Children's Home run by Horizon Care and Education Group Limited in Wakefield

Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 1 Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Full inspection Inspected under the social care common inspection framework

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Information about this children’s home

A private company operates and runs this home. The home was registered in February 2018 to provide care for up to four children or young people whose plan is to live in a medium- to long-term residential setting.

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Information about this children’s home

A manager has been appointed and is currently going through the process of being registered with Ofsted.

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Information about this children’s home

Inspection dates: 18 to 19 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 requires improvement to be good

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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: declined in effectiveness

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requires improvement to be good

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

14/03/2019 Interim Declined in effectiveness 11/06/2018 Full Good Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 3

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improvement to be good

The everyday life experiences for children and young people in the home are mixed. Incidents relating to safeguarding that have taken place in the home have had a negative impact on the children and young people’s overall experiences in the home.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people are not accessing formal education, which is having an adverse impact on their ability to learn. One child has been accessing a timetable of activities, which has included trips to museums and the library to do some research, however this is not enough to replace formal education. Opportunities for learning for other children and young people are not sufficient.

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improvement to be good

The staff have formed positive relationships with the children and young people, which is evident from the observations between them. The children and young people can express their views and will talk to staff about any concerns they might have.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people have access to a variety of activities in and out of the home. The staff support the children and young people to stay in touch with their families and rebuild relationships with them.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people learn independence skills, such as cooking, baking and looking after their bedrooms and clothes. The children and young people build their confidence by taking age-appropriate risks, such as shopping for items that they need.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people have made good progress in respect of their health needs and the staff are supporting and praising them for making better choices.

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improvement to be good

The transitions into the home are managed well and the children and young people receive a warm and planned welcome. A young person who has left the home stated that the staff had helped her a lot when she was moving on and is still in touch with them regularly due to the positive relationships that she built with them. Some transitions out of the home have been less well planned, due to incidents that have taken place in the home.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people have been involved in incidents in the home which have put them at risk of harm and raised concerns relating to safeguarding. Supervision by staff has not kept children and young people safe.

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improvement to be good

Following the initial incident, the staff put measures in place, such as door alarms, waking night staff and additional supervision of children and young people. However, the Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 4 steps taken to reduce the risk of a reoccurrence were not effective, as further incidents took place. Recordings relating to the incidents are not clear, which reduced the ability of the manager to assess the suitability of the strategies.

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improvement to be good

The assessment of risks is not robust. Risk assessments around behaviour were basic and almost identical for different children and young people. The staff had not signed the updated risk assessments and therefore could not demonstrate that they were aware of the risks and strategies to manage those risks.

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improvement to be good

Management of aggressive and difficult behaviours is ineffective and there is no clear agreed strategy to manage these behaviours. This has meant that the manager has often had to step in to de-escalate situations.

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improvement to be good

The use of physical interventions is documented well. The staff use restraints only as a last resort to keep children and young people safe.

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improvement to be good

The children and young people have support to take age-appropriate risks as part of their independence skills. Children and young people do not go missing from the home. They are not harming themselves and they are not smoking, drinking alcohol, or misusing any substances.

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

The quality of recording varies in the home. For example, in regard to recordings that related to a time when there were significant incidents in the home, the waking night staff failed to record in the log book the time at which another member of staff reportedly went to bed. The minutes for team meetings and children and young people’s meetings do not fully reflect the actions agreed at those meetings nor the outcome of those actions. This made it difficult for the manager to demonstrate that directions given are completed, or that the views of children and young people are acted on.

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

The reports prepared by the independent visitor do not include information gathered from consulting parents, relatives, professionals or children and young people. This lack of analysis and constructive feedback limits the effectiveness of the manager to identify and act to improve the service to children and young people.

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

The manager has ensured that notifications of significant events are made to the appropriate authorities. There was one occasion when a notification was not made to Ofsted.

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

The general condition of the house is poor. Steps are taken as soon as possible to make repairs to any damage. Some areas of the home would benefit from redecorating and updating to make the house homelier for children and young people. However, the house is spacious and has a nice, big garden.

