Children's home run by Ingleside Children’s Home Limited in Birmingham

Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 1 SC025799 Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home 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

The home is privately owned and is registered to provide care and accommodation for up to seven children and young people. The home’s statement of purpose states that it is a home for young people who have special educational needs, mild learning disabilities, emotional and behavioural difficulties, autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

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Information about this children’s home

The manager has been registered with Ofsted since 2017.

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Overall experiences and progress of

children and young people, taking into account

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inadequate

How well children and young people are helped and protected inadequate

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inadequate

The effectiveness of leaders and managers inadequate

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inadequate

There are serious and widespread failures that mean children and young people are not protected and their welfare is not promoted or safeguarded and the care experiences of children and young people are poor.

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inadequate

Date of last inspection: 21 January 2019

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inadequate

Overall judgement at last inspection: requires improvement to be good

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inadequate

Enforcement action since last inspection: none Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 2

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Inspection date Inspection type Inspection judgement

21/01/2019 Full Requires improvement to be good 10/01/2018 Full Good 13/03/2017 Interim Declined in effectiveness 21/06/2016 Full Good Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 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.

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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

have the skills to identify and act upon signs that a child is at risk of harm;

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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; and

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Requirement Due date

are familiar with, and act in accordance with, the home’s child protection policies. (Regulation 12(1)(2)(a)(i)(iii)(v)(vii))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that there is an up-to-date record of each young person’s risks of harm and ensure that staff follow young people’s care plans to help ensure that any risks to young people are minimised. 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

Policies for the protection of children 30/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 4 The registered person must prepare and implement a policy which—

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Requirement Due date

is intended to safeguard children accommodated in the children’s home from abuse or neglect. (Regulation 34(1)(a))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, leaders and managers must ensure that such policies are available to all staff and that there is a clear record that all staff have read the home’s safeguarding policies. The leadership and management standard

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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 their full 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

lead and manage the home in a way that is consistent with the approach and ethos, and delivers the outcomes, set out in the homes statement of purpose;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff work as a team where appropriate;

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Requirement Due date

ensure that staff have the experience, qualifications and skills to meet the needs of each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the home has sufficient staff to provide care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

ensure the home’s workforce provides continuity of care for each child;

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Requirement Due date

understand the impact that the quality of care provided in the home is having on the progress and experiences of each child and use this understanding to inform the development of the quality of care provided in the home;

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Requirement Due date

demonstrate that practice in the home is informed and improved by taking into account and acting on— 30/11/2019* Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 5 research and developments in relations to the ways in which the needs of the children are best met; and

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Requirement Due date

feedback on the experiences of children, including complaints received; and

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Requirement Due date

the use of monitoring and review systems that make continuous improvements in the quality of care provided in the home. (Regulation 13(1)(a)(b)(2)(a)(b)(c)(d)(e)(f)(g)(i)(ii)(h)) Behaviour management and discipline

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Requirement Due date

No measure of control or discipline which is excessive, unreasonable or contrary to paragraph (2) may be used in relation to any child.

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Requirement Due date

In particular, staff working in the home must not use measures of control or discipline which are punitive or may physically harm young people. (Regulation (19)(1)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

keep the statement of purpose under review and, where appropriate, revise it; and

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Requirement Due date

notify HMCI of any revisions and send HMCI a copy of the revised statement within 28 days of the revision. (Regulation 16(3)(a)(b)) 30/11/2019

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The registered person must maintain records (“case records”) for each child which—

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include the information and documents listed in Schedule 3 in relation to each child;

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Requirement Due date

are signed and dated by the author of each entry.

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Requirement Due date

securely in the children’s home during the period when the child to whom the case records relate is accommodated there; and 30/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 6 in a secure place after the child has ceased to be accommodated in the home. (Regulation 36(1)(a)(b)(c)(2)(c)(d)) Fitness of workers

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must recruit staff using recruitment procedures that are designed to ensure children’s safety.

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Requirement Due date

employ an individual to work at the children’s home; or if an individual is employed by a person other than the registered person to work at the home in a position in which the individual may have regular contact with children, allow that individual to work at the home, if the individual satisfies the requirements in paragraph (3).

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Requirement Due date

the individual is of integrity and good character;

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Requirement Due date

the individual has the appropriate experience, qualification and skills for the work that the individual is to perform;

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Requirement Due date

the individual is mentally and physically fit for the purposes of the work that the individual is to perform; and

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full and satisfactory information is available in relation to the individual in respect of each of the matters in Schedule 2.

