to be good

The registered manager and staff are knowledgeable and confident in other aspects of safeguarding practice. The local authority designated officer is consulted when necessary and he has no concerns about the home. Staff are well trained in all aspects of safeguarding, including radicalisation, which helps them to protect the young people from harm.

p.5

improvement to be good

The staff manage the young people’s behaviour very positively, resulting in very few incidents which lead to restraint. The very small number of restraints have been necessary, were at a low level and of brief duration. Debriefs following serious incidents and restraints are extremely thorough and present the young people with fair and honest choices about their behaviour. This helps to build trust between the young people and the staff.

p.5

improvement to be good

One young person goes missing from the home occasionally. When he is missing, the staff follow an agreed protocol and discuss his actions with him. He keeps in contact with the staff and, consequently, he remains relatively safe. There has been a recent reduction in his missing-from-home incidents, which is good progress.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

This is a well-managed home which has experienced a challenging year. The qualified, experienced registered manager monitors the service closely. He is a strong advocate for any young people who need additional services or resources.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The staff team is stable, well trained and supervised. Staff are full of praise for the manager, deputy manager and responsible individual for their fair and child-focused leadership. Team members are mutually supportive and work well together to give young people positive life experiences.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The manager and staff communicate well with outside agencies. Professionals and staff said that the home makes a positive difference to children and young people, keeps them safe and helps them to make good progress. One professional commented, ‘The manager is one of the best we have worked with in education. He has the students’ best interests at the foremost and is always keen to support education in a positive way. Children living in the home speak highly of him.’ Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 6 The young people’s records are detailed and well constructed. They provide all the required information to help the staff look after the young people well.

p.5

The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has acted on the recommendation from the last inspection. This concerned the ethically complicated matter of managing prescribed medication which young people have obtained from the doctor without the manager’s knowledge. The young people are encouraged to discuss their medication with the staff. They no longer keep medication in their rooms unless the manager is confident that they are responsible enough to manage it safely.

p.6

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.6

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: SC386428 7

p.6

Children’s home details

Registered provider: Plus One (South West) Ltd

p.7

Children’s home details

Registered provider address: The Mount, 21 High Street, Wellington, Somerset TA21 8QT

p.7

Inspector(s)

Heather Chaplin, social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: SC386428 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.

p.7

Inspector(s)

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.8

Inspector(s)

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

p.8

Inspector(s)

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

p.8