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

The manager has built positive working relationships with her team. Recruitment has ensured that there is a stable staff team. She is enthusiastic and has a good relationship Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 5 with the children and young people in the home.

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

The staff receive regular supervision that includes discussions about the children and young people, training needs and personal well-being. Some of the staff have the appropriate qualifications and others are enrolled on the training for qualifications that are required by regulations. These are planned to be completed within the appropriate timescales. The manager is in the process of completing her required level 5 diploma.

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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, the 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 education standard is that children make measurable progress towards achieving their educational potential and are helped to do so.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help a child who is excluded from school, or who is of compulsory school age but not attending school, to access educational and training support throughout the period of exclusion or non-attendance and to return to school as soon as possible. (Regulation 8 (1)(2)(a)(viii)) 16/11/2019

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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—

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Requirement Due date

helps children aspire to fulfil their potential; and

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child. (Regulation 13 (1)(2)(c)) 16/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 6 Ensure that all staff receive behaviour management training and validate the training to ensure that staff are confident in dealing with behaviours presented by children and young people.

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe;

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Requirement Due date

manage relationships between children to prevent them from harming each other;

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Requirement Due date

understand the roles and responsibilities in relation to protecting children that are assigned to them by the registered person;

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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)(a)(ii)(iv)(v)(b))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that children are effectively supervised, and that robust measures are in place to protect them from harm. Risk assessments must be up to date and clear. Procedures must be in place so that staff understand the most recent risks and strategies to reduce risk. 16/11/2019

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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.

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

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;

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Requirement Due date

help each child to understand how to keep safe. (Regulation 12 (1)(2)(a)(i)(ii))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that all risk assessments are clear and that staff have 16/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 7 read and understood them.

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Requirement Due date

In meeting the quality standards, the registered person must, and must ensure that staff—

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Requirement Due date

seek to involve each child’s placing authority effectively in the child’s care, in accordance with the child’s relevant plans;

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Requirement Due date

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

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Requirement Due date

if the registered person considers, or staff consider, a placing authority’s or a 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 each child’s needs are met in accordance with the child’s relevant plans; and

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Requirement Due date

seek to develop and maintain effective professional relationships with such persons, bodies or organisations as the registered person considers appropriate having regard to the range of needs of children for whom it is intended that the children’s home is to provide care and accommodation. (Regulation 5)

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that appropriate challenge is made to local authorities if social work visits are not taking place for children and young people according to their plans. Provide appropriate challenge if education provisions are not in place for children and young people. Build effective working relationships with the local police and local community. 16/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

When the independent person is carrying out a visit, the registered person must help the independent person—

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Requirement Due date

if they consent, to interview in private such of the children, their parents, relatives and persons working at the home as the independent person requires. (Regulation 44 (2)(a))

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Requirement Due date

Ensure that the independent visitor seeks the views of children, their parents and relatives and includes the findings in their report. 16/11/2019 Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 8

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Recommendations

 For children’s homes to be nurturing and supportive environments that meet the needs of their children, they will, in most cases, be homely, domestic environments. Children’s homes must comply with relevant health and safety legislations (alarms, food hygiene etc.); however in doing so, homes should seek as far as possible to maintain a domestic rather than ‘institutional’ impression. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9) Specifically, ensure that the home is clean and well maintained.  Staff should be familiar with the home’s policies on record keeping and understand the importance of careful, objective, and clear recording. (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 62, paragraph 14.4) Specifically, ensure that the quality of all recordings is clear. For example, include action points from children and young people’s meetings and

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Recommendations

staff meetings, ensure that daily logs are accurate and that risk assessments include all risks and strategies.  Regulation 40(4) requires the registered person to notify Ofsted and other relevant persons if one of the situations specified in regulation 40(4)(a)–(d) occurs, or if there is an incident relating to the protection, safeguarding or welfare of a child living in the home which the registered person considers to be serious (40(4)(e)). (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 63, paragraph 14.10)

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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: 1258089 9

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Horizon Care and Education Group Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: Venture House, Unit 12, Prospect Business Park, Longford Road, Cannock WS11 0LG

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Inspector

Krista Hardy: social care inspector Inspection report children’s home: 1258089 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 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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