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Requirement Due date

For the purposes of paragraph (3)(b), an individual who works in the home in a care role has the appropriate qualification if, by the relevant date, the individual has attained—

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Requirement Due date

the Level 3 Diploma for Residential Childcare (England) (“the Level 3 Diploma”); or

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Requirement Due date

a qualification which the registered person considers to be equivalent to the Level 3 Diploma. (Regulation 32(1)(2)(a)(b)(3)(a)(b)(c)(d)(4)(a)(b)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must notify HMCI and each other 30/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 7 relevant person without delay if—

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Requirement Due date

a child is involved in or subject to, or is suspected of being involved in or subject to sexual exploitation;

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Requirement Due date

an incident requiring police involvement occurs in relation to a child which the registered person considers to be serious;

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Requirement Due date

there is an allegation of abuse against the home or a person working there;

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a child protection enquiry involving a child— is instigated; or

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concludes (in which case, the notification must include the outcome of the child protection enquiry); or

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Requirement Due date

there is any other incident relating to a child which the registered person considers to be serious. (Regulation 40(4)(a)(b)(c)(d)(i)(ii)(e)) Behaviour management policies and records

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must prepare and implement a policy (“the behaviour management policy”) which sets out—

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Requirement Due date

how appropriate behaviour is to be promoted in the children’s home; and

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Requirement Due date

the measures of control, discipline and restraint which may be used in relation to children in the home.

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must keep the behaviour management policy under review and, where appropriate, revise it. (Regulation 35(1)(a)(b))

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Requirement Due date

In particular, all staff must be suitably trained in the home’s physical intervention procedures. 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered person must ensure that all employees—

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Requirement Due date

undertake appropriate continuing professional development;

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Requirement Due date

receive practice-related supervision by a person with 30/11/2019 Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 8 appropriate experience; and

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Requirement Due date

have their performance and fitness to perform their roles appraised at least once every year. (Regulation 33(4)(a)(b)(c)) Fire precautions

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Requirement Due date

If the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005(a) applies to the home—

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Requirement Due date

the registered person must ensure that the requirements of that Order and any regulations made under it, except for article 23 (duties of employees), are complied with in respect of the home. (Regulation 25(2)(b)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

The registered provider must carry on the children’s home in such manner as is likely to ensure that the home will be financially viable for the purpose of achieving the aims and objectives set out in the statement of purpose. (Regulation 47(1)) 30/11/2019

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Requirement Due date

*This requirement is subject to a compliance notice.

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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 (‘Guide to the children’s homes regulations including the quality standards’, page 15, paragraph 3.9). In particular, the maintenance of the home should include repairing the internet connection in the young people’s games room, removal of the wasps’ nest in the home’s roof and returfing the home’s garden area.

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inadequate

Leaders, managers and staff fail to demonstrate that they have the skills, knowledge or integrity to manage this home in a safe and consistent way. Consequently, young people are placed at risk of harm due to poor safeguarding practices and inappropriate staff actions.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers fail to address previously identified shortfalls. None of the requirements set at the previous inspection have been met. Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 9 Shortfalls in care practice are not always addressed with staff. For example, although a member of staff had acted inappropriately during an incident with a young person, the registered manager failed to deal with the issue robustly. This fails to ensure that young people are treated with care and respect.

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inadequate

Leaders and managers do not ensure that staff follow young people’s care plans. For example, when young people are missing or absent without authority overnight, staff fail to take appropriate action to find out where these young people are and do not seek to return them safely to the home.

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inadequate

Recent budgeting restrictions in the home have had a negative impact on the young people living in the home. A young person told the inspector that they are concerned about the wasps ‘buzzing outside my bedroom window’. However, leaders and managers have not followed expert advice to hire the necessary scaffolding required to assist in the removal of a wasps’ nest from the home’s roof. Furthermore, young people are no longer offered a takeaway meal at the end of their house meeting. The registered manager said, ‘It’s too expensive.’ As a result, young people refuse to attend their house meetings.

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inadequate

The home environment is not maintained to a safe standard. The London fire brigade has recently inspected the home, and noted, ‘Some safety matters require attention to reduce the risk of fire and/or reasonably ensure the safety of people using the premises.’ Certain fire safety conditions have been contravened. The home is taking action to comply with the fire safety regulations.

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inadequate

Staff do not always reply to young people’s requests. For instance, although young people asked for a later bedtime during the school holidays, there is no record of staff’s response. In addition, one young person has waited three weeks for a shelf to be repaired in his bedroom following their request. This has still not been completed.

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inadequate

Young people’s living environment needs improvement. The Wi-Fi connection is intermittent, which limits young people’s enjoyment of their games room. Furthermore, the garden lawn is worn and muddied, which restricts young people’s access to outdoor activities.

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inadequate

Education outcomes for young people are mixed, and the progress made by young people is not consistently captured in reports. One young person is awaiting a school place, while another young person’s attendance is intermittent. One young person has recently completed their exams, while another young person has been recognised as a peer mentor in school.

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inadequate

Young people make some progress in their everyday lives. They gain the confidence to socialise with their peers and staff. Young people make progress in acquiring age-appropriate independence skills. However, one social worker reported that she had not consistently received the young person’s s monthly Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 10 reports from the home. This means that the placing authority is not always kept up to date with the issues that impact on the young person’s s progress.

