Children's Home run by Archways Care Limited in Worcestershire

Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 1 SC383941 Registered provider: Archways Care 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

The home is one of three homes run by a private organisation. It is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to four children who have emotional difficulties and/or display challenging behaviour. The current manager has worked for the company since May 2019. She has 22 years’ fostering and residential experience.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 9 to 10 September 2019

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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requires improvement to be good

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

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requires improvement to be good

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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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.

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requires improvement to be good

Overall judgement at last inspection: inadequate

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Enforcement action since last inspection:

Two compliance notices were issued, listing steps that the home must take to meet regulations in respect of fire safety and leadership and management. A monitoring visit was undertaken on 17 July 2019 and two further compliance notices were issued in relation to leadership and management and the protection of children. A restriction of Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 2 accommodation notice was issued on 23 July 2019 and runs until 14 October 2019. This will remain under review.

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

03/06/2019 Full Inadequate 04/09/2018 Full Good 26/09/2017 Full Good 08/11/2016 Interim Sustained effectiveness Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 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. 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. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)) 21/10/2019

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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— helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and promotes their welfare. In particular, the standard in paragraph (1) requires the registered person to— use monitoring and review systems to make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(h))* 07/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

Restraint in relation to a child is only permitted for the purpose of preventing— injury to any person (including the child); serious damage to the property of any person (including the child). Restraint in relation to a child must be necessary and proportionate. (Regulation 20(1)(a)(b)(2)) 21/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

A responsible individual must— have the capacity, experience and skills to supervise the management of the home, or the homes, in respect of which 21/10/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 4 the responsible individual is nominated. (Regulation 26(7)(b)) The registered person must ensure that—within 24 hours of the use of a measure of control, discipline or restraint in relation to a child in the home, a record is made which includes— a description of the measure and its duration; the effectiveness and any consequences of the use of the measure; and a description of any injury to the child or any other person, and any medical treatment administered, as a result of the measure; within 48 hours of the use of the measure, the registered person, or a person who is authorised by the registered person to do so (“the authorised person”)— has spoken to the user about the measure; and has signed the record to confirm it is accurate; and within 5 days of the use of

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Requirement Due date

the measure, the registered person or the authorised person adds to the record confirmation that they have spoken to the child about the measure. (Regulation 35(3)(a)(iv)(vii)(viii)(b)(i)(ii)(c)) 21/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child. (Regulation 36(1)(a)) 21/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must appoint, at the registered provider’s expense, a person (“the independent person”) to visit and report on the children’s home carried on by the registered provider. Subject to paragraph (4), the registered provider may not appoint the following as an independent person— if the registered provider is not a local authority, a person who is employed for payment by the registered provider; a person who has, or has had, a connection with— the registered person. An employee of the registered provider is not, by reason only of that employment, disqualified under paragraph (3)(a), (b) or (g) from appointment as an independent person if the employee is employed solely to examine and scrutinise critically— the way that a home is carried on or managed; and 30/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 5 the quality of care provided for children. (Regulation 43(1)(3)(b)(g)(i)(4)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

The independent person must provide a copy of the independent person’s report to HMCI. (Regulation 44(7)(a)) 21/10/2019

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Requirement Due date

*These requirements are subject to a compliance notice.

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improvement to be good

One child was resident at the time of the inspection. The child’s case file does not include up-to-date information from his latest statutory review meeting. As a result, it is not clear how staff are responding to any recommendations raised to ensure that the child receives coordinated care.

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improvement to be good

The home is well presented and well maintained. The child has been given the opportunity to add personal touches to his bedroom. This allows for the child to live in a homelier environment. There is still work to be undertaken in children‟s bedrooms that are unoccupied. However, managers have a plan for the outstanding work to be actioned before any new children move in.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child to attend health appointments. Staff help the child to engage in a range of leisure opportunities. For example, the child has enjoyed a holiday with staff and he has recently taken up fishing. Staff support him in undertaking this activity in the local community. As a result, staff promote the child‟s health and well-being and the child is developing interests that boost his confidence and self-esteem.

