Children's home run by Compass Children‟s Homes Limited

Inspection report children's home: 2497156 1 Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes 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 care and accommodation for up to four children and young people with a variety of complex needs, and who are aged seven to 17. A private provider operates the home. The registered manager is suitably experienced and holds a level 5 qualification in leadership and management.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 26 to 27 September 2019

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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 requires improvement to be good

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good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers 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: N/A This is the first inspection since this home was registered in January 2019.

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good

Overall judgement at last inspection: not applicable

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good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

N/A First inspection. Inspection report children's home: 2497156 2

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Statutory requirements

This section sets out the actions that the registered person 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 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. 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; that the premises used for the purposes of the home are designed, furnished and maintained so as to protect each child from avoidable hazards to the child’s health. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(d)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must compile in relation to the children’s home a statement (‘the statement of purpose’) which covers the matters listed in Schedule 1. The registered person must— notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(12(3)(b)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person may only use devices for the monitoring or surveillance of children if— the monitoring or surveillance is for the purpose of safeguarding and promoting the welfare of the child concerned, or other children; so far as reasonably practicable in the light of the child’s age and understanding, the child is informed in advance of the intention to do the monitoring or surveillance; and the monitoring or surveillance is no more intrusive than necessary, having regard to the child’s need for privacy. (Regulation 24 (1)(a)(c)(d)) 31/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

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)) 31/10/2019 Inspection report children's home: 2497156 3

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Recommendations

 Ensure that the registered person is responsible for ensuring that each child’s day to day health and well-being needs are met. Staff should work to make the children’s home an environment that supports children’s physical, mental and emotional health, in line with the approach set out in the home’s Statement of Purpose. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 33, paragraph 7.3)

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff provide good-quality care to children and young people. Children and young people know that staff invest in them. For example, staff helped a child who had difficulty settling at night by building a bear with the child. Staff placed a recording of the child’s parent’s voice saying goodnight into the toy. This recording, along with a beautifully creative bedtime story made by the staff, now helps the child to settle well with little disruption to their bedtime routine.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people voice their views, feelings and wishes with confidence. They take part in house meetings and provide their input into the day-to-day running of the home. Staff are creative in how they engage children and young people to take part in these meetings. As a result, young people are more able to have their say about the care they receive.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Staff generally support children and young people to understand how to maintain their own emotional, psychological and physical well-being. However, staff do not always persist with ensuring that children and young people adhere to health advice, such as wearing their glasses when needed. This may have an impact on the children’s and young people’s health.

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Overall experiences and progress of children and young people: good

Children and young people have contact with those who are important to them. Staff support contact arrangements to enable children and young people to have contact with family and friends. This helps children and young people to form strong bonds with people who are important to them.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people are not always protected by staff from any potential risk of harm. For example, the manager and staff have not adequately protected children and young people from accessing DVDs that are not age-appropriate. Furthermore, some electrical appliances are not stored safely in children’s and young people’s bedrooms and raw meat was found stored above cooked food in the fridge. This has the potential to place children and young people at risk of injury or harm. Inspection report children's home: 2497156 4 The manager does not review the use of bedroom door alarms. All children and young people are subject to monitoring at night, although there is no evidence to suggest that there are any safeguarding concerns. The manager has not spoken to each child and young person about this monitoring system before using it. As a result, children’s and young people’s rights to privacy are intruded on.

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improvement to be good

One complaint out of three made by children and young people was not responded to appropriately by the manager. In this instance, the manager investigated the complaint but did not record the outcome of the investigation or write to the young person confirming that the complaint had been upheld. This missed opportunity by the manager means that children and young people may feel that their complaints are not taken seriously.

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improvement to be good

Children and young people who go missing from care are helped by staff to return safely. Staff follow the protocols and liaise with the police, children, young people and their families when they go missing from care. Staff undertake effective key-working sessions to help them to understand why children and young people go missing from the home and how to prevent this from happening. As a result, incidents of missing from care are reducing.

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improvement to be good

The manager ensures that all staff are safely recruited. This ensures that children and young people are protected from unsuitable people having access to them.

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improvement to be good

Staff implement effective behaviour management plans that encourage children and young people to take responsibility for their behaviour. Staff understand the complex needs of children and young people and work hard to promote positive behaviour. As a result, children and young people take small but positive steps to address their challenging behaviour.

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improvement to be good

The use of physical intervention is only used as a last resort by trained staff. Staff use positive praise and rewards that encourage children and young people to behave appropriately. As a result, the use of physical intervention is reducing.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager ensures that the home is appropriately staffed and resourced. The staff team has a good mix of skill and experience. Agency staff are not used. As a result, children and young people receive care from a stable staff team.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

Staff receive regular and effective supervision and training to ensure that they can fulfil their individual roles. The manager encourages staff development that helps staff to achieve personal development targets. As a result, children’s and young people’s outcomes and welfare are promoted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager has developed good relationships with partner agencies. Staff keep social workers and parents/carers up to date by sharing reports about children’s and young people’s progress. This helpful communication keeps everyone involved in Inspection report children's home: 2497156 5 children’s and young people’s care informed.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager appropriately challenges services that are not meeting the needs of children and young people. When children and young people need to move on to keep them or others safe, staff manage these transitions sensitively.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

The registered manager uses feedback from children and young people, staff, professionals and parents to assess what is going well and what can be improved. This effective monitoring by the manager ensures that the home continues to develop and provide positive outcomes for children and young people.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: good

When the registered manager updates the home’s statement of purpose with details of the staff’s experiences and qualifications, he does not send this to Ofsted. This means that the registered manager does not share information promptly with the regulator as required.

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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: 2497156 6

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Compass Children’s Homes Ltd

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Mountfields House, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3GE

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Inspector

Michelle Spruce, social care inspector Inspection report children's home: 2497156 7 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

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