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inadequate

The ability of staff to protect young people from harm is inadequate. Staff do not follow the care plans that have been created to keep young people safe. For example, the arrangement in one young person’s family-contact plan was not followed. As a result, the young person was placed at risk of harm by being allowed to have contact in the family home, which was prohibited by the placing authority due to concerns for the young person’s well-being.

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inadequate

Behaviour management practice within the home is poor. On one occasion, a young person was removed from the staff office by way of a member of staff ‘tipping’ the young person out of a chair. As result, the young person hurt their hand. The registered manager described the incident as ‘just mucking about’.

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inadequate

During another incident, a member of staff seemingly became ‘angry’ about a young person’s behaviour. The member of staff then pushed the young person’s hat off, grabbed the young person by their collar and deliberately damaged his games console. The young person said he was ‘dragged by the collar’. The member of staff was dismissed.

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inadequate

Physical restraint practice in the home is not safe. Not all staff have been trained to intervene safely when young people place themselves or others at risk of harm. The inspector found a record that highlighted an incident in which three members of staff physically restrained a young person. Two of the staff members involved were not trained to use physical restraint on young people.

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inadequate

The quality of young people’s risk assessments is inconsistent, and some are poor. Some risk assessments are undated and unsigned, while other risk assessments are missing or not up to date. This limits the staff’s knowledge of young people’s risks and the strategies required to minimise existing or emerging risks.

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inadequate

When young people go missing from the home or are absent without permission, staff do not always know where the young people are. The registered manager told the inspector that agreements were in place for one young person to stay overnight with friends. However, the young person’s friends’ addresses are not known and have not been sought by managers or staff. The inspector was not shown any evidence that this arrangement had been agreed by the young person’s placing authority. Consequently, the young person may be at risk of harm.

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inadequate

Information from any return home interviews is not shared with staff. This limits Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 11 the staff’s ability to understand and analyse young people’s missing behaviours and identify trends or themes. As a result, staff do not know if young people are placing themselves at risk of harm or how they can help protect them.

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inadequate

Young people’s confidential records are not kept safe or secure. Staff have burned young people’s confidential documents in the garden incinerator. On one occasion, the incinerator caused the garden fence to catch fire.

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inadequate

Serious incidents involving young people living in the home are not consistently notified to Ofsted. This limits Ofsted’s ability to monitor and evaluate the home.

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inadequate

Despite the significant shortfalls found during this inspection, the young people spoken with said that they felt safe in the home. Staff engage young people in helpful discussions around key subjects such as keeping safe on the internet, the impact of bullying and knife crime. A young person said that he is happy in the home and gets on well with all of the staff. A social worker said that their young person is settled in the home, and that the young person’s s attitude has improved.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to ensure that staff working in the home are provided with the training and support that they require to safely care for the young people. Staff supervision is not conducted in line with the home’s own supervision schedule.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Not all staff are trained in physical restraint, while a number of staff do not have a suitable residential childcare qualification. In addition, the home’s safeguarding policy has not been read and signed by all staff.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

During the inspection, the registered manager appeared to minimise or dismiss some of the inspector’s concerns. For example, the registered manager denied that staff had not followed a young person’s family-contact plan, even though the young person confirmed that staff had indeed taken them to their father’s house despite the fact that it had been specified that the contact should occur elsewhere.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The registered manager does not consider herself accountable for the work carried out in the home by agency staff who do not have a suitable qualification. The registered manager explained that it was the poor-quality profiles of agency staff, coupled with the home’s short-notice staffing requirements, that were responsible for agency staff working in the home without the required qualifications.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

Leaders and managers have failed to effectively monitor or audit young people’s case records. For example, the home’s daily logbook does not consistently record every event in the home. In addition, the final record of the staff’s actual rosters Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 12 worked is inaccurate, while the home’s statement of purpose is not up to date.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

During the inspection, staffing numbers for the evening shift were not recorded or shared across the team. As a result, a member of staff told the inspector that she would now have to work alone for one hour with several young people. Although staffing levels were eventually resolved, the practice of lone working could be unsafe for the young people and staff in the home.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

On occasion, due to understaffing, some staff work 24-hour shifts. This may leave them tired and physically and mentally vulnerable, and could limit their capacity to perform their duties satisfactorily.

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The effectiveness of leaders and managers: inadequate

The home’s independent child and adolescent psychotherapist meets with the staff team on a regular basis. She facilitates meetings with the staff to discuss and reflect on their work in the home. She reported, ‘The core [staff] team is committed and tight, but they are tired and understaffed.’

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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: SC025799 13

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Children’s home details

Registered provider: Ingleside Children’s Home Limited

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Children’s home details

Registered provider address: 2 Wheeleys Road, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2LD

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Inspector

Victoria Jones: social care inspector Inspection report children‟s home: SC025799 14 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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