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improvement to be good

Staff support the child with his education well. The child is regularly attending school, which is progress given his starting point. Managers and staff communicate effectively with the child‟s teachers. This helps to resolve any issues quickly, enabling the child to engage more readily in his lessons and at breaktimes.

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improvement to be good

The child engages in key-work sessions with staff on topics identified within his care plan. These include talking to the child about his health and aspects of his behaviour that cause concern. The sessions allow the child to express his views, wishes and feelings, while ensuring that he receives support in key areas.

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improvement to be good

Staff use some good behaviour management strategies to de-escalate the child‟s Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 6 challenging behaviour. On occasions, physical intervention is required to keep the child safe. Management oversight of physical intervention incidents continues to require improvement. Restraint records do not contain all of the relevant information required by regulation, for example the duration of the restraint. In addition, the staff involved in the incidents are not always provided with debriefs. As a result, staff do not have the opportunity to talk about what happened, learn from incidents and raise any concerns. When there are potential shortfalls in staff‟s restraint practice, managers do not document how they have acted on and addressed these concerns. The manager is not picking up on these shortfalls and so is not evaluating incident records rigorously to ensure that restraint practice is safe and proportionate.

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improvement to be good

Staff do not always follow procedures designed to promote children‟s safety. For example, on one occasion, when the child went missing, it is not clear if staff followed the child‟s missing-from-care protocol. Staff did not record what action they took when the child went missing. This lack of detail means that there is no clear audit trail of events that took place.

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improvement to be good

The quality of risk assessments has improved. They now contain clear guidance for staff on how to manage and reduce most risks. However, managers have not fully considered risks that relate to lone-working. This is an area of vulnerability that has the potential to leave the child and staff at risk of harm.

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improvement to be good

Managers have taken steps to address the recommendations raised by the fire safety officer. This has improved the safety of the home environment for children, staff and visitors.

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improvement to be good

The child informed the inspector that he feels safe. He reported that he feels listened to and can identify a trusted member of staff to talk to. This means that the child can share his worries and know that he will receive an appropriate response.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager resigned in July 2019. The deputy manager has taken over the day-to-day running of the home and is in the process of submitting an application to register with Ofsted.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

A change in manager has not yet brought about the level of improvement required to ensure that children receive good-quality care. The responsible individual has not provided effective oversight of the management of the home. Managers fail to use adequate monitoring systems to identify and address areas that need further improvement. As a result, some requirements raised at the monitoring inspection have been repeated. Ongoing shortfalls in leadership and management mean that the registered provider has not met the one of the compliance notices raised at the last inspection.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers have reviewed staff training needs and staff have undertaken more training. Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 7 However, some staff have not yet completed mandatory training as per the organisation‟s requirements. In addition, some key training courses have not been completed in a timely way. The majority of staff members remain unqualified, though they are now enrolled on a level 3 qualification course. As a result, some staff do not have all the skills and knowledge required to meet children‟s needs.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The independent visitor provides monthly reports about the home, but these are not always sent to Ofsted in a timely manner. This leaves the regulator without essential information through which to monitor the home. The independent visitor is also employed by the registered provider in another role. This raises concerns in respect of a potential conflict of interest, and how this is managed by the visitor and the organisation to ensure that the monthly visits to the home are impartial and objective.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Managers and staff receive regular supervision. This provides managers and staff with the opportunity to receive feedback on their practice.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

No new children have come to live at the home since the monitoring inspection. This means that the registered provider has adhered to the restriction of accommodation notice.

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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: SC383941 8

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Hill Farm, Shawbury Lane, Shustoke, Coleshill, Birmingham B46 2RN

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Children’s home details

Responsible individual: Christopher Aristidou

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Inspector

Sarah Junor-Fitzpatrick: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC383941 